Tony's Microsoft Access Blog : Auto FE Updater

Version 1.83 of the Auto FE Updater is now available for download

Tony — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 05:36:12 GMT

The Auto FE Updater website has been had pages added with testimonials, feature list and many minor updates. A big addition was a detailed step by step tutorial on getting started setting up your first configuration file.

The latest update to the utility makes the process of initial user setup much easier. You will now be able to click on a button in the utility and paste a link into an email for a new user of your application. You will need to create a shortcut on the server for this option using the ServerShortCutPath entry.

Other updates include

- using code signing so the "Open File - Security Warning: The publisher could not be verified. Are you sure you want to run this software?" message no longer appears.

- a warning message appears if running the utility on a local hard drive. This can be ignored by using a IgnoreLocalExecuteMsg=yes line in the AutoFEUpdarer INI file

- if required you can turn the read only attribute of copied files off by using the Set Read Only attribute = off. This means you can make the FE folder on the server read only for users.

- Added a Licensed To text box to all the forms. See the voluntary licensing page for more details.

Many thanks to Clif McIrvin for all his work in figuring out an excellent solution in getting new users going on the Access app.

Version 1.82 of the Auto FE Updater available for download

Tony — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:34:09 GMT

I made some foolish, although thankfully minor, mistakes in the last version. Mostly because of not testing things sufficiently. I was in a hurry to get the Check for Updates enhancements available although that’s not a good excuse.

See the Download page for details and to download the latest update. Or if you’re running version 1.80 or newer then run the Check for Updates menu item.

Two new versions of the Auto FE Updater are available.

Tony — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 06:50:36 GMT

To download the latest version click Version 1.81

However in this release I added the ability to check for updates. Please download Version 1.80, test it, copy it to your server and then see if the logic to check for updates works. Then click on the Check for Updates menu item and ensure the program downloads version 1.81 and that it works. Please email if this does or doesn't work. Or post a note on this blog entry. Note that I will not give out your email address to anyone else.

Enhancements

- Stop the user from seeing the Access 2007 Security Warning - Certain content in this database has been disabled.

Set Access 2007 Trusted Location=yes can now be specified in the INI file.

All Access 2007 trusted locations are stored in the registry under
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Access\Security\Trusted Locations\
The Auto FE Updater utility creates registry keys based on the name of the INI file and creates the recommended sub keys with the update date and description of the key for full traceability in the future.

Note that it is a common assumption that you must use Location0, Location1, etc as a sub key which is what Access 2007 creates. This is an assumption. Which I made as well so you're not the only one.

- My Documents can now be specified in the MainApps entry

- Check for updates to the Auto FE Updater program.

- Added a button to place the CMD launcher line into the clipboard. When I recently did some testing of the Place shortcut target line into clipboard the text didn’t insert well into Outlook. Actually Outlook deleted some double quotes for reasons known only to the Outlook product group. So using the CMD launcher line works much better.

- Minor bug fixes and better error messages

Consider joining the Auto FE Updater group on LinkedIn to discuss the product, give me feedback or let me know what features you would like to see.. Or email me directly or post a comment to this blog entry.

Added an Initial User Install page to the Auto FE Updater site

Tony — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:06:09 GMT

I added an Initial User Install page to the Auto FE Updater web site.

If you use a different method of setting up initial startup for your users please let me know.

Also please let me know if you managed to figure out how to email a file share URL so Outlook doesn’t mangle it. <sigh> Either I’m dumb or Outlook is being way to frigging helpful.

Is Nothing

Tony — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:09:04 GMT

I’m working on some largish updates to the Auto FE Updater and I wanted to ensure that the new routine which logs errors would properly handle the situation if there were errors in the error logging routine. A great deal of searching a dimly remembered discussion brought me to fellow Access MVP Dirk GoldGar’s posting on this topic. How to know when a Connection or Recordset is open in Programming

If Not rs Is Nothing Then
    rs.Close: Set rs = Nothing
End If
If Not gblLogdb Is Nothing Then _
    gblLogdb.Close
MsgBox "The following error occurred in procedure Log_NewSession of Module Log" & vbCrLf & vbCrLf & _
    Err.Description & vbCrLf & vbCrLf & Command()

Note that the standard error handling routine, including the sub/function name and module name is created by MZTools. An excellent free utility which I use all the time.

I was rather startled. This isn’t even documented in Access 97 help. Allen Browne has a page on this general topic - Nothing? Empty? Missing? Null?

A new version of the Auto FE Updater is available – 1.79

Tony — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 06:15:47 GMT

Added ShortCutComment to INI file for the user to see when hovering over a shortcut.
Fixed bug where if creating both a Program Files shortcut with a folder and a desktop shortcut the utility would attempt to add the shortcut to a folder to the desktop
- Thanks to Noel Mann of New Zealand for the ShortCutComment suggestion and the above bug report
Utility will now correct shortcut icon where the user has updated that field or the admin wants to change them.
Fixed various minor bugs and created better error messages mostly in the area of shortcut handling

Visit the Auto Fe Updater site to download or click here.

