Microsoft Access Team Blog

Just as a matter of curiosity, and it's not a problem if you don't want to give that info, roughly how many were the few that downloaded the Access Runtime before it was pulled?

I was one, I'm just interested in how many others there were.

Gisteren schreef ik nog over de Access Runtime, nu moet ik dankzij Erik's post helaas melden dat hij...

The links still work, as far as I can tell. Is this just a delay in them being taken down?

Erik,

One question I am sure lots of developers will be wondering about is why there was no public beta testing of the runtime and developer extensions (at least to my knowledge). Over in Clint Covington's blog there were several offers for testing any beta that Microsoft made available. It seems strange that there was a large emphasis put on beta testing the full version of Access 2007, but nothing for the runtime and developer extensions. Are you able to tell us why (though I appreciate that you may not be able to)? Having no public beta indicates that Microsoft were very confident that their internal testing would be thorough enough, which seems strange, because some Access developers do push the limits of what the product is publicly stated to be capable of and it sounds like the problems found by users with the runtime were reasonably basic things. Does this mean that when Microsoft release the runtime Mark II that we are going to find some more major problems ourselves? Microsoft's procedure does seem to be, well, "brave", if I can put it that way.

Alan Cossey

Thanks for the headline update this should avoid people trying to download it in vain

The reason there was no public beta for the runtime was twofold.  First, it would have slowed down the process and delayed the release even more.  Given the trouble we had shipping the real thing, putting another speed bump in the road would have been even worse and delayed things another 2 months (1 for the release, 1 to get some data back and act on it).  Second, the code in the runtime is not that different from the regular product (that's how we can be sure solutions work the same on both).  So, we're pretty sure we can nail the runtime.  Turns out we bet wrong, although I'm not sure a beta would have found the bug we hit, and we had to pull the release back.  On the bright side, the re-release will be sooner than we'd get a final product out if we had done the beta.

I think you have other problems with the new 2007 Runtime. I used your first release for some testing. One computer had Access XP on it another 2003. The new 2007 runtime interfered with both! All previous DB's came up with various errors when trying to start them in either XP or 2003. Then after deleting the 2007 runtime they worked fine again. I think this is a major problem and if I had the 2003 runtime and developers extensions I would trash 2007 all together!

Erik,

Thanks for your reply about the non-appearance of a beta.

Alan Cossey

Erik,

Is there any resource which describes how to synchronize an Access 2007 database with Sharepoint, please? I know of 4 ways to do this programmatically with the full version of Access 2007 and they all work nicely, but I can find no way of doing so with the runtime version (I've put more details in a post on the Utter Access toolbars, ribbons and wotsit forum if anyone is interested).

Since Sharepoint integration is such a big plus in Access 2007, I take it that it is possible to sychronize using the runtime (I've tried it using the /runtime switch and naming the Access database as ...accdr).

I really hope there is a way and it hasn't slipped under the radar.

Alan Cossey

Curtis, can you send me some mail with contact info?  We'd like to get a little more information on the bugs you're seeing.

Thanks,

   Erik

Erik,

     If you're looking for a Guinea pig to test the Developer/Runtime for 2007; I've a little more than 30 Access apps developed across the MS Access spectum v1.0 to 2007 and several environments (XP, 2003, Server, etc.)

Be more than happy to throw in a few weekends hours..

I have downloaded the access runtime 2007, and tested it, but, I realise that if it is installed in a machine that have access 2003 for example, the mdb's then will open always with the runtime. That is odd.

Isn't there a way to install the runtime only for the specific app? I don't like the developer extensions, as it is limited, only accepts to start the run with a msaccess file, and I have a .exe to trigger the app.

Over the years, I've been asked about "Source Code Control" for Microsoft Access, since Access is one

Over the years, I've been asked about "Source Code Control" for Microsoft Access, since