Hi. I don't know how to make of this problem. I know for a fact that WinXP Pro with SP2 has MDAC 2.8 built into it. But when I try to install my VB6 app (with access to SQL Server 2000 running on Windows Server 2003), a runtime error is encountered (if i'm not mistaken trying to connect to the SQL Server). Then I tried to install MDAC 2.6 (which is the version used by SQL Server 2k), still the problem didn't go away. Then I was left with MDAC 2.0 version, which I tried. To my surprise, it worked properly. Now my question is: since I noticed no problem running the program, is it safe to use MDAC 2.0 in XPPro? I wanna make sure that my program which will be deployed in production won't have problems in the long run. THanks in advance.
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Problem with MDAC 2.8 on VB6 program
- Thread starter RollyS
- Start date
Nelviticus
Programmer
It would make more sense to fix the application so that it works with MDAC 2.8, rather than forcing an install of an old MDAC on all the target machines. Newer versions of MDAC are supposed to be mostly backwards-compatible but if MDAC 2.8 doesn't work and 2.0 does then you're obviously using a part of it that has been changed substantially.
According to Microsoft, version 2.0 is no longer supported so I'd be wary of using it. You can find out more about MDAC and the differences between versions here: Microsoft MDAC roadmap.
Regards
Nelviticus
According to Microsoft, version 2.0 is no longer supported so I'd be wary of using it. You can find out more about MDAC and the differences between versions here: Microsoft MDAC roadmap.
Regards
Nelviticus
- Thread starter
- #3
Thanks for the reply, Nelviticus. I don't know why this happens coz on some machines on bare WinXPPro SP2, my setup package (w/o MDAC) is working OK, but on some machines they have problems like this. Do you think I'm missing out something on my packaging? like essential runtime files especially about SQL Server 2000? But I know I got the packaging right coz i've tried it and worked. I don't know, still scratching my head here.
Nelviticus
Programmer
The only suggestion I can make is to debug it thoroughly on one of the 'broken' machines and find out exactly why it's failing - you may get more luck on the VB forum.
Regarding your original Win XP-related question - "is it safe to use MDAC 2.0 in XPPro" - I'm afraid I don't know the answer! I suspect it's "yes, but a newer version is preferable". After all, there must be plenty of old software that runs properly and uses MDAC 2.0.
Regards
Nelviticus
Regarding your original Win XP-related question - "is it safe to use MDAC 2.0 in XPPro" - I'm afraid I don't know the answer! I suspect it's "yes, but a newer version is preferable". After all, there must be plenty of old software that runs properly and uses MDAC 2.0.
Regards
Nelviticus
The problem you'll encounter by downgrading, is that any new apps that use features of 2.x that don't exist in 2.0, will no longer work right. Not such a big deal with a home PC, but a coporate PC often has apps that need to access SQL servers, Oracle servers, MS Access files, etc. All these probably use MDAC.
And as far as I know, MDAC is backwards compatible. An app written for 2.0, should work without problems on 2.8.
If at all possible, if you have access to the source .vbp file, I would change the MDAC reference to 2.8 and recompile. Wouldn't even have to touch the actual code probably.
And as far as I know, MDAC is backwards compatible. An app written for 2.0, should work without problems on 2.8.
If at all possible, if you have access to the source .vbp file, I would change the MDAC reference to 2.8 and recompile. Wouldn't even have to touch the actual code probably.
Nelviticus
Programmer
I think you can actually have several versions of MDAC installed concurrently, so installing v2.0 won't break apps that rely on v2.8. This is only my recollection from when I used MDAC in a project last year some time though, I can't confirm it unfortunately.
Regards
Nelviticus
Regards
Nelviticus
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