Access Runtime

C

Chris Kennedy

Can the access runtime (i.e. the royalty free Access which you can freely
develop) independently query a datasource such as an XML or text file. I
want to distribute a product cataloge but I need an interface to display and
query. Obviously many people do not have Access. Could I just point the
exported runtime at the xml file.
 
R

Rick Brandt

Chris said:
Can the access runtime (i.e. the royalty free Access which you can
freely develop) independently query a datasource such as an XML or
text file. I want to distribute a product cataloge but I need an
interface to display and query. Obviously many people do not have
Access. Could I just point the exported runtime at the xml file.

If you were going to distribute the Access runtime then why would you want
your data in a Text file or XML file?

It's not clear from your post that you understand the Runtime licensing.
After the developer (you) purchases the appropriate developer's software he
then has the license to distribute the runtime to others with no royalties
or licensing required (by the users). It is not simply a free download that
you can pass around.

There are a handful of GUI features that are not supported in the Runtime,
but by and large most everything that you can do in the fully licensed
version you can do in the Runtime. There is a help file topic that
discusses the differences in the Runtime environment and you can always test
your app by opening Access with the /Runtime command line argument which
will simulate the Runtime environment.
 
C

Chris Kennedy

You're right I am not clear on what the runtime is. Can I create a db in the
developer version with it's table forms and query create a runtime burn it
to CD and give to a user to use (perform queries etc). I was sort of
concerned that the runtime is like when you split a db into a front end and
backend. The frontend has to be sitting somewhere accessible to backend. I
was concerned it might be just be the front end.
 
R

Rick Brandt

Chris said:
You're right I am not clear on what the runtime is. Can I create a db
in the developer version with it's table forms and query create a
runtime burn it to CD and give to a user to use (perform queries
etc). I was sort of concerned that the runtime is like when you split
a db into a front end and backend. The frontend has to be sitting
somewhere accessible to backend. I was concerned it might be just be
the front end.

When you install the Runtime you are in fact installing Access. It is the
very same program (and just as large) as if the user went out and purchased
Access. The Runtime just has a LOT of registry entries that disable
development (and a few features as stated in previous post). This results
in an instance of Access that can "run" Access apps, but not be used to
create or modify them (design wise).

Your app is not modified in any way when you create a runtime deployment
package. It is the same MDB/MDE that you have now and it can be either
split or unsplit as you see fit.

However; an Access app has to be "appropriately designed" to be usable in
the runtime environment. There is none of the normal Access user interface
exposed in the runtime (no db window, no menus, no toolbars, etc.). You
have to build all of these yourself in the application before deploying it.
The app must also have must more robust error handling because the normal
"Access provided" error handling is mostly absent. Unhandled errors in the
runtime will more often than not terminate the program and it will have to
be restarted.
 

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