Distributing an Access application

[Larry Pittman]

I have a project that's due but I have some parameters that I'm not
sure how to meet.

I need to distribute an Access App using version 2000/2002 to a wide
group of people. I will not be able to control who gets this app, but
I need to make it as secure as possible and at the same time have it
work with the same workgroup they're already working in. Or, unless I
can programmatically unjoin and join a workgroup then it's no big
deal. It's ok if they have to log in, but I can't have them looking at
code and changing reports.

Can anyone help with this? If we have to pay for a 3rd party product,
then that's ok, but I need to be able to do this.

Are their any good books for this?

Thanks in advance!

-Larry

 

[Lynn Trapp]

Get a copy of the Security FAQ document, read it several times, and follow
it to the letter. There is a link to it on the Security page of my website.

 

[Joan Wild]

In addition to securing the application (you can secure it and not require a
login), you can also distribute a MDE, which will prevent any tampering with
code or reports.

 

[Ali]

Hi,

I've had a very similar problem where I had to create a
survey using Access and have people log on to bring up
their surveys and etc.

The way I implemented security was to create a
username/password table where usernames and passwords were
kept. Then I turned off all menus, toolbars and all that
stuff and also unclicked everything under Startup options.
I also implemented code to prevent people from using the
Shift key to view code and tables. Maybe it was a very
amateur way of approaching the problem, but it worked. I
thought this would be an easy way after reading all that
Access security stuff. Then all I did was to put the file
on some shared folder with read, write, execute and modify
rights.

I hope that helps

Ali

 

[Rick Brandt]

Hi,

I've had a very similar problem where I had to create a
survey using Access and have people log on to bring up
their surveys and etc.

The way I implemented security was to create a
username/password table where usernames and passwords were
kept. Then I turned off all menus, toolbars and all that
stuff and also unclicked everything under Startup options.
I also implemented code to prevent people from using the
Shift key to view code and tables. Maybe it was a very
amateur way of approaching the problem, but it worked. I
thought this would be an easy way after reading all that
Access security stuff. Then all I did was to put the file
on some shared folder with read, write, execute and modify
rights.

As long as you understand that this will only be "secure" from people who have no
idea how to use Access then that's ok. For instance a user could open any other
Access file and import or link to your password table and then know all of the
UserNames and Passwords.

 

[Terry Kreft]

There's a command line switch to tell Access which workgroup file to use.

So you
Create your app and secure it against a workgroup file of your own
Distribute the app and the workgroup file
During the installation process create shortcuts to your ap and include
th e/wrkgrp switch to point to your workgroup file


Terry