Deployment problem for secured Access 2000 apps - can I create shortcut automatically?

[David Anderson]

The security FAQ (after some clarification from MVP Joan Wild) tells me that
I have to create a desktop shortcut with Target text in the following format
in order to invoke a secured Access 2000 application that does not use the
default mdw file.

"path to msaccess.exe" /wrkgrp "path to secure mdw"

That's fine for my own PCs, but what about apps I want to distribute using
the Access 2000 Package & Deployment Wizard (PDW)? Is there some way to
automate the creation of a suitable shortcut on the user's desktop?

David

 

[David Anderson]

No one ever replied to this post, but I managed to resolve it myself a day
or two later. In case it may prove useful to someone else, let me explain
how I did it.

The packaging part of Access 2000 PDW generates three files: SETUP.LST,
YourApp.CAB and setup.exe (where YourApp is replaced by your chosen
application name). Open SETUP.LST in Notepad and find the section similar to
this,

[YourApp]
Icon1=""$(AppPath)\YourApp.mde""
Title1=YourApp
StartIn1=$(AppPath)

Change the Icon1 line to read as follows,

Icon1=""$(AppPath)\YourApp.mde" /WRKGRP
"$(AppPath)\YourMDWfile.mdw""

Save the modified SETUP.LST file. This will then ensure that the shortcut in
your Windows Start Menu Programs list will invoke the required User-Level
Security MDW file. If you also want a desktop shortcut, you will need to
copy it from your Start Menu Programs folder. Note that when this shortcut
is automatically created during installation, its Target text will include
the path to msaccess.exe, i.e. the shortcut format will be,

(path to Access) (path to MDE file) /WRKGRP (path to MDW file)

By the way, ensure that the MDE file and the MDW file do not have the same
name. This causes problems.

David