Missing ADO Library

[scott]

I have an access database that requires the "Microsoft ADO Ext. 2.8 for DDL
and Security" library to be present in the "References" options on any pc
that runs the database.

I'm pretty sure this library gets installed when SQL Server program is
installed. I ran into a problem with a user that is trying to open my
database, but gets an error because this library is missing.

Is there a way to distribute this library without installing SQL on the
user's pc? Can I simply copy the library file into the user's database
folder, then select it by hitting "Browse" in the Reference Library?

Any other ideas or input would be appreciated.

 

[Douglas J. Steele]

Are you sure it's missing? Just because it shows up as Missing in the
References dialog doesn't necessarily mean that it doesn't exist on the
machine: a reference will be flagged as Missing if there's a different
version on the user's machine than on the machine on which the application
was developed. Unselect the one marked Missing and scroll through the list
to see whether you can find it and select it.

If not, it's part of MDAC, which you can download from
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/data/aa937730.aspx

 

[scott]

I've already looked through the list and it's not there. Correct me if I'm
wrong, but I think installing the lastest MDAC .exe from MS would fix it.

However, it'd be nice to load it with just pointing to the "c:\program
files\common files\system\ado\msadox.dll" file name. Can I get away with
simply copying the msadox.dll file in the correct folder, then go into
access, references and browse to find the dll?

 

[Douglas J. Steele]

It's definitely not advised.

 

[scott]

why?

It's definitely not advised.

 

[Douglas J. Steele]

Because you run the risk of having version inconsistencies. It would be very
rare for something as complex as ADOX to not have dependencies on other
libraries.

On the other hand, have you looked to see whether msadox.dll is already on
the machine and only needs reregistration (using regsvr32.exe)? Unless
you're running on a very old operating system, MDAC is usually already
installed.

 

[scott]

before i looked, i just went ahead and installed mdac 2.8.

thanks for your input.