Database Developing - version publishing

[clarencefriedman]

Hello,


I have built a database for my company with a stable front and back end. I am looking for a solution to swapping or modifying the front or back end versions easily, even while other users are logged on. Currently, I cannot delete or modify the front or back end while another user has it open.

I could copy the front end, modify it, publish it, then tell people to use the new one, but there is no guarantee people will listen, and there is no way to delete the old one if someone is still logged on... I was hoping for an easy solution like booting everyone off, making necessary changes, then letting everyone back on (this way people's shortcuts to my front end stay the same, and most will never know when a version change takes place). As of now I haven't figured out macros or user rights to let me do this.

If someone knows a good way to set themselves up as having special 'developer' rights to their software or a quick way of booting everyone off so that I can open the database exclusively, that would be great.

I am relatively new to Access and very new to these forums, so please forgive my naivete.

Thank you all for your help,

[pdebaets]

One solution is to have each user with their own copy of the application front-end, then have a startup program check for an updated "master" front-end and then download it to the end user's computer before executing it. We have a free tool that handles this for you (http://peterssoftware.com/aps.htm) and there's Tony Toews' Auto FE Updater (http://www.granite.ab.ca/Access/autofe.htm).

With this kind of setup, the "master" front end is never opened by the end users, so it is always available to modify (though you should modify a copy of it, and only replace the "master" after you've tested your modifications).

To modify the back-end, you will need to kick the users out. We have a few tools to help with this - our Force Shut Down utility (http://peterssoftware.com/fsd.htm) and our Back-End Updater (http://peterssoftware.com/beu.htm).

[boblarson]

One solution is to have each user with their own copy of the application front-end, then have a startup program check for an updated "master" front-end and then download it to the end user's computer before executing it. We have a free tool that handles this for you (http://peterssoftware.com/aps.htm) and there's Tony Toews' Auto FE Updater (http://www.granite.ab.ca/Access/autofe.htm).

And I'll add mine into the mix as well:
http://www.btabdevelopment.com/ts/freetools

(I've got many municipalities, the US Marine Corps, BAE Systems, Providence Health System and more using mine)

[clarencefriedman]

Thanks guys,

Those are exactly the solutions I was looking for.

Cheers,