Re: Newbie nervous about OCXes and reliability.

Tech-Archive recommends: Repair Windows Errors & Optimize Windows Performance

"MM" <kylix_is@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:vtvlp313qt3qn4a8n3bfu5emekombpv6ro@xxxxxxxxxx
On Fri, 25 Jan 2008 09:23:57 -0800, "Ken Halter"

But what about overwriting MSVBVM60.DLL from XP on a Windows 98/SE
system, for example? What about the myriad files involved with MDAC?
"should be fairly safe" is like using a condom that's ten years old.

Only if the package is authored by that 10 year old <g> Most people know
you're not supposed to distribute OS specific versions of *anything*

These files are *not* OS specific and were specifically included for
distribution purposes
.....\Microsoft Visual Studio\VB98\Wizards\PDWizard\Redist

These files are *not* OS specific and were specifically packaged for
distribution purposes

Download Service Pack 5 Merge Modules
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/aa718363.aspx

These files are *not* OS specific and were specifically packaged for
distribution purposes

VBRun60sp6.exe installs Visual Basic 6.0 SP6 run-time files
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290887

These files are *not* OS specific and were specifically packaged for
distribution purposes

MDAC Downloads
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/data/aa937730.aspx

MDAC Utility: Component Checker
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=8F0A8DF6-4A21-4B43-BF53-14332EF092C9&displaylang=en

If your setup packages include anything from Sys32, you're on your own....
we can let "newbies" get away with not knowing this stuff... but, come on!
How long is someone supposed to be classified as a "newbie"? If you're
writing apps for Windows, at the minimum, you should know a little something
about the way it works.

Some things are unexplainable. Although future versions of a DLL are
SUPPOSED to be backwards compatible in all respects, we know that
sometimes quirks are thrown up. So what do you say to the organisation
with very deep pockets which has relied, perhaps unknowingly, on those
quirks for five years in which their app has functioned perfectly,
then your app overwrites something, your installer saying, "Nah! We
don't want THAT ol' thing no more, pardner!"

It's up to the developer to make the decision whether or not to keep their
customers running on "known bugs" or provide the work-around that will still
"work-around" when/if that bug is ever fixed.

If these are "home grown" OCXs you're dealing with, keep in mind that
there's nothing forcing you to install an app to Sys32. That folder's
there
for DLLs and programs that rely on a path that's included in the Path
environment variable. OCXs (ActiveX) isn't. They can be installed
literally
anywhere, as long as they're registered correctly.

But if his OCX is loaded BEFORE the "main" one, then that's the one
that's gonna be used by all apps, right?

MM

All of *your* apps, maybe. If its an OCX your company installs and your
company can't manage to keep their pants on straight, when it comes to
compatibility, maybe they should take a look at my ComGuard add-in <g>

--
Ken Halter - MS-MVP-VB - Please keep all discussions in the groups..
In Loving Memory - http://www.vbsight.com/Remembrance.htm


.

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