Q163002: HOWTO: Open an Access Database with User Security
Article: Q163002
Product(s): Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows
Version(s): WINDOWS:4.0,7.0,97
Operating System(s):
Keyword(s): kbAccess kbVBp400 kbGrpDSVB
Last Modified: 11-JAN-2001
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The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Visual Basic Standard Edition, 32-bit, for Windows, version 4.0
- Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition, 32-bit, for Windows, version 4.0
- Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition, 32-bit, for Windows, version 4.0
- Microsoft Access for Windows 95, version 7.0
- Microsoft Access 97
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SUMMARY
=======
This article demonstrates how to open and view the contents of a secured Access
database using Visual Basic. The steps below outline this process:
1. Secure the database: From Microsoft Access, set the appropriate user and
group permissions to secure the database. For more information about securing
a Microsoft Access database, see the REFERENCES section later in this
article.
2. In your Visual Basic code, indicate