New version of the Auto FE Updater available

Tony — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 03:52:26 GMT

Added ProgramsMenuFolder option to create a folder in your Start >> All Programs menu for such shortcuts.
Added buttons to open the server folder or the Main App Folder in Windows Explorer. If the user gets an error message they only see the button to open the Main App Folder.
Fixed bug where StartMDB.exe was staying in memory introduced in version 1.77
Changed StartMethod=FileExtension to use a different API call as the API call I chose to use did not handle file extensions longer than 3 characters consistently including ACCDB and ACCDE.
Remove Startmethod=FileExtensionSimple as it is now the same as StartMethod=FileExtension
Documented NewINIPathAndFile in the INI pages and updated the FAQ page. "This line is only used when moving servers or such as this will rewrite the path and name of the StartMDB exe and INI file in the target of the shortcut. This line is only placed in the old INI file."
Minor bug fixes, and some better error handling and clearer error messages in a few places.

Visit http://www.autofeupdater.com/download.htm to download

Auto FE Updater - "The publisher could not be verified. Are you sure you want to run this software?" message

Tony — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 22:34:27 GMT

I came across a posting that explained how to remove this message on an Intranet for a domain. Note that I’m not a security expert. Until I get a digital certificate you’re going to have to persuade your IT department.

"Open File - Security Warning: The publisher could not be verified. Are you sure you want to run this software?"

FindExecutable API call fails for ACCDB file extensions

Tony — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 21:22:58 GMT

The API call "FindExecutable: Find Exe Associated with a Registered Extension" fails on a file with the ACCDB extension. The API call does work fine with the MDB extension. Clicking on an ACCDB file in Windows Explorer does work. This is a on a new, fresh Win XP/Access 2007 install with nothing else on the system and no uninstalls, etc.

This has been confirmed by folks over in the microsoft.public.vb.general.discussion newsgroup.
Microsoft Communities - FindExecutable API call fails for ACCDB file extensions
Google Groups - FindExecutable API call fails for ACCDB file extensions

Note Mike Williams statement: "There were all sorts of strange anomalies where certain file extensions were found by FindExecutable and other file extensions were not, with (up to now) no apparent rhyme or reason behind it. "

Irony/Stupidity/Blind spot

That said ShellExecute will do what I want. I had a blind spot and forgot you could send it parameters. So I’ve spent several hours getting this API call working, or so I thought until someone hit this bug, for nothing. <sigh> Worse, I could’ve added some requested functionality to the Auto FE Updater a long time ago. <bigger sigh>

I will be issuing a new release of the Auto FE Updater in the next few days after I fix up a few other minor bugs.

A new version of the Auto FE Updater is available

Tony — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 22:53:11 GMT

A new version of the Auto FE Updater is available at my new, somewhat reorganized website http://www.autofeupdater.com/

Added FileExtension and FileExtensionSimple to the StartMethod. This now means the utility can be used for ADP/ADEs or any other file extension really. This method can be easier for the developer for testing purposes than AutoSelect if the developer is using Access 2003 on their system and has Access 2007 installed as the AutoSelect starts the newest version of Access. Thus causing the annoying wait while Access 2007 installs itself.

Added a debug checkbox to the developers form so you can see what the Auto FE Updater wants to do before you run the utility

Updated website showing the CreateShortCutOnPrograms and CreateShortCutOnCommonPrograms options which have been available for some considerable length of time but weren't documented on the website. Oops.

Microsoft Forefront is flagging the Auto FE Updater as a virus

Tony — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:32:58 GMT

I've just received an email from a user of the Auto FE Updater stating that Microsoft Forefront is flagging the StartMDB.exe as a virus.

If this happens to you try a newer or older version of the utility. Also please use the Microsoft Forefront Client Security Support Options page to inform them of the false positive.

When I receive more details from the user such as the version number I'll update this blog entry.

Added to the Auto FE Updater FAQ

Tony — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 08:15:50 GMT

Q: I'm moving the files from one server to another server. How do I easily use the Auto FE Updater to get the users to use the FE from a folder on the new server?
Q: I want to move the BE MDB to a different folder on the same server.

There are two parts to this. One is to replace the FE MDE so it's linked to the new server path and folder structure and the other to change the target of the shortcut to use the new Auto FE Updater INI file.

On the day of the switchover delete/rename the BE MDB file from the old server so just in case something gets missed they can't work with the old MDB file. You're moving it to a new server anyhow so don't leave it easily available on the old server.

Copy the new FE MDE which is linked to the new BE server and folder to the FE path on the old server. This way when the users run the old shortcut for the first time they will get switched over to the new FE MDE.

Update the AutoFEUpdater INI file on the old server to be the same as the INI file on the new server. When the users run the new INI for the first time they will get a warning message saying the shortcut on their system is different. Use the ShortcutErrorMessageHandling=2 option on the INI file on the old server to ignore that message so the shortcut gets updated transparently.

This can all be tested ahead of time.

http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/autofe/faq.htm

"Type mismatch" error in Auto FE Updater fixed.

Tony — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 20:05:48 GMT

A new version of the Auto FE Updater is available for download.

