Interesting Startup Behaviour

[none]

Hi. I've reached my wits end and am hoping someone in here could help.

I've been contracted to build a loader for an existing MS Access
application, so I've kinda inherited this. I'm working in Access 2003 right
now btw.

It's a split database, and I have the original source. There's an mde file,
a mdb file, a mdw file, and an exe written in vb6 loader app that I've been
asked to re-engineer. The access app uses access security. I've almost got
the loader written perfectly, but I've hit a snag that I think is beyond
what I know. There's some code being fired somehow at startup that I can't
seem to be able to find. I know the usual stuff to look for; here's what I
know:

1) Under tools -> Startup, everything appears like they would normally.
There's no startup form and no custom toolbars. There's nothing out of the
ordinary there.

2) There's no code that I can find that starts the form in the VBA code. I
did a full project search for anything that would resemble an openform for
that form. Couldn't find a thing. None of the variants I tried yielded any
results.

3) I wondered if the initial loader program did the startup. However when
I envoke the app from my "reverse engineered" loader, The same startup event
occurrs.

4) There are no hidden modules. In fact the only hidden objects are the
system tables.

5) There's a custom mdw file, that's been renamed to a sec extension. I
know how to point access using the command line switch /wrkgrp (just so you
know).

6) The autoexec macro has a blank RunCode line. I'd have thought this was
for when you append a semicolon at the end to run a function, but my loader
doesn't envoke any function and the startup still occurrs.

7) When I hold down the shift key, I don't bypass the startup procedure.
Only when I open the mdb data file directly in exclusive mode instead of the
mde file can I bypass the startup params. Now I know you can configure that
in code, but there's got to be some other way he's doing it.

I know how to normally do this using the Tools->startup functions, but has
this guy done this somehow in the mdw file? I must totally be missing
something... Could anyone around here provide me some insight?

 

[Albert D. Kallal]

What does the short cut look like that is being used to launch ms-access?

Most of the time when security files are used..then a bunch of startup
switches in the command line to LAUNCH ms-access are suing. In those startup
switches..you can specify the security group..and you can also specify the
macro that gets executed in the startup also (/x macroname).

What happens if you do NOT use the loader..but just click on the mde file to
run it?

 

[Tony Toews]

6) The autoexec macro has a blank RunCode line. I'd have thought this was
for when you append a semicolon at the end to run a function, but my loader
doesn't envoke any function and the startup still occurrs.

blank RunCode line? What's in the function name?

Interestingly enough I've been going to startup forms in my apps these
last few years but have now gone back to using the autoexec macro so
as to fix references when I convert my app from A97 to A2000, A2002
and/or A2003 for distribution purposes.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm

 

[Albert D. Kallal]

Perhaps a blank, or a "funny" control character names was used for the
macro..and you can't see it.

So, try-re-naming the autoexec macro to something else...and see what
happens...

Further..what happens when you double click on that autoexec macro...does
anything run?

Further, perhaps the vb6 application modifies the autoexec macro depending
on what options used.

(to test that..simply delete the autoexec macro..and after you run the
application..if the autoexec comes back..then the vb6 guy is modifying the
autoexec).

 

[Tony Toews]

... and you can also specify the
macro that gets executed in the startup also (/x macroname).

Ah, I'd forgotten about that one.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm

 

[none]

So I renamed AutoExec to AutoExec2...

When I load the application (both from my loader, AND the custom one) the
same myster script fires.

I took the mde, renamed it to mdb, renamed the macro, and saved it as an mde
file again.

Isn't this bizarre? Is there a way to do this using a custom mdw file?

Also, while the module won't appear in the front, th VBA editor should see
the code if there's any control chars front... Thanks though for the ideas!

 

[none]

So I dropped the Autoexec macro, and it doesn't reappear.

This is very frustrating. The only thing I can see is that it's somehow
stored in the mdw file.

I mean, there's a custom toolbar that shows up when I load it using the
loader (or my custom loader), but I can't find the code that does this
anywhere!

Even more bizarre:

When I load it using this command:
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\MSACCESS.EXE" /NOSTARTUP
"C:\Documents and Settings\costas.ETERNIA\My Documents\Visual Studio
Projects\WindowsApplication3\ICAMusic.mde" /User sa1 /Pwd 444 /WrkGrp
"C:\Documents and Settings\costas.ETERNIA\Desktop\phil\db2\CAGroups.sec"

It works, however I get a dao compactdatabase error when I do this:

"C:\Documents and Settings\costas.ETERNIA\My Documents\Visual Studio
Projects\WindowsApplication3\ICAMusic.mde" /User sa1 /Pwd 444 /WrkGrp
"C:\Documents and Settings\costas.ETERNIA\Desktop\phil\db2\CAGroups.sec"

Not quite sure why that is. Anyway,