stand alone programs

[Hect]

I have Access 2000 and VB I know that I cannot create a stand alone program with Access that will run on someone else's computer without having Access installed on that computer. I am aware that there is a developers version of Access that will allow me to do this. I have made stand alone programs with Visual Basic. My question: Can I create a VB program that uses an Access database and is a stand alone program that will run on a computer without either of these application being installed on it? The programs that I have made so far in VB created their own database and did not use Access. If so, how do I do this? Do I import the Access database into VB?

 

[TimCottee]

Hect:

You can indeed create a VB application which will use an access database. You do not need to have access installed on the machine but you do need to have the VB runtimes installed as well as any additional components that you use. Fortunately the p&d wizard included with VB comes to the rescue here as the installation package that you create will install and register these necessary files. All that you need to do is to create the database structure and default data in access, add this .mdb file to your VB application installation package (after of course having written your vb application to reference this database) and then install the resulting package on your target machine(s).

This is a very common thing to do and works well in most cases.

 

[Hect]

Thank you Tim. That is what I wanted to know. Maybe you can answer another question for me. I have an old version of VB and want to get a new one. What is the difference between VB6 and VB.net??? Which one should I get?

 

[TimCottee]

The difference between VB6 and VB.NET, well where do I start? VB.Net is part of the Microsoft strategy which encompasses the CLR (Common Language Runtime) C# and other things. It is a much more object-oriented language than VB6 and will probably be more powerful than existing VB. Having said that there is a fairly steep learning curve with VB.NET I think and I have not had as much time to look at it as I would like. I don't think that VB6 will disappear in the near future as a development platform as there is such a large base of applications and developers using it that it will continue to be used for perhaps 5 years or so before people eventually and gradually move towards .NET or it successor.

If you have experience with VB4 or 5 then moving to VB6 is no great leap in your knowledge, there are a number of features that were not available in earlier versions and you can easily upgrade existing applications. Moving to VB.NET will require much more in the way of learning first and the process of upgrading existing applications is by no means as simple.

 

[Hect]

I currently have VB4 and thought that I should get something newer. I'll have to give it some thought. Thanks again for your help and advice.