Version 1.76 - 2009-01-26

Fixed occasional "Type mismatch" error message. Thanks to Roy-Vidar Steining for being persistent in solving this baffling message.
Write date of file copied to local INI file in ISO yyyy-mm-dd format.

See "Type Mismatch" bug and line numbers in the Auto FE Updater for a complete explanation and an example of my stupidity.

"Type Mismatch" bug and line numbers in the Auto FE Updater

Tony — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 03:58:33 GMT

I've been getting intermittent email reports of a "Type Mismatch" error message in the Auto FE Updater. However the problem just wasn't making any sense. Thankfully the most recent person who emailed me was quite persistent and so the problem is solved pending the last version he is going to be testing very shortly.

The lengthy amount of delay in figuring out the problem was exacerbated by my own stupidity. I use a lot of API and other code especially from Randy Birch's VBnet Visual Basic Developers Resource Centre. I didn't bother adding my standard error handling routine in much of the code for whatever foolish rationale I can't quite figure out now. In hindsight of course. So the error message was passed back to upper level procedures where there was no numeric handling so I was greatly puzzled as to how some string manipulation was causing "Type Mismatch" messages.

Turns out the problem was due to converting the OS version number "5.1" string (meaning Windows XP) in systems where the decimal symbol is , (comma).

In that code look for the line

Text1(1).Text = win.VersionNum

In that example the code is being converted to a string so no problem. However my code converted it to a Single variable.

Now when I set the decimal symbol to comma on my own system the number gets converted to 51. And not 5.1. I'm not quite sure why Norwegians and others are getting type mismatch. But I'm not going to worry about that for now.

Thanks also to MZTools for having buttons to add and remove line numbers from subroutine and function calls. This allowed me to ship new versions of the Auto FE Updater to the tester and narrow down the line in the routines causing the problem. You can use the variable Erl to display the line number of the line of code causing the problem.

MsgBox "The following error occurred in procedure GetWinVerAll of Module APICalls" & vbCrLf & vbCrLf & _
Err.Description & vbCrLf & "Line Nbr: " & Erl & vbCrLf & vbCrLf & Command() & _
gblstrSupportMsg & gblstrCopyrightNotice

There are a variety of methods to determine the decimal symbol including API calls such as GetLocaleInfo: Regional Locale Numeric Settings. However Rick Rothstein, fellow MVP had the following elegant solutions.

DecimalPoint = Format$(0, ".")
DateSeparator = Format$(0, "/")
ThousandsSeparator = Mid$(Format$(1000, "#,###"), 2, 1)

Tony

P.S. In another day or two I'll have a release of the Auto FE Updater which solves this problem.

Added Auto FE Updater - The AutoFEUpdater.INI file page

Tony — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 02:40:57 GMT

I was asked the following question by Christopher Parker:

First off, I'd like to say I've found Auto FE Updater to be pretty useful. Thank you for developing it and releasing it to the world.
I've tried using comments in the AutoFEUpdater.INI file to annotate which computer name belongs to whom, and it seems like this breaks the INI file:
[Auto FE Updater Global Settings]
Master1=ComputerNameHere ; Person's Name Here
I've also tried # instead of ; and it still doesn't work. Does Auto FE Updater not support comments in the INI files?

Thanks for your kind words regarding the Auto FE Updater.

No, the Auto FE Updater doesn't support adding comments to the ends of the lines as that is extra logic I'd have to put in the code to strip out the additional text. However you can add lines to the INI file. Such as:

Master1=ComputerNameHere
ComputerNameHere belongs to John Smith.

Note that only developers work station names should be added to this file.'

I've added Auto FE Updater - The AutoFEUpdater.INI file to explain how this file works and to answer this question.

Thanks for asking, Tony

Minor updates to the Auto FE Updater

Tony — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 05:45:11 GMT

Version 1.74 of the Auto FE Updater is now available for download

Added FileNameToStart as an entry in the INI file so the MDB/MDE file name no longer needs to be on the MainApp line. This will simplify setting up the INI file.
Using the LowMacroSecurity means of starting Access will now start Access in maximized mode
UNC paths now supported in MainApp INI file entry.
Assorted minor bug fixes.

New version of Auto FE Updater available

Tony — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 00:25:00 GMT

- Windows Vista now supported.
- Starting an exe, such as the Sagekey runtime system, is now supported.
- Fixed the "The MDW account name and password in the INI file weren't valid for opening the MDB to determine the version of the MDB" message when in a mixed operating system work station environment.
- Emphasized using %appdata% as a location for the Front End MDB/MDE in the sample ini files and documentation
- Added error numbers to the messages. It was getting a bit difficult tracking down specific error messages in the code.

http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/autofe.htm

Using the Auto Front-End Updater by Tom Wickerath

Tony — Mon, 21 May 2007 23:58:00 GMT

Tom Wickerath, fellow Access MVP, created a downloadable file Using the Auto Front-End Updater which is an excellent alternative to my Getting started with the Auto FE Updater page . (Writing user friendly documentation is one of my few weaknesses.)

That page as been updated accordingly.