Access 2007 Runtime Followup

[David W. Fenton]

1. You don't need A2K7 installed to be able to run an MDB created
with A2K3 with the runtime. You just run it.

2. You *do* need A2K7 installed to use the Developer Extensions.

I couldn't figure out how the extensions are actually implemented.
All I could see was a DLL and tried registering it in A2K3, in the
hope that it would run from there, but it didn't.

So, I now know that I can use the runtime for providing
quick-and-dirty access to an Access app, but it's very unattractive.
If that doesn't matter, it's useful. If appearance matters, then
it's not going to work.

For the kiosk app, appearance obviously matters, so I'm going to
have to acquire A2K7 to make it look like an A2K7 app. I hate the
default blue theme, which looks like a cheap web page template, so
I'm going to change that. I did consider just changing the design of
the A2K3 app to look more consistent with the A2K7 look (such as
using powder blue form backgrounds), but really, it's not worth the
work.

I seem to recall that Allen Browne had something on his website
about how to make an MDB look decent in A2K7, but when I Google all
I come up with is the What's New in A2K7 link. Can anyone provide
me a pointer on that?

 

[Albert D. Kallal]

You can place the following line of code in your startup:

DoCmd.ShowToolbar "Ribbon", acToolbarNo

All of the ribbon and nav pane gets hidden when you do the above.

And, you could disable themes...

Application.SetOption "Themed Form Controls", False

 

[David W. Fenton]

You can place the following line of code in your startup:

DoCmd.ShowToolbar "Ribbon", acToolbarNo

All of the ribbon and nav pane gets hidden when you do the above.

And, you could disable themes...

Application.SetOption "Themed Form Controls", False

Oh, good. That takes care of about half the things that annoyed me.
The color is still an issue and I don't know what I'll do for
certain.

The other thing is the security warning -- I certainly don't want
that on a kiosk app.

 

[Albert D. Kallal]

The other thing is the security warning -- I certainly don't want
that on a kiosk app.

If you set the following reg key (sets macro = low). Then simply copying any
mdb/accdb to that target box should launch/run without a problem.

Root: HKCU;Subkey:
"Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Access\Security";ValueType: dword;
ValueName: "VBAWarnings"; ValueData: "1"

You can also use/add a trusted location (I not tried the below yet).

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Access\Security
\Trusted Locations\
Location(x)
AllowSubFolders (REG_DWORD) = 1
Path (REG_SZ) "C:\MyDatabaseFolder\"

The package wizard for 2007 does let you set reg keys, but I don't bother
with it since no can figure out how to use that installer for upgrading
front ends. I just use the free inno installer. You can Google for inno, and
it great for deploying new front ends. A sample "front end" install script
is included after my sig in this post...

--
Albert D. Kallal (Access MVP)
Edmonton, Alberta Canada
(e-mail address removed)


[Setup]
SourceDir=c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\RidesLSP
AppName=Rides Reservation System
AppVerName= Rides SP
DefaultDirName={commonappdata}\RidesLSP
DefaultGroupName=Rides
Compression=lzma
SolidCompression=yes

DirExistsWarning=no
DisableDirPage=yes
DisableProgramGroupPage=yes
Uninstallable=no


[Files]
Source: "RidesXP.accde"; DestDir: "{app}"
Source: "RidesXP.dll" ; DestDir: "{app}"
Source: "dynapdf.dll" ; DestDir: "{app}"
Source: "StrStorage.dll" ; DestDir: "{app}"
Source: "R1.dll" ; DestDir: "{app}"
Source: "R2.dll" ; DestDir: "{app}"
Source: "R3.dll" ; DestDir: "{app}"
Source: "Rides.ico" ; DestDir: "{app}"
Source: "RidesXP.bmp" ; DestDir: "{app}"

Source: "UnZip32.dll" ; DestDir: "{app}"
Source: "Zip32.dll" ; DestDir: "{app}"

[Icons]

Name: "{userdesktop}\Rides Reservations (Lodge)"; FileName:
"{reg:HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Access\InstallRoot\,Path}MSACCESS.EXE";
Parameters: """{app}\RidesXP.accde"" /runtime"; IconFilename:
"{app}\Rides.ico"; comment: "Lodge Booking System"

Name: "{group}\Rides Reservations (Lodge)"; Filename:
"{reg:HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Access\InstallRoot\,Path}MSACCESS.EXE";
Parameters: """{app}\RidesXP.accde"" /runtime"; IconFilename:
"{app}\Rides.ico"; comment: "Starts the Rides Booking System"

[Registry]

Root: HKCU;Subkey:
"Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Access\Security";ValueType: dword;
ValueName: "VBAWarnings"; ValueData: "1"

 

[David W. Fenton]

If you set the following reg key (sets macro = low). Then simply
copying any mdb/accdb to that target box should launch/run without
a problem.

Root: HKCU;Subkey:
"Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Access\Security";ValueType: dword;
ValueName: "VBAWarnings"; ValueData: "1"

You can also use/add a trusted location (I not tried the below
yet).

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Access\Security
\Trusted Locations\
Location(x)
AllowSubFolders (REG_DWORD) = 1
Path (REG_SZ) "C:\MyDatabaseFolder\"

The package wizard for 2007 does let you set reg keys, but I don't
bother with it since no can figure out how to use that installer
for upgrading front ends. I just use the free inno installer. You
can Google for inno, and it great for deploying new front ends. A
sample "front end" install script is included after my sig in this
post...

I figured it would come down to setting registry keys. Since this is
going on a standalone kiosk, with only one machine, I think I'll set
the registry key manually. Or provide the user with a REG file.

I really don't understand why MS thinks it's a good idea to treat
your local hard drive as just as dangerous as the wilds of the
Internet. It contradicts all common sense, and thus leads people to
completely disregard the whole thing and turn off all the security.