Where is workgroup manager in access 2007?

[Guest]

I can not locate Workgroup Administrator in access 2007 BTR2. I found
references to workgroup manager but can not locate a way to launch it. Any
ideas would be appreciated.

 

[Joan Wild]

Security has been removed in 2007 for the new accdb format. It is still
there for backwards compatibility though.

You should just create a desktop shortcut with the following in the target:
"path to msaccess.exe" "path to mdb" /wrkgrp "path to mdw"

If you really want to change your default mdw using the administrator you
can use
DoCmd.RunCommand acCmdWorkgroupAdministrator

 

[Douglas J. Steele]

There is no user-level security in Access 2007, therefore I wouldn't expect
to find a Workgroup Administrator capability.

 

[Granny Spitz via AccessMonster.com]

I found
references to workgroup manager but can not locate a way to launch it.

I hear there's no button on the ribbon for it so you have to write VBA code
to call it.

RunCommand acCmdWorkgroupAdministrator

 

[Guest]

The on-line help references Workgroup Manager so I thought it was renamed
from Workgroup Administrator. Anyway, there is a security wizard in access
2007 [Database tools], [Users and Permissions], [User-Level Security Wizard]
that does create a mdw file so there is actually user level security in 2007,
just no way to easily access it once you create the mdw file through the
wizard.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Joan, I added the /wrkgrp parm to my Access 2007 launch shortcut and
now I can open all of our secured databases. Hope workgroup administrator is
added to the final release, adding the parm to everyone's desktop would be
very time consuming. I guess a workaround would be to create a separate
shortcut directory on our LAN that has the /wrkgrp parm embeded.

 

[Chris Mills]

The /wrkgrp parm has reasonably had to be embedded in the command line ever
since Access2000 and earlier, so you're talking of two different things:

-embedding /wrkgrp in command-line is standard practise since A97 or A2.0.
-A2007 only supports workgroups (ULS) as a legacy concession (meaning it's
still implemented but not available for "new" apps or no-doubt not for
modifications such as the Workgroup Administrator.

It won't be added to any final release (my understanding, MS have already
decided to obsolete ULS and workgroups). This means, if you want to use ULS,
you have to write your program in a previous version of Access, and A2007
might then deem to run it. I expect you would need to maintain it via an older
version.

If you run ULS or workgroups in Access2007, you are running in LEGACY MODE.
Given MS quite good history of legacy compatibility, and the extensive
implementation of ULS, this could be so for quite some time. It's just (I
imagine) you can't modify it with A2007.

(Have I expressed this right?)
(personally I think the removal of ULS for new apps sucks. It's as though, one
of my customers complained invoicing on my app was too difficult, so I said
"Easy...I'll just remove the invoicing!"
)
Chris

I haven't finished. I refused to implement A2003 because of the licensing
stuff (let alone whether it had usefull advancements). Now I refuse to
consider A2007 because it removes basic required functionality/or intends to.
What is MS playing at? They already know that, if developers don't like a new
Access, they are quite capable of keeping old versions going for 10yrs or
more. And developers have more influence (by no means total) on customers than
MS may think.

 

[Guest]

Chris,

Your are correct that in access 2000 and earlier workgroup administrator was
a separate app but you never had to run it with a command line just had to
run the mswrkgrpadmin.exe and join the shared workgroup file on each PC, once
done you are prompted for the login info, in access 2003 however, workgroup
administrator was added to the menu bar but worked the same as the separate
app in previous versions, now in access 2007, I can not even find a separate
app let alone a menu bar to launch it, this is the 1st version where you are
forced to use the /wrkgrp parm.

 

[Joan Wild]

Tek,

Even with previous versions, it wasn't adviseable to 'join' a secure mdw.
That would mean you'd have to login no matter what mdb you used (even
unsecure ones). Or if you had more than one mdw file, you'd have to keep
joining each one; rather tedious

Of course if you *never* use unsecure databases, and all your databases use
the same secure mdw, then you might have a case for joining the secure one
by default.

Normally though, one would want to remain joined to the standard system.mdw
that ships with Access. This one will be used by default for all sessions.
Then for your secure mdb files, you'd create/use a desktop shortcut with the
/wrkgrp switch, which would over-ride the default for that session.

The workgroup administrator will not be added to 2007.

 

[Guest]

Joan,

Now we are on the same page. We have numerous access databases in use, we
use one mdw file for all and manage users and groups though Workgroup
Administrator, we do this because we don't want users modifying our queries,
reports etc. I guess we are one of the few that use access workgroup
administrator the way it was intended. Is there a new method for handling
object permissions in access 2007? It would really be neat if it actually
used windows authentication or active directory to manage groups and
permissions for objects...

 

[Joan Wild]

'don't want users to modify our queries/reports' I can understand that, but
I assume your database is split and you create a MDE of the frontend for
distribution - that would take care of modifying reports/forms. As for the
queries, you can lock down the frontend interface so that they can't get to
the db window.

But I'm getting away from your scenario/question. There is no user level
security in Access 2007. Read more at
http://blogs.msdn.com/access/archive/2005/10/19/482845.aspx

 

[Guest]

Joan,

The mde works if we only had two types of users, developers and end users,
however, we have various levels of users, some that edit reports, others that
edit queries and also use the ULS for logging and pulling up reports that are
pertinent to the user based on login.

Thanks for the link, seems like quite a bit of debate on ULS, Erik didn't
answer the question of ULS though, in his blog he states that the new ULS
will have "clearer user-level security" which implies to me that there will
be a ULS...

 

[Joan Wild]

There is no ULS in 2007. You would basically roll your own using the
Windows login name, which you can capture with API calls - there's code at
the www.mvps.org/access site under API you can use.

 

[Jeff Conrad]

Just to clarify things a bit here.

Access 2007 supports ULS when databases are in the legacy MDB/MDE format. When opening a database in
those formats there is a chunk on the Database Tools Ribbon called Administer. The drop down list
called Users and Permissions has the typical screens you see in previous versions for setting
permissions/passwords, etc.

If, however, you are using the new file format (ACCDB) in 2007 then that chunk simply disappears off
the Ribbon (along with Replication). You can open some of the ULS UI elements like the Workgroup
Administrator through DoCmd.RunCommand I believe, but Access will simply ignore those settings for
ACCDB files.

--
Jeff Conrad
Access Junkie - MVP
http://home.bendbroadband.com/conradsystems/accessjunkie.html
Access 2007 Info: http://www.AccessJunkie.com

in message:

 

[Joan Wild]

Thanks Jeff, I thought I made that clear earlier, but perhaps not.