Locking down a field in a table

[Guest]

Hello. I have a table that gives details for biological samples. The
samples are held in racks with labels designating each samples location in
the rack.
My table has about 12 fields containing all details needed for each sample,
including the location of each sample in a rack.
My question is: Is there a way to lock down the location field in table
veiw so that it cannot be deleted or changed by accident? The other fields
can be editable, but I want the Location filed to be un-editable. I did this
with a form, but I was wondering if it is also possible to do this through
table options.

Thanks for any help!

Brian

 

[Rick Brandt]

Hello. I have a table that gives details for biological samples. The
samples are held in racks with labels designating each samples
location in the rack.
My table has about 12 fields containing all details needed for each
sample, including the location of each sample in a rack.
My question is: Is there a way to lock down the location field in
table veiw so that it cannot be deleted or changed by accident? The
other fields can be editable, but I want the Location filed to be
un-editable. I did this with a form, but I was wondering if it is
also possible to do this through table options.

Thanks for any help!

Brian

Not without setting up User Level Security (an advanced topic). For users
not that familiar with Access you can use various means to hide the table or
otherwise make it difficult to access directly, but actually locking down a
field is not possible with a simple setting.

 

[Guest]

Hello. I have a table that gives details for biological samples. The
samples are held in racks with labels designating each samples location in
the rack.
My table has about 12 fields containing all details needed for each sample,
including the location of each sample in a rack.
My question is: Is there a way to lock down the location field in table
veiw so that it cannot be deleted or changed by accident? The other fields
can be editable, but I want the Location filed to be un-editable. I did this
with a form, but I was wondering if it is also possible to do this through
table options.

Thanks for any help!

Brian

Tables are the core of a database, it is considered bad practice to view
data directly in a table because it can too easily be altered. As far as I am
aware it is not possible to lock fields within a table. When viewing or
manipulating data one should always use a form designed for the purpose so
that the table holding the key data is safely in the background out of harms
way.

 

[Joan Wild]

No, you can't do this in the table. Users should not have access to the
tables, and instead use just the forms and reports you have provided.

There are a number of things you can do to keep the idle curious away from
your tables. Backup your database; you can easily lock yourself out playing
around with these features.

Create custom menus/toolbars for use throughout your application.
Create a startup form (a main menu form if you have one) that is opened on
startup.
Use the features in Tools, Startup to
set the startup form
set your default menu (the custom one you made)
disable all the checkboxes about allowing built in menus, toolbars,
changes etc.
hide the db window (ensure the custom menu you create does not
include the Windows, Unhide item)
Click on the Advanced button and uncheck the allow special keys
(this will disable the F11 key, among others)

If you need to bypass these startup features, you can hold the shift key
down while you open the db. If you feel that your users may use this to
bypass your settings, you can disable the shift key bypass - there's an
example in help for doing this(look for AllowBypassKey) or at
http://www.mvps.org/access/modules/mdl0011.htm
and
http://www.mvps.org/access/general/gen0040.htm

You can also create a MDE from your database, which will prevent changes to
forms, reports and modules (If you do this, be certain to keep your original
mdb in case you need to make changes).

None of this will keep the determined out. All they need to do is start a
new db and link to your's, but this may suffice for your purposes.