Compile Small Access programs

[Computethis]

I have a major database that works really well, BUT sometimes we only need to search one or two tables out of our database... How can I create a small database with "linked" tables, compile it so it runs without Access and of course faster ~ just to query the linked tables.... and display the results on a form..

Thanks!

 

[hsitz]

If you have access to the Developer's Edition of Office you could package up a small db as a runtime for installation on computers without Access. Note that this database won't really run "without Access", since the runtime will be many megabytes in size and will essentially include an Access install that can be used only to run the little database you're packaging. If your reason for wanting it to run "without Access was because you don't want to have to license Access on all the other computers, this would work. If your reason was to find a "lightweight" solution, then this probably isn't what you want.

You might want to check into using Data Access Pages on the computer with the tables being queried. You could set up a data access page to do what you want, and it could be accessed through Internet Explorer on other computers. Note that you still have to have a license for Access on other computers, even though, technically speaking, they don't use Access to get the information when used in this way.

A third option would be to install a webserver on the computer with the main database, and build some ASP pages to provide query and reporting functionality. This "server-side" functionality could be accessed by any browser (not just IE) and would nto require Access licenses on the other computers. I posted links to some opensource ASP tools in this thread: Thread181-191559

-- Herb