khurshid
asked on
Installation guidance
Hi,
I've prepared an application in vb 6 using access 2002(office xp)database. My package and deployment wizard gave me all sorts of errors so i used a third party setup creater. I created a setup using "wise installer" which worked fine for the Windows XP platform. However, the application does not work on windows 98. I've tried quite a few thing to fix this like converting to access 97 (oledb 3.51) so on and so forth. The setup i have installs ok but gives errors at times of unable to connect to db and lately i'm getting the error "error 7. out of memory". i have tried installing mdac 2.5 on one win98 machine (with no msoffice or vb) and it worked. However on another machine it didnt !
In a nutshell how can i create single setup which can be installed on any windows platform.
I've prepared an application in vb 6 using access 2002(office xp)database. My package and deployment wizard gave me all sorts of errors so i used a third party setup creater. I created a setup using "wise installer" which worked fine for the Windows XP platform. However, the application does not work on windows 98. I've tried quite a few thing to fix this like converting to access 97 (oledb 3.51) so on and so forth. The setup i have installs ok but gives errors at times of unable to connect to db and lately i'm getting the error "error 7. out of memory". i have tried installing mdac 2.5 on one win98 machine (with no msoffice or vb) and it worked. However on another machine it didnt !
In a nutshell how can i create single setup which can be installed on any windows platform.
ASKER
I created the project in XP environment and it works fine there. My P&D wizard just closes when i click the final "finish" button without an error message. However, i mentioned that i installed on XP (different machine than the one i developed on) using Wise Installer and its working.
I am open to any suggestions . I just have to make sure the setup installs on all windows (ie 9x,2000 & xp)
I am open to any suggestions . I just have to make sure the setup installs on all windows (ie 9x,2000 & xp)
ASKER
I created the project in XP environment and it works fine there. My P&D wizard just closes when i click the final "finish" button without an error message. However, i mentioned that i installed on XP (different machine than the one i developed on) using Wise Installer and its working.
I am open to any suggestions . I just have to make sure the setup installs on all windows (ie 9x,2000 & xp)
I am open to any suggestions . I just have to make sure the setup installs on all windows (ie 9x,2000 & xp)
"I created the project in XP environment " is the ENTIRE source of your problem. An application created under XP WILL NOT (almost 100% certain) be compatible with earlier Windows versions.
It is almost always a VERY VERY bad idea to try to make an application that is BACKWARDS compatible. The biggest problem will be that DLLs that are internal to the Newer operating system WILL ALMOST ALWAYS not be loadable under the older version of the operating system. It is ALMOST always advisable to create the application with the LOWEST (earliest) version of the operating system that you intend to support. It is again, ALMOST ALWAYS the case that the Newer version of the operating system WILL support applications created with an earlier version, but not the other way around.
Arthur Wood
It is almost always a VERY VERY bad idea to try to make an application that is BACKWARDS compatible. The biggest problem will be that DLLs that are internal to the Newer operating system WILL ALMOST ALWAYS not be loadable under the older version of the operating system. It is ALMOST always advisable to create the application with the LOWEST (earliest) version of the operating system that you intend to support. It is again, ALMOST ALWAYS the case that the Newer version of the operating system WILL support applications created with an earlier version, but not the other way around.
Arthur Wood
Agree with Arthur Wood. We have a mix of 95, 98, 2000, and NT. We are doing the development on Win 95 machines and have installed to all other platforms with minimal problems.
good luck
mlmcc
good luck
mlmcc
Although I agree in concept, Microsoft has done a very good job with making all upgraded components backward-compatible. However, since XP uses a lot of new components and they all have NT security in mind, there certainly could be some issues with that.
Can you take the source code and bring it to another non-XP machine to see if it will run? If not, you'll know what pieces are missing. Is so, try running the deployment wizard from that machine.
Can you take the source code and bring it to another non-XP machine to see if it will run? If not, you'll know what pieces are missing. Is so, try running the deployment wizard from that machine.
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ASKER
hmmm..
I shifted the project to win98 and had the same P & D problem. The project DID run on the development machine but i had the same problems running on other 98 machines. However XP did run the project. From your discussions i can safely assume why.
I do agree development should take place on the lowest common OS but my development team was probably too naive in that approach.
As for the problem at hand.. we finally found that it due to a faulty VB dll (windows common controls 6.0) FM20.dll. We downloaded the patch for it from microsoft and the project has started to install.
I would like to focus the question back to where i started it and need ur guidance in the installation process for future. I need minimum required drivers so that my access db (at the backend of the application) could run on any win9x and win2k/nt machines.Which version of access should i use to develop the db. Should i install mdac2.5 along with the application? should i use any other version? What if there was a newer version of mdac already installed. Besides ocx controls and vb references, what else needs to be installed to make sure the application runs on a machine.
thanx.
I shifted the project to win98 and had the same P & D problem. The project DID run on the development machine but i had the same problems running on other 98 machines. However XP did run the project. From your discussions i can safely assume why.
I do agree development should take place on the lowest common OS but my development team was probably too naive in that approach.
As for the problem at hand.. we finally found that it due to a faulty VB dll (windows common controls 6.0) FM20.dll. We downloaded the patch for it from microsoft and the project has started to install.
I would like to focus the question back to where i started it and need ur guidance in the installation process for future. I need minimum required drivers so that my access db (at the backend of the application) could run on any win9x and win2k/nt machines.Which version of access should i use to develop the db. Should i install mdac2.5 along with the application? should i use any other version? What if there was a newer version of mdac already installed. Besides ocx controls and vb references, what else needs to be installed to make sure the application runs on a machine.
thanx.
Hi,
We have found that in order get applications to install and function correctly, we need to ensure that IE is installed (we install IE 5.5 SP2), MDAC (we install all versions - 2.12, 2.5, 2.6 and 2.7) and JET 4.0 SP3 to ensure that Access compatibility is maintained.
Once these have been installed - we install our software which then seems to run without any glitches.
Our software is developed in VB6, and uses RDO and ADO (the RDO is left over from VB5 and we have not had the time to conver the app completely to ADO).
I know you are looking for the simplest solution, but we have found that simple isn't always sufficient,and have opted for a complete / thorough installation instead.
The only other problems we've encountered are with COMCAT.DLL. Apparently, the versions of OLEAUT32 and COMCAT are tightly integrated. On some NT machines, we've had problems where a newer version of COMCAT.DLL is installed by our APP and then certain things fail to register or run.
There is an MSDN article on this, but I do not have the reference handy.
HTH,
Alon
We have found that in order get applications to install and function correctly, we need to ensure that IE is installed (we install IE 5.5 SP2), MDAC (we install all versions - 2.12, 2.5, 2.6 and 2.7) and JET 4.0 SP3 to ensure that Access compatibility is maintained.
Once these have been installed - we install our software which then seems to run without any glitches.
Our software is developed in VB6, and uses RDO and ADO (the RDO is left over from VB5 and we have not had the time to conver the app completely to ADO).
I know you are looking for the simplest solution, but we have found that simple isn't always sufficient,and have opted for a complete / thorough installation instead.
The only other problems we've encountered are with COMCAT.DLL. Apparently, the versions of OLEAUT32 and COMCAT are tightly integrated. On some NT machines, we've had problems where a newer version of COMCAT.DLL is installed by our APP and then certain things fail to register or run.
There is an MSDN article on this, but I do not have the reference handy.
HTH,
Alon
We recently resolved a problem with installing on 98 from a 2000 package. It turned out to be that SHLWAPI.dll was being upgraded and caused Windows to fail, presumably because this has a hidden dependency on something else.
With InstallShield, we told it to simply ignore installing this if it already exists. Now the install works.
Normally, you tell the installation app to only *upgrade* components (i.e. replace if there is a newer version or, if no version stamp, a newer timestamp.)
We've also had to tell it to install MDAC (we just use 2.5 for our ADO) ... IF MDAC is not already installed.
With InstallShield, we told it to simply ignore installing this if it already exists. Now the install works.
Normally, you tell the installation app to only *upgrade* components (i.e. replace if there is a newer version or, if no version stamp, a newer timestamp.)
We've also had to tell it to install MDAC (we just use 2.5 for our ADO) ... IF MDAC is not already installed.
ASKER
hi again,
Thank you for your help.
I need to split the points. how do i do that ?
Thank you for your help.
I need to split the points. how do i do that ?
Add a zero-point question in the Customer Support topic area with this question's URL and how you'd like the points split. They'll then give you further instructions.
khurshid
I reduced the points to 50 and refunded the rest. Please accept AlonHirsch's comment as an answer and post questions for Arthur Wood (30p) and rspahitz(20p) with a title like : "Points for xxx" and a body "For your help in <URL>."
** Mindphaser - Community Support Moderator **
I reduced the points to 50 and refunded the rest. Please accept AlonHirsch's comment as an answer and post questions for Arthur Wood (30p) and rspahitz(20p) with a title like : "Points for xxx" and a body "For your help in <URL>."
** Mindphaser - Community Support Moderator **
Force accepted
** Mindphaser - Community Support Moderator **
Arthur Wood and rspahitz, there will be a separate question with points for your help.
** Mindphaser - Community Support Moderator **
Arthur Wood and rspahitz, there will be a separate question with points for your help.
If it's giving you problems, you might want to start by examining your project references. Maybe some of them are incompatible with XP. Can you list some of the errors?