Question

i would like the user to think he’s using a regular winform, but in the backend i want to have access handle the DB stuff.

is it possible to just use the access form and have everything else disappear in the background? can we make an exe out of the form?

what is MDE?

Answer 1

You cant make an EXE out of an access database as others have said but you can go a long way to hiding the fact that your application is written in access. For example you can…

• Add a custom splash screen

To do that just save a BMP file in the same folder as your DB and call it exactly the same file name i.e. MyDatabase.BMP. When access launches instead of seeing the access splash screen you will see your custom one.

• Change the taskbar icon

On your database go to Tools-Startup and change the Application Icon to an icon of your choice

• Change the icon on your forms

You can change the icon on your forms from the standard access one to anything you like, paste this code into a module

Option Compare Database
Option Explicit

Private Declare Function LoadImage Lib "user32" _
   Alias "LoadImageA" _
   (ByVal hInst As Long, _
   ByVal lpsz As String, _
   ByVal un1 As Long, _
   ByVal n1 As Long, _
   ByVal n2 As Long, _
   ByVal un2 As Long) _
   As Long

Private Declare Function SendMessage Lib "user32" _
   Alias "SendMessageA" _
   (ByVal hwnd As Long, _
   ByVal wMsg As Long, _
   ByVal wParam As Long, _
   lParam As Any) _
   As Long

Private Declare Function GetSystemMetrics Lib "user32" (ByVal nIndex As Long) As Long

Private Const WM_SETICON = &H80
Private Const IMAGE_ICON = 1
Private Const LR_LOADFROMFILE = &H10
Private Const SM_CXSMICON    As Long = 49
Private Const SM_CYSMICON    As Long = 50

Public Function SetFormIcon(hwnd As Long, strIconPath As String) As Boolean
    Dim lIcon As Long
    Dim lResult As Long
    Dim x As Long, y As Long

    x = GetSystemMetrics(SM_CXSMICON)
    y = GetSystemMetrics(SM_CYSMICON)
    lIcon = LoadImage(0, strIconPath, 1, x, y, LR_LOADFROMFILE)
    lResult = SendMessage(hwnd, WM_SETICON, 0, ByVal lIcon)
End Function

Then you can call it like this on the forms OnOpen event

SetFormIcon Me.hwnd, (“C:\Stuff\NewIcon.ico")