How do you distribute the updates?

[ebs17]

It turned out that they upgraded Office to Microsoft 365 and this new Microsoft 365 had a bit more stringent security mechanism and a warning popped up during this update.

However, a huge problem remains if the user side changes their own installation significantly and the developer cannot anticipate this, let alone check and deal with it.

With a new Access version, new registry entries would have to be written to trustworthy storage locations, as a first step.

 

[shoji]

I wish to comment narrowly on this response. Shoji, have you ever noticed the way that Windows does it updates? The ONLY way you can keep a Windows system from updating is to remove it from the world wide web. Otherwise it will find a direct server or shadow server from which to draw its downloads. It will give you a time-limit on how long it will wait, and then it will just DO it. Is the Windows method something you would call "standard"?

Here is the simple answer to letting the user make a choice. A change to front-end only might not make a big difference regarding program stability. The FE-change-only cases usually mean the stubborn users don't get new abilities. BUT the moment you have a change that requires a BE update, that BE is shared among however many users you have. You CANNOT afford to let a single user hold up an entire organization because they don't want to make a change. That stubborn user becomes a road-block, which costs you and your company time and money while you are forced to sit on your thumbs until this user gets the message. It also holds up progress that might allow the company to work more efficiently than they would have using the older version that lacked certain features.

Hey Doc,

Thanks for the comment. My client company is small and enforcing the update is not a big deal. However, a couple people are using Office 2010 for the reason unrelated to my program and my program is developed with Office 2013. They are well aware that this will become an issue sooner or later. Meantime, I am still offering an option to not update the program.

Shoji

 

[ebs17]

What has not yet been mentioned: To distribute your own software, you can also use installer programs that only require the user to answer simple dialogs; if the conditions are standardized and remain the same, you could even save on the dialogs.
As example: https://jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php

 

[Moosak]

I used the Same mechanism that you are using. But I make this simple form in the FE to take the new updated FE to the server so the old FE always check if there is a new update at the startup.

This way required just few clicks from the application manager to setup the new updates.

1. Click Browse Btn then select the new updated FE that I already sent to hem.
( Automatically it will be copied to the certain folder in the server)
2. Set the date to the date that New update will starts.
3. Select [ Start applying new updates ? ] to confirm applying the new updates.

 

[isladogs]

Hi @isladogs , I would appreciate any notes/articles/links/documentation on how to set up a FE and BE with updates like you have done. I've just completed my first contractor job and am ready to distribute to the company. I'd apreciate any advice. Thanks!

Sorry but I've only just noticed this request.
As already mentioned, I've published the steps involved in my approach in several threads here and parts of it on my website.
I can't provide the exact code I use as doing so would make my apps less secure.

In short, I do the following
1. I use an installer app (I use SamLogic Visual Installer Pro but other installers are available) to distribute all my commercial apps - both full versions and updates. The .exe files include all required files, SQL Server scripts to update the BE where appropriate and script to update the registry etc. The files are all available from hidden pages on my website.
2. For application updates, program admins are alerted automatically when opening my apps if a new version is available and the download path is provided.
This is all done in code and you can find an example app on my website showing how this is done

Web Version Checker

This example app is designed to show how users can be alerted to program updates on a specified web page.

www.isladogs.co.uk