question for you.
So I have this Access 2007 database that I'm trying to lock down so that it can be deployed. The intent is for multiple users to run the front-end application simultaneously, connecting to the back-end tables over the network. However, I obviously don't want to give them access to the forms, settings, tables, etc.
I already tried using the ChangeProperty function for
AllowFullMenus
AllowSpecialKeys
AllowBypassKey
AllowShortcutMenus
AllowBuiltInToolbars
AllowToolbarChanges
AllowBreakIntoCode
But whenever anyone without macro's explicitly enabled opens the database, everything opens as if none of these settings are set. How can I get around this? I only use like 3 macros in the program, and none of them are related to the opening of the database or locking down the database.
Suggestions?
Thanks.
You can try distributing your front-end as a locked ACCDE file, this is the equivalent of the old MDE files from Access 2000. Details are available here: http://www.databasedev.co.uk/convert_to_accde_format.html
Related
I have a quick question: if both my MS-SQL back-end and MS-Access front-end are installed on a shared network drive, can the front-end be opened from different computers and the data still be synced correctly on the server? I am asking because we are having more employees located in different buildings. If possible, it would be easier to manage than walking everywhere to install the front-end.
Two people opened the front-end today and put in clinical cases simultaneously. When they opened it again, everything seemed to have synced, but could something wrong be happening? I am not sure.
if ... my ... MS-Access front-end [is] installed on a shared network drive, can the front-end be opened from different computers and the data still be synced correctly on the server?
What you seem to be describing is more than one concurrent user directly opening the same copy of a front-end file, e.g., one stored in a shared folder like
\\servername\sharename\path\to\frontend.accdb
If so, then that is extremely bad practice. Every user must have their own private copy of the front-end file on their local hard drive. That is what the other answer meant when they said
you only need to have them copy the front-end file to their computer - there's no installation required
In your question you said two users apparently opened the same copy of the front-end and made changes to the data, and nothing bad seems to have happened. They were lucky. Sometimes it works and other times it doesn't, but in my experience it's not a matter of if it will cause problems, it's a matter of when.
Yes it should work OK. If the network connection between the front end and back end database will work from the user's individual computer, then you only need to have them copy the front-end file to their computer - there's no installation required.
I have a Microsoft Access File that is a shared file. Advanced settings set it to shared by everyone, Default open mode is Shared, No record locks, Open databases by using record-level locking. Enable DDE Refresh and default encryption.
Multiple users can open it at the same time, however if I save I get this message: Microsoft Access can't save design changes because another user has the file open…(etc.)
Any advice on where to begin?
UPDATED INFORMATION:
Apparently the database is already split, so I'm going to do some research in this area. Let me know if you have seen this before and can help though!
By definition, you cannot make design changes when another user is using the file.
Multiple users can access and edit records at the same time. The settings you set, control how strict the locking process is in order to avoid conflicts.
Design changes, not possible, no way!
I have database in the MyApp.app/Contents/Resources folder. I want at least to read data from it in the sandboxed app.
Now I have a lot of "deny file-write-data /Users/user/Desktop/MyApp.app/Contents/Resources/DB/app_db.db" in the Console.
I can't use com.apple.security.temporary-exception.files.home-relative-path.read-write because I don't want to rely upon end user location of the app.
In spite of warnings in the Console my app is working. Is there any entitlement to give access or I should to copy my db to the container during first start?
Even reading from a db can require the DB to write to create locks etc., and you don't have a lot of control of that (you may have some depending on the db). Just follow your own intuition - copy the db on first run to your container.
Also file a radar, it can't harm.
I have an Access 2007 database with an attachments facility. Currently the client may upload files locally but the files cannot be accessed elsewhere. I have been able to carry out a similar operation when developing on a web based system however I cannot seem to do it on an Access 2007 database and I am unsure as to whether it is even possible. Basically the system needs to connect to the SQL server online and upload the file although the database is not online itself. I would be grateful for any pointers!
I have faced this situation. Here are your choices:
Use Access attachment field in a shared ACCDB -- won't work "online" very well, but you could park the ACCDB on your LAN and make it a separate back-end ACCDB shared by all. Your post didn't say whether your users are either local or "online" -- and whether "online" meant web.
Use VarChar(Max) (aka BLOB) fields in SQL-Server to store the attachments. But, you can't populate these easily from Access. Assuming you control the server where SQL-Server is running, you can use ADO in Access to upload a VarChar(Max) using the bulkinsert T-SQL command. This works pretty well and it's easy.
Create an upload web page. Use iExplorer automation (i.e, create an iExplorer object) in VBA to navigate to that page, fill it in and press the upload button. For security reasons, you cannot use automation to fill in a file upload control, but you can use sendkeys. This doesn't work perfectly -- sometimes you have to repeat the process once or twice, but it works pretty well if it's invoked by a user who can validate it's working. This is what I did -- easiest solution.
Best solution probably is to create a web service using WCF to handle the upload. There are plenty of posts on how to encode and decode byte arrays to store files as VarChar(Max). It works extremely well. Unfortunately, Access cannot directly consume web services as far as I've been able to tell, so you would have to write a small vb.net program to do this and call it from Access.
You could store the files/attachments outside of SQL/Server - just on the server, and store only the links/URL's for those files in Access. You could make each one launchable. This is easy but harder to control the security.
You can use Sharepoint to store/share the attachments. That can work pretty well depending on the size of the attachments and your connectivity. It's built to support this.
Access allows multiple attachments in one record. SQL/Server doesn't support this. So, if you can split your ACCDB into a front-end for the programs only and back-end ACCDB that is sharable by your users to contain the data/attachments, that is by far the easiest answer.
I am looking at writing a silverlight app that I plan to use OOB setting to enable use on both PC and mac.
I have been doing a little investagation on the isolationstoragefile and what I understand is it will work for both pc and mac without a problem.....Is that correct?
The application I am building is going to be a business application that will submit details back to the main database if there is an available connection. If not then I want to store the information locally until there is an available connection.
My question is lets say I have 3 user accounts using the same machine. Can I have the isolationfile stored in the same place? or must it be under the user profile?
I don't want to have orphaned records which I could see happening if the data is stored on each user's profile.
Any advise would be great!
I understand is it will work for both pc and mac without a problem.
That is correct. You don't need to worry about the mechanics of how it is persisted to disk.
I have 3 user accounts using the same machine. Can I have the isolationfile stored in the same place? or must it be under the user profile?
IS is located under the user profile. In a full trust (elevated) OOB app you may be able to store files elsewhere on the file system by using the FileSystemObject or by using some COM interop, but there is no guarantee that you can get to that file again (NOTE: i haven't played with saving files external to IS, so may be wrong/misinformed on this). If you can whack files out to anywhere on the file system you should be very careful doing it - what if you are running on a Mac?
I don't want to have orphaned records which I could see happening if the data is stored on each user's profile.
If you mean data may be stored locally because of no connection, then that user logs off and never logs back in again to that machine so their data never syncs to the server, then yes that is a possibility. Having a service monitoring for saved data files would be ideal, but you can't do that under SL. To completely eliminate that issue may take a change in your product, like writing it as a WPF client instead of SL.