VB6 Won't Open Access DB

[wisgro]

Worked with a tutorial that is supposed to open a db file for input. No matter how I write the file path I get error messages .
The first attempt to open the file path that came with the tutorial generated the error message “Couldn’t find file.”
The next two attempts are my doctoring. Attempt #2 generated error message “Unrecognized DB format.” Third attempt error message is, “File Not Found.” I use VB6, XP.

'Connect a database to a form
Dim dbMyDB As Database
Dim rsMyRS As Recordset

Private Sub form_load()

'Open DB Attempts
' First attempt, Set dbMyDB = OpenDatabase("MyDatabase.mdb")
' Second attempt, Set dbMyDB = OpenDatabase("C:\VisualBasic\ConnectToDB\MyDatabase.mdb")
‘Third attempt, Open App.Path & "MyDatabase.mdb" For Input As #1

Set rsMyRS = dbMyDB.OpenRecordset("MyTable", dbOpenDynaset)

If Not rsMyRS.EOF Then rsMyRS.MoveFirst
Do While Not rsMyRS.EOF
lstRecords.AddItem rsMyRS!Name
lstRecords.ItemData(lstRecords.NewIndex) = rsMyRS!ID
rsMyRS.MoveNext
Loop

End Sub
Private Sub lstRecords_Click()

rsMyRS.FindFirst "ID=" & Str(lstRecords.ItemData(lstRecords.ListIndex))
txtPhone.Text = rsMyRS!Phone

End Sub

[Phil Weber]

Second attempt is correct. Here's how to fix the "unrecognized database format" error: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/238401

[wisgro]

Thanks for responding so quickly Phil. Curious how I could set the path if I decide to share this with some colleagues no matter what folder they save it in. I thought App.Path was the way to go.

[Phil Weber]

The problem with App.Path is that non-administrators don't have write access to C:\Program Files. You should probably install the database to the user's AppData\Local folder and use the SHGetSpecialFolderLocation function to find it: http://hashvb.earlsoft.co.uk/Special_folders

[wisgro]

Interesting. A couple of years ago I wrote a small program that returns town names and zip codes when the user enters a telephone exchange. (The DB is a text file.) I used App.Path, shipped it to them and it works fine for them. Is that because I used a text file instead of access?

[Phil Weber]

No, it's probably because they're running as an Administrator on their PC. Unlike previous versions of Windows, Vista and Windows 7 do not make users Administrators by default.

[wisgro]

I see. The folks I sent the program to use XP and are likely designated administrators. Thanks Phil.