Microsoft Access Runtime Questions
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 - 10:42am
My Googlefu turned up dry on this one. I am trying to avoid purchasing the full MS Access program. My company uses 2 different types of Access files: .MDW and .MDB
Will the free Access Runtime program open both of these file types, or will I have to purchase the full Access version to utilize these different databases?
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Jonman wrote:
The food pyramid is like oogaba and spears - the tip is the best.
Generally speaking you almost always need the full Microsoft version to accomplish anything with their crap. That said, Open Office can convert most .MDB and .MDW files for full query editing and manipulation, especially if you've got all the MDAC components installed. Remember, with these things, you can always try it and see what happens. You won't break anything by trying the runtime, or OpenOffice.
Randall Graves wrote:
As the Access files are on my server and twenty other people are using the databases, wont everyone else run into issues with only a single user utilizing Open Office? I use Open Office on my personal PC, and I have had endless problems with it. Once I save even a word processor file it becomes corrupt or unreadable for some reason. I have had poor luck with it thus far.
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Jonman wrote:
Access Runtime will open an MDB file (not sure about MDW) but with heavy limitations. If you planing to edit tables, forms, query, etc... you will need a full Access software or try your chances with OpenOffice. (I used OpenOffice Databases only once, so I can't say much on it)
By the way, if you have full rights to the files... why not make a personal copy before testing it out with OpenOffice. This way everything will remain unaffected if something goes wrong.
-edit-
Yep, Access Runtime will open MDW as well. Still, not sure what you planing to do with these files... so AR might be useless either way.
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The secret to multiple users with Access is proper utilization of MDACs. Don't directly open the file, instead set it up through your OS as an ODBC or OLE source. Then, you can link OpenOffice directly to that source and have full multiple user functionality to the data source. The downside is that if you're using any kind of embedded form or VBA, you won't have access to that through the MDAC, but those can be imported or re-created in an OpenOffice environment. Otherwise, if you need direct access to a form or VBA that is Access Native, you can convert the MDB or MDW to an MDE file which should give you multiple user access to your data; even through the Access Runtime.
-edit-
Oh, and last note: do grab the most recent version of OpenOffice, 3.1, as it solves a lot of problems of previous versions.
Randall Graves wrote:
If that's a concurrent, production database, I would be very wary indeed of getting OpenOffice anywhere near it. What will the consequences be if you corrupt the data, particularly if you do so slowly?
Also consider what the costs will be to the business if you get it wrong. Another copy of Access might be very, very cheap compared to the costs you could potentially inflict.
You could always fool around with the Access Runtime, though. It's unlikely to break anything. It may not work, but it shouldn't corrupt any data. But take a backup first, anyway.
Staats wrote: