New information on Access object registration

[david epsom dot com dot au]

http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/05/04/RegFreeCOM/default.aspx
Simplify App Deployment with ClickOnce and Registration-Free COM

When you

set app = createobject("Access.application.11")

you magically get an access application object.

but sometimes it doesn't work correctly, and you re-install or delve into
the registry to see what you can find.

I've been doing this for years, and we actually change the registry
information so that we can script secured applications in the development
process.

But a couple of years ago, I noticed that fixing the path to the access
executable no longer worked. It's not used. There is a new REG_MULTI_SZ
value, which is not plain text, and if it is present, the text path is
ignored.

Reading between the lines, I guessed that the new registry value was some
kind of reference to the installation manifest, but although I've posted
occasional requests here and there, I've never before found any information.
I assume that the new Access/Office shortcuts do the same thing (the ones
that have no path or icon information if you look at the shortcut
properties)

So there you are: the first published information I've found on the way
access objects are registered.

You'll notice that the page title is actually about 'registration-free' COM.
That just means that if you know the new information, you don't even need to
look in the registry: you can use it directly with the win API:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d..._registration-free_com_objects.asp?frame=true

Creating Registration-Free COM Objects

Taking a wider view, this is all about using separate INI files for each
application, instead of storing everything in the windows registry. Except
now, the INI files are written in XML. And if you don't know the name of the
INI file, you can look it up in the registry. And if there is no INI file,
you can use values from the registry.


Pleased as am to see this, I still don't know exactly what the value means
at

hklm\Access.Application.11\shell\new\command\command
(f'^Vn-}f(ZXfeAR6.jiACCESSFiles>oR2'wFjgZA{MZbEq}_6_ /NOSTARTUP /n "%1"


(david)

 

[Lyle Fairfield]

http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/05/04/RegFreeCOM/default.aspx
Simplify App Deployment with ClickOnce and Registration-Free COM

When you

set app = createobject("Access.application.11")

you magically get an access application object.

but sometimes it doesn't work correctly, and you re-install or delve
into the registry to see what you can find.

I've been doing this for years, and we actually change the registry
information so that we can script secured applications in the
development process.

But a couple of years ago, I noticed that fixing the path to the
access executable no longer worked. It's not used. There is a new
REG_MULTI_SZ value, which is not plain text, and if it is present, the
text path is ignored.

Reading between the lines, I guessed that the new registry value was
some kind of reference to the installation manifest, but although I've
posted occasional requests here and there, I've never before found any
information. I assume that the new Access/Office shortcuts do the same
thing (the ones that have no path or icon information if you look at
the shortcut properties)

So there you are: the first published information I've found on the
way access objects are registered.

You'll notice that the page title is actually about
'registration-free' COM. That just means that if you know the new
information, you don't even need to look in the registry: you can use
it directly with the win API:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/sbscs/
setup/creating_registration-free_com_objects.asp?frame=true

Creating Registration-Free COM Objects

Taking a wider view, this is all about using separate INI files for
each application, instead of storing everything in the windows
registry. Except now, the INI files are written in XML. And if you
don't know the name of the INI file, you can look it up in the
registry. And if there is no INI file, you can use values from the
registry.

Pleased as am to see this, I still don't know exactly what the value
means at

hklm\Access.Application.11\shell\new\command\command
(f'^Vn-}f(ZXfeAR6.jiACCESSFiles>oR2'wFjgZA{MZbEq}_6_ /NOSTARTUP /n
"%1"

(david)

Arrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhh!

Thanks, David. It's stuff we should know I suppose, but may not be happy
about learning, or perhaps not happy that it adds one more level to the
complexity of MS.