Microsoft said:
1. How do I access the name of the user in Access 2000? Is this the same
as the person who signed into the network on Win 98SE or Windows XP?
The two are different. The access login name is useful only if you have
implemented Acess user level security, which requires users to login to
the database; otherwise, all users are automatically logged in as
"Admin". The Access login name can be retrieved with CurrentUser().
The Windows/network login name can be retrieved either by an API call in
code:
http://www.mvps.org/access/api/api0008.htm
or by retrieving the environment variable value:
Environ("UserName")
The first approach is the safe one, the second is a shortcut which, in
theory, involves the risk of the user changing the environment variable
to "cheat". It is very convenient that none of my users know what an
environment variable is, let alone how to change it (I admit that I have
not managed it myself), so for non-critical apps security-wise I take
the shortcut. Your choice.
2. Is this a read-only value that cannot be programmically as people
migrate temporarily from computer to computer?
In the case of Access user level security there is no issue with
portability, a user can log in on any PC as themselves, regardless of
the network login.
The network login is a different story; a user can, in effect, login as
themselves on any PC on the network, but there is no guarantee they
will, (a) because it takes time tht can be saved if another user is
already logged in, (b) because they will get a very basic working
environment without their personal settings on their PC, and limited
rights, and (c) even because some users don't even realize they could
log in as themselves on someone else's PC! So, relying on network login
should be given some consideration if you have "mobile" users, and user
identification is critical to your app.
HTH,
Nikos
