Database/Switchboard Security

[Guest]

Okay, all this security talk is kind of scaring me! I would consider myself
an advanced beginner user/creator of access databases. I did make a copy of
my database and tried the whole Security-Level User Wizard. Even though I
was in the Admin group and logging in, it did not seem as though I had
complete and total control over my database. Another problem, was that I
have a MS Word mail merge document that would use the database and once I put
the security in place, it would give me an error that I did not have access
to open the database.
Here's what I want: I want to have complete and total control of my
database. I have two users that I want to be able to add & modify data.
Then, I have a group of users that I want them to be able to view 1 report
and have access to 1 form. What's my best option?

 

[Keith Wilby]

Okay, all this security talk is kind of scaring me! I would consider
myself
an advanced beginner user/creator of access databases. I did make a copy
of
my database and tried the whole Security-Level User Wizard. Even though I
was in the Admin group and logging in, it did not seem as though I had
complete and total control over my database. Another problem, was that I
have a MS Word mail merge document that would use the database and once I
put
the security in place, it would give me an error that I did not have
access
to open the database.
Here's what I want: I want to have complete and total control of my
database. I have two users that I want to be able to add & modify data.
Then, I have a group of users that I want them to be able to view 1 report
and have access to 1 form. What's my best option?

The problem with the security wizard is that you don't learn anything about
security from it. If you want to implement security properly then you have
to understand how it works. The bad news is that you're in for an awful lot
of reading. The MS FAQ on Access security is the place to start, there's a
link on my website. There is no filler material in this document, you need
to understand it all.

There is a workaround for the mail merge problem but it's so long since I've
worked with it I'm afraid I've forgotten what it is, but it involves using a
rtf document as an intermediary. Can someone jump in here? Or maybe a
Google search might help ...

Keith.
www.keithwilby.com

 

[Joan Wild]

The problem with the security wizard is that you don't learn anything
about security from it. If you want to implement security properly
then you have to understand how it works. The bad news is that
you're in for an awful lot of reading. The MS FAQ on Access security
is the place to start, there's a link on my website. There is no
filler material in this document, you need to understand it all.

There is a workaround for the mail merge problem but it's so long
since I've worked with it I'm afraid I've forgotten what it is, but
it involves using a rtf document as an intermediary. Can someone
jump in here? Or maybe a Google search might help ...

Not aware of that workaround Keith, but I've not had a problem running a
Word merge from a secure mdb. I generally run it from within Access though.
DoCmd.SelectObject acQuery, qryName, True
DoCmd.RunCommand acCmdWordMailMerge
DoCmd.RunCommand acCmdWindowHide
DoCmd.OpenForm "someform"

Lately, I've changed to opening a recordset on the data to merge, and then
filled in bookmarks in a Word template.

 

[david epsom dot com dot au]

Okay, all this security talk is kind of scaring me! I would consider
myself
an advanced beginner user/creator of access databases. I did make a copy
of
my database and tried the whole Security-Level User Wizard. Even though I
was in the Admin group and logging in, it did not seem as though I had
complete and total control over my database. Another problem, was that I
have a MS Word mail merge document that would use the database and once I
put
the security in place, it would give me an error that I did not have
access
to open the database.
Here's what I want: I want to have complete and total control of my
database. I have two users that I want to be able to add & modify data.
Then, I have a group of users that I want them to be able to view 1 report
and have access to 1 form. What's my best option?

Give the restricted users a different database front end.

Ask the mail merge question in a word group: if you hunt
around you can find a way to specify the workgroup file,
user name, and password. One way is to put this information
into a DSN.

Or, if you work on the security, you can unsecure your
database just enough so that anonymous users can open
the database and read from the mailmerge source.

As an Access user, not a Word user, I normally export
from Access to a CSV or Doc file for small merges, and
to an XLS file for larger merges. My users seem to like
that: they like the ability to massage the data before
doing the merge.

(david)

 

[Keith Wilby]

Not aware of that workaround Keith, but I've not had a problem running a
Word merge from a secure mdb. I generally run it from within Access
though.
DoCmd.SelectObject acQuery, qryName, True
DoCmd.RunCommand acCmdWordMailMerge
DoCmd.RunCommand acCmdWindowHide
DoCmd.OpenForm "someform"

Lately, I've changed to opening a recordset on the data to merge, and then
filled in bookmarks in a Word template.

Hi Joan, took a while to find but this is the code I used to run from a
command button in A97:

DoCmd.OutputTo acOutputQuery, "qryMerge", acFormatRTF, "MyPath\MyRTF.rtf"

stAppName = "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\WINWORD.EXE "
"MyPath\MyDoc.doc"
Call Shell(stAppName, 1)

The Word doc's data source was the RTF. This setup worked quite reliably
but I must admit I don't use mail merge any more so haven't tried your
solution.

Regards,
Keith.

 

[Guest]

Small change: most current installations of Access will require
you to write:

DoCmd.OutputTo acOutputQuery, "qryMerge", acFormatRTF, "MyPath\MyRTF.txt"

Export of RTF files with RTF or DOC extension has been
disabled: you need to use .TXT extension

On the other hand, the old limitation to 10-20 fields is gone. Word
now accepts (Word tables) with many fields.

(david)