Can anyone please help me to package my Acc 2000 program?

[Mota]

Hi;
I used Package & Deployment wizard to package my program with Access RunTime
files.But after packaging and installing it on the user machine,it put the
main .mde or .mdb file on its computer (e.g. in its program files folder).Im
not sure its normal or im doing something wrong,but if this is normal,what
is the difference between packaging and a simple copy & paste a program from
a CD to the Hard disk?
However,i have seen an Access 97 project (been packaged with InstallShield)
that had not any .mdb or .mde file after installing.If P&D wizard can not do
more and a third party can do it for me,i have InstallShield Developer 8.Can
anyone plz help me to make an Access 2000 package using it and plus Acc
runtime files ?
In general,is it possible to not to have the main .mde file on the target PC
after installing?
I will be so much grateful to anyone can help me and thank you in advance.

 

[Paul Overway]

Your post could use some clarification. Nevertheless, it is normal for the
MDE/MDB to be placed on the target PC...otherwise, what would you be
installing? The difference between packaging and a simple copy & paste is
that when you package your app, you also package any dependencies your app
has (if your license allows)...the Access runtime could be one of those
dependencies. Your app might also be dependent on ActiveX components or
other files. These files may not exist on the target PC. Also, most
packages install shortcuts, etc.

If your app is very simple (no references beyond the defaults, no ancillary
files, etc) , and the target PC already has a compatible version of Access
installed, you COULD just copy & paste....if you really want to go around to
each PC.

PDW is very lame as an installer though...especially the 2000 version (newer
versions not much better). So, you may in fact want to use a 3rd party
installer (I do), but you should be very mindful of the potential issues
your installer might cause on target PCs. If you're not careful, and mess
up their existing Access installation, you'll have some angry users.

BTW...whatever package you saw that installed the Access runtime without
installing an MDE/MDB was illegal. You cannot legally distribute the Access
runtime without a MDE/MDB/ADP/ADE. Read the EULA.

 

[Mota]

Dear Paul;
Thank you for ur attention,
What i saw was an Access 97 APPLICATION been installed,not just a run time
access.I opened it and worked with,it was working fine.What was very
interesting for me was that I couldnt find any visible .mdb or .mde file in
the the target program folder,where it was installed.Even when i unhided all
hidden and system files and searched for all .mdb/.mde extention files
(using Win XP search system)in all that computer,i couldnt find it.What may
the InstallShield do to the main .mde/.mdb file?Im wondering if it can be
converted to something else (e.g. a DAT file) !!! and Access still can open
it.
And this is what im looking for.This method of packaging or installation
that the main mdb file be converted(or kinda hided) after installing and
AccessRT still can open it.or at least having a not findable MDE.Can you
guess what may happen and help me to do that?
By the way,is it possible to say me which 3rd party u use,and recommend,for
packaging Access Apps?For, in InstallShield i couldnt plus RunTime files.So
adding Acc RT merge module is my problem.
I will be so much grateful to you and thank you so much again for ur help.