Can Access 2007 develop a 2003 app to run on access 2003 runtime

[David W. Fenton]

5. Here's the big one. What if you still want to develop in Access
2007, but use some of the depracated features like User Level
Security or Replication? You can! Use Access 2007 to develop a
2003 format MDB with those features and then create a MDE when
you're done. The 2007 Runtime will be free so it's possible you
could distribute the 2007 Runtime to your users and give then the
2003 MDE file to run even if they already have Access 2003! I'll
have to qualify that statement that I'm not positive the 2007
Runtime can run 2003 format MDEs created in Access 2007. (I
haven't seen any information one way or the other.) If it *can*,
that would be pretty slick in my opinion because of all the
choices you have as a developer.

Given that non-runtime Access 2007 can run the A2K3 MDE compiled in
A2K7, it is a given taht runtime Access 2007 will also be able to
run it.

I don't see what the eureka moment is about here. From the very
beginning when it was clear that the ACE did not support ULS or
Replication, it was also clear that you could still use those
functions in A2K7 by using MDB format (and create it in A2K7).

I wish the ACE supported both these features (a single db password
is no replacement for ULS, and Sharepoint lists are no replacement
for eplication), but existing apps will continue to run in A2K7 and
new apps with those features can continue to be developed.

 

[David W. Fenton]

Point 3 is no different from any other verison of Access. With
Access 2003 I can create a 2000 format MDB that can run on systems
with only 2000 installed. With 2003 I cannot, however, create a
2000 format MDE that runs on 2000. Same goes for all previous
versions.

THere is nothing mystifying about all of this.

An A2K MDB file can be used in all newer versions because the *Jet*
version is the same. An MDE can *not* be used because the VBA
version is not binary identical.

It's really that simple -- MDEs are about VBA and unchangable
hardwired connections to the VB libraries. MDBs are not hardwired to
VB in the same fashion (because the code is still there and can be
recompiled on the fly to work with the different VB library
version).

 

[David W. Fenton]

I think you should call the MDE created by A2007 an
A2007 MDE ;-)

I don't think so. An A2K7 MDB is identical to an A2K3 MDB -- it can
run in either. But the MDE is *not* identical, even though the
source MDB is identical.

This is just a case where there is no A2K7 version of the MDB, and
the only reason the A2K3 MDB compiled into an MDE cannot run in A2K3
is because the VBA version in A2K7 is not the same as that of A2K3.
This is *exactly* as it has always been. You could compile an
A2K-format MDB to an MDE in A2K3, but it wouldn't run on A2K, only
on A2K3.

But then, you probably have no control over what
went into HELP or the marketing hype

We've never had any of that. It's taken years for MS to fix the
Access documentation back to its original state by adding back in
the DAO examples alongside the ADO/JRO.

I, for one, don't care if the original MDB was in
A2002/2003 format or not.

The other choice is a 2007 ACCDE

Well, not if you need ULS or Replication.

 

[David W. Fenton]

Quite correct and since I'm new here, I don't have any idea if
this was a planned "feature" or just an interesting quirk. My gut
tells me this was planned so developers could still use some of
the depracated features and create an MDE for distribution. I
might ask around out of curiousity.

There's nothing at all different about A2K7 that was not the case in
A2K3, A2K2 and A2K. All Access releases using the same Jet version
can open and run the MDBs of early versions, but an MDE is always
going to be specific to the VBA version it was compiled in.

 

[Marshall Barton]

Marshall Barton wrote


I don't think so. An A2K7 MDB is identical to an A2K3 MDB -- it can
run in either. But the MDE is *not* identical, even though the
source MDB is identical.

I think we're saying the same thing except for the label
that's applied. Some want to label the MDE by the format of
the MDB file, while I think it should be labeled by the
version of the VB library. I guess I am in the minority,
but it makes more sense to me :-\

We've never had any of that. It's taken years for MS to fix the
Access documentation back to its original state by adding back in
the DAO examples alongside the ADO/JRO.

True, but now that Jeff works for MS, I thought I'd stick it
to him about being a small cog in a big machine ;-)

 

['69 Camaro]

Hi, David.

An A2K MDB file can be used in all newer versions because the *Jet*
version is the same. An MDE can *not* be used because the VBA
version is not binary identical.

You make it sound like an Access 2000 MDE won't run in newer versions of
Access. It will if late binding is used for all non-default libraries,
which is a good practice anyway.

HTH.
Gunny

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See http://www.Access.QBuilt.com for Microsoft Access tips and tutorials.
Blogs: www.DataDevilDog.BlogSpot.com, www.DatabaseTips.BlogSpot.com
http://www.Access.QBuilt.com/html/expert_contributors2.html for contact
info.

 

[David W. Fenton]

You make it sound like an Access 2000 MDE won't run in newer
versions of Access. It will if late binding is used for all
non-default libraries, which is a good practice anyway.

Well, I wasn't actually assuming that.