Shared v. Exclusive Access

[Guest]

Have I misunderstood the difference all along?

Can/would anyone out there take just a moment and explain, from Microsoft's
point of view, exactly what shared access means and what exclusive access
means?

Is MS Access capable of allowing multiple users in the same database? If
so, what type of access are the subsequent users granted upon entry - User #1
obviously would not be restricted upon initial entry.

Any insight would be most helpful as I have been battling with this
security/permissions issue for nearly 2 months and my users are about to hang
me!

With respect to all who graciously help,

Bob

 

[Joan Wild]

Have I misunderstood the difference all along?

Can/would anyone out there take just a moment and explain, from
Microsoft's
point of view, exactly what shared access means and what exclusive access
means?

Is MS Access capable of allowing multiple users in the same database?
Yes

If
so, what type of access are the subsequent users granted upon entry - User
#1
obviously would not be restricted upon initial entry.

Depends. As long as all users have the proper Windows permission on the
folder (modify in this case), then subsequent users will be able to open the
database and only then would they be restricted based on their Access
permissions. There may be conflicts if two users are updating the same
record at the same time, but Access throws up messages to the users in this
case.

If users don't have the modify permission on the folder, then the first
person in will not be able to create the ldb file, and will open the
database exclusively.

Any insight would be most helpful as I have been battling with this
security/permissions issue for nearly 2 months and my users are about to
hang
me!

Provide some details on the battle; we'll provide some reinforcements and
help you slay the beast.

 

[Guest]

Thank you Joan.

This is what the beast looks like:

- The front is an A2K3 MDE.
- The backend is a SQL server. Tables are linked via ODBC.
- The folder wherein the frontend resides grants Full permissions to the
Everyone group
- The LDB file, when created by the 1st user, is indeed inheriting the
permissions set at the folder level. I've checked the security properties
while a user was in the database.
- ALL subsequent users have to satisfy 31 message prompts that they do not
have exclusive access. That's right ... 31 times, every time it is opened
.... aggravating, at the least!
- When I open the database, however, I don't get the message boxes. I have
admin privileges. When I log in with CITRIX, however, with the same network
logon, I get the 31 message boxes when opening.
- The 31 message boxes appear whether during the Startup routine or even if
I hold the Shift key to bypass the startup routine. In the latter case, the
database window is visible while I have to satisfy the 31 message boxes.

Whew! Is that a mouthful! Not sure there is anything more to divulge.
Perhaps this is enough for you (or anyone else) to troubleshoot.

I appreciate your attention. Feel free to ask more questions in your effort
to understand my dilemma. Any recommendations are welcomed and fully
appreciated as well

With respect,

Bob

 

[Joan Wild]

The '31 times' is the key, believe it or not. This is caused by Adobe
version 7. To fix...

Control Panel, Add/remove programs, find Adobe, click Modify -> create Adobe
PDF. Expand to Acrobat PDF Maker and expand to locate Access; deselect the
add-in for Access.

I would suggest that you put a copy of the frontend on each user's
workstation, rather than have them share the same frontend file on the
server.

 

[Guest]

Interesting ... none of our Access users have Adobe with an Access plugin (or
add-in).


However, the 2nd part of your post is what we've been kicking around here.
Do you know the variable reference to note the network logon name using vba
in Access? For example, when I logon to windows, my username is bbonta. Is
there a way (and how) to obtain that username in Access vba?

Thanx!

 

[Joan Wild]

http://www.mvps.org/access/api/api0008.htm

I have not heard of other software causing the 31 messages.

 

[Guest]

Thanx Joan ... the link to the function works like a charm. I have separate
folders for each user. I use that function to detect the network login
username and that is the folder to which I launch the MDE file.

Shouldn't be any conflicts now ... !


~ Bob Bonta ~

 

[Guest]

The 31 message boxes come up as something tries to
modify 31 database properties. (for some obscure reason
it tries to lock the entire database file whenever it changes
a database property).

Interesting ... none of our Access users have Adobe with

So is it possible that they are getting the messages because
they DON'T have Adobe - they need the same permission
to remove the properties as they would to add them.

Given that you have counted 31 message boxes, I would
think that it was unlikely to be anything other than Adobe:
anything else would probably have a different number of
changes to make.

(david)

 

[Aaron Kempf]

shared vs exclusive is obsolete

move to Access Data Projects