What is the Packaging Wizard SUPPOSED to do?

[hmm2]

Can someone explain what the Packaging Wizard is supposed to do - and what it does NOT do?

I've been trying it out for the first time over the last couple of weeks. I was under the impression that by creating a run-time application, regardless of whether or not the recipient's pc has Access, everything needed to run the application will be included in the "package". I'm getting errors after installing the run-time app - having to do with missing references. The original database being packaged is not missing any references; everything is compiled.

I've also found that if I try to change the directory location when installing the app (i.e. from C:... to D:...), it still installs the app to the default location on the C: drive.

If anyone could shed some light on this, I would greatly appreciate it. -hmm
-Using AccessXP

 

[FancyPrairie]

I haven't used the Package and Deployment wizard, rather I use Windows Installer (pretty complicated though). However, I've been creating Access runtimes since Access 2.0. It's always been a pain. About the only thing you can do is to check to see what references are included in your database and make sure they are part of the Package and Deployment. If they are not, and you can't add them to the P&D, then simply copy them to the user's machine to the path they are to reside in and then you may need to register them. To register them, Select the Start button, then select Run and type: regsvr32 path\YourMissingFileName.

 

[hmm2]

Thanks, Fancy. I appreciate the information. -hmm
-Using AccessXP

 

[Comstreem]

I've used office 2000 developer Package and Deployment Wizard to distribute my Access application, it WAS able to find and include all of the Dependency DLL files I needed (40+ of them) with out any problem.
However I recently upgraded to Office XP Developer because I have some clients that need my application but have Access 2002 and the setup1.exe (put into the CAB file) can't detect that there is a version of Access installed so it quits.
I figured I could just point the XP Developer Packaging Wizard to my .mdb file and have it automatically find the dependency files it needs (again all 40+ of them) BUT I was wrong. On page 521 of the Microsoft Office XP Developer's Guide it says "Note For some third-party projects you might want to manually search for dependency files when using the Packaging Wizard" I have a hunch that for legal reasons they decided that they stopped the automatic scan for additional dependencies you may need.

Not to mention the lack of source code provided for setup1.exe.

Any one else notice this?