Support for MapPoint 2004 is currently broken, period.
I cannot find a runtime way to fix this.
According to the trepid MP programmers on
http://www.mapforums.com, my problem is "by design".
They justify this by saying that MP is backwards compatible, but not forwards compatible.
I semi-disagree.
The app I am distributing (CFMapPoint) includes MP2K6 interop dlls.
If MP is really backwards compatible like they say, it is these MP2K6 DLLs that should be able to work on MP2K4.
In reality, things are broken because MP2K4 is loading the MP2K6 interop dlls...and this fails.
MP2K4 can only load MP2K4 interop dlls.
MP2K6 can load both MP2K4 and MP2K6 interop dlls.
It is a semantical argument to say that MP2K6 either is or is not backwards compatible.
The point is that MP2K4 cannot load the MP2K6 interop dlls.
I have three solutions:
- Two seperate installers:
One for MapPoint 2004
One for MapPoint 2006
You will have to pick the correct installer; I can maybe to some friendly load-time check to see if you are using the wrong one.
- One large install file w/ both 2K4 and 2K6 interop DLLs that I reference via seperate namespaces.
I don't even know if the latter part is possible, but it may be worth a try.
The install size should not grow more than a few 100K.
- Drop MP2K4 support
I don't want to do this, because MP is expensive and I wouldn't want people to feel that they need to pay M$ money for MP2K6 just so they can run CFMapPoint.
#1 and #2 are complicated by the fact that I don't have a copy of MP2K4 handy (mine is buried deep somewhere in a storage shed).
I'll try to borrow a copy from a friend to tithe me over until I get my copy back out of storage in another month or two (once I move in to a new house).
Sorry...that's why we call this stuff Beta!
(I feel better that at least now I know the reason for the problem)
Pv