Detect MDAC

dunnie · July 12th, 2003, 03:12 PM

Hello
I am looking for some code to detect if the presents of MDAC exists
and display a msgBox stating weather or not it exists and if so which version is installed.

Can anyone help?

phil · July 14th, 2003, 03:12 AM

The MDAC Component Checker should do that, but it's a stand-alone utility. I'd also be interested to see if it can be done with VB code, but somehow I suspect not.

Here's the URL for the Component Checker anyway:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...DisplayLang=en

Imar · July 14th, 2003, 03:34 AM

Hi there,

You may be able to use the Version property of a Connection object:

Code:

Dim connTest As ADODB.Connection
Set connTest = New ADODB.Connection
MsgBox (connTest.Version)

Even when the application references version 2.1, this will return 2.7 (on my system).

It's not fool proof and you'll need ugly On Error Resume Next statements to catch systems that don't have ADO installed at all but it might just be enough for your purposes.

Alternatively, you could write code that checks versions of DLLs or does a registry lookup. I am not sure where exactly the information is stored, but you could search the registry for the GUIDs of ADO objects:

00000206-0000-0010-8000-00AA006D2EA4 (2.6)
EF53050B-882E-4776-B643-EDA472E8E3F2 (2.7)

If you're lucky, this may help you to find some more clues about the version information stored in the registry.

HtH

Imar

---------------------------------------
Imar Spaanjaars
Everyone is unique, except for me.

pgtips · July 17th, 2003, 08:18 AM

Try this registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\DataAccess\F ullInstallVer

dunnie · July 17th, 2003, 01:02 PM

Thanks to everyone who replied.
Let me try to explain a little more what I need.
my partner and I are working on a program that requires MDAC.
When the program setup is run, I need to test for MDAC and if it exists
then setup can continue but if it does not exist I need to stop setup and
display a msgBox stating mdac must be installed prior to setup.

I tried what you said Imar but this would have to be put into an install I
believe
and it requires MDAC also so I don,t think I can make that work.

And Phil, I'm not sure if I can make the component checker work in our
setup.

Is there any code we can use to check for the registery value pgtips posted?

Thanks again
Rick

xgbnow · July 17th, 2003, 01:15 PM

This is not an answer but I have a some thoughts and a similar question.

1. What are you using for the install?

Previously, I had been using the package and deployment wizard but within the last year I have started using Visual Studio Installer to create the Windows Installer packages. One of the things I liked in the package and deployment wizard is I could include the MDAC executable and it would run the setup. I have not been able to do this with the Visual Studio Installer. The closest I have been able to come is use the "Register Now" button to call the MDAC exe. So, far this has not been a big concern of mine since the development I am doing these days is in house. Soon that will be changing a bit. i don't want to have a hokey setup like that.

Now to my point, the MDAC executable will only install the required files if they do not exist. I read this recently on one of Microsoft's sites. If the executable can run as a standard part of the install package no harm is done. As I mentioned this was achievable with the package and Deployment wizard. But I have not been able to obtain that functionality using the Visual Studio Installer. I have tried to edit the install using ORCA as presented in one of WROX publications, Professional VB6 2003, but am unable to find what I need.

Summary: Why not include the MDAC exe as part of the typical setup and let it run?

Larry Asher

dunnie · July 17th, 2003, 02:34 PM

Thanks Larry
We use inno setup. The problem with bundling the 2 together is the install is 5mg and mdac is a little over that. this program is downloadable from a web site and mdac may already be installed on most computers so we don't want to tote this thing around if there is no need. But if it is needed then it also can be downloaded, installed and then the setup for the program can be run.
Rick

stephanel · July 17th, 2003, 02:53 PM

I agree with Larry, you should always run the MDAC installation. One of my colleague experience problem with the check code to see if the MDAC 2.6 is installed. Some times, it would says that the 2.6 version was installed when in reality it was partially installed. So when the user was running the software it crashed because of that. So if you always run the MDAC installation, you should be able to avoid this problem.

Check this Article of MSDN for information with the MDAC installation and redistribution: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...dacinstall.asp and http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...redistmdac.asp

StÃ©phane Lajoie

dunnie · July 17th, 2003, 03:09 PM

Thanks everyone.
Looks like decision time.
I will run this past my partner and see if we can hash
this out.
Rick