So I have an Access Frontend that I have distributed to some users, where I have some sensitive tables hidden. To make it even more secure, I have distributed it as .ACCDE, with no ability to unhide the Navigation Pane, no Bypass possible, etc.
I have tested and the tables are successfully hidden from any imports through Access or Excel (regular import through "Data" => "From Access") but they still show up if somebody goes through Power Query ("New Query" => "From MS Access Database").
Is there any way to prevent this?
Thank you
Tables are Hidden:
Related
I made a database with access, and I created dataentryform and inside it there are some subforms (I have related tables), I used query to provive these subform and without these qaueries I cannot enter data into subforms (if I delete these queries then when I open main form I see blank rectangular inside myform instead of them.
enter image description hereIs there any possible way to lock query and also subform in navigation pane?
In general, as long as the user is running an application on his own PC, you cannot prevent him from deliberately modifying/breaking it. This is true for all applications, not only MS-Access-based ones.
That said, there are some ways to make it harder to accidentally modify it:
The recommended way is to start Access in "runtime mode", either by specifying the /runtime flag on the command line or by renaming your accdb/accde to accdr. That way, the user won't have a navigation pane and can only interact with the application through the ways that you, as the developer, explicitly provide.
You can use user-level security to "lock" your queries. However, user-level security was deprecated with Access 2007. It can only be used with the old, legacy mdb format (rather than the new accdb format) and should not be used for new projects.
I am building an Access Database application in MS Access 2007 which is essentially a tool for data collection which I will need to distribute to various sites to be filled out. After the sites fill out all the necessary records, they will return the tool and I will need to merge all the data from the various sites into a single database for analysis. I have 2 tables and 3 forms with a bunch of custom VBA code behind for data validation, cleaning and flow.
I have a Summary form that shows all the records currently entered. Users can then Add a record using a button on the Summary form which launches a data entry form (let's call it Data Entry Form #1). From Data Entry Form #1, there is another form that can be launched (Data Entry Form #2) for entering child records about the record being filled out on Data Entry Form #1. There is referential integrity enforced at the table level.
The flow from the Summary Form to Data Entry Form #1 and Data Entry Form #2 is important for the integrity of the data. I have dictated this flow explicitly in VBA and will instruct users to always begin at the Summary Form.
After that lengthy background, my question.....
What are my different options, and the relative advantages/disadvantages for the options for deploying this application to my various sites. My basic requirements are:
Ideally users would never see the tables in which the data is being stored in.
The Summary form would launch when opened and they could not open any other form directly.
Closing the Summary form would close the application.
Since there is a bunch of VBA code dictating important functionality, if they did not accept the Security Warning, they would not be able to access any of the forms or use the tool
I can easily script the extraction/export of the data from the two tables for each tool
I am vaguely aware of the following options:
- Distribute the full ACCDB file to the sites
- Create and distribute an AACDE file to the sites
- Use the Access Developer Extensions to "package" the application - create and EXE file?
I have also read that if users do not have Access 2007 or later, that they can download the MS Access Runtime Services and be able to use my application without having to buy/install a full version of MS Access. Can someone confirm this? Does this apply to all of the above (ACCDB, ACCDE, EXE) Is there any functionality that would not be available to them from a strictly data entry role?
Thanks!
You should be able to do most of this with options set within access, plus some code;
Create an accde;
Using that accde, in the options, untick display navigation pane (or something like that); There should be an option to disable the shift key as well.
Set startform to the summary form
Closing the summary form closes the application: In design view of the summary form (in the accdb, before you do the rest of this), create a form_unload event; In this event put
DoCmd.Quit
More of an issue might be whether or not all the sites have the necessary components of ms office to run access 2007, or if you need to provide an access 2007 runtime as well, but I'm not going there. If you need to do this, you'd best ask another question or go hunting for an existing answer.
Hope this helps
If you do want to package the database as a run-time, the MS tools are notoriously flaky when it comes to deploying. A company called SageKey sell scripts that actually work, dealing with the issue of other versions of Access being installed, and many other things.
I've used about three versions of their scripts (ie. for three different MS Access versions), and they have been great.
A client has given me an Access 2003 database that I need to export the data from.
The problem is the database has some kind of a UI built above it - which essentially locks access to the data tables etc - even the main navigation menu is different.
Any idea how I can strip the UI off the database itself?
We had our system set up this way to restrict access to the tables, queries.
Hold the SHIFT key down when opening the database.
I am in the process of moving several Access databases into a SQL 2008 R2 server using Access 2007 Projects as the frontends and we're running into problems when users are trying to filter data from the forms.
Example:
I have one project file setup so that the users can search customer data and I'm using a login to the server that only has "CONNECT" and "SELECT" rights so they can't change any of the data. The only form in this project has it's record source set directly to the table, no views or queries. If a user selects the "Customer#" and then presses the "Filter" button, selects "Text Filter" and enters a customer number they get an "Enter a valid value" error (same thing happens if they select a field on the form and right click and try to set a filter). If the user uses the "Advanced/Filter By Form" there's no problems.
There are no other filters set on the form or in code, no input validations, just a plan form.
Anyone have any ideas where to start on debugging this?
Thanks.
At first, you need to confirm that it is a MSSQL permission issue. To check this - try the same with MSSQL user that doesn't have any permission restrictions. Then, you can use MSSQL profiler to look at what actual MSSQL statements are being sent by Access. I beleive that it is not the simple "SELECT", but it will be some system stored procedures calls (that's how Access works with MSSQL). Look at this trace and try to understand permissions that should be added. If your Access application works on the tables level, then may be it would be easier to deny update/delete instead of granting select only - not sure that it will help, but it's just an idea what you can try.
In Access 2003 I was easily able to get to all the tables and edit/view data directly. However, in 2007, I'm unable to find this functionality. I have an MDB with a form, and I can only view the main table of user input data in the Datasheet View.
I'm trying to copy a list of options (there's a lot of them) set to a Combo Box into another program, and it would be easier if I could just get to the Control Source table.
You should be able to see the access objects (tables, queries, macros, forms) in the Navigation Pane on the left side of the screen. It may be hidden in that .mdb, though. If you create a new .mdb and a couple of tables, can you see them?
The UI's a little different and it takes some getting used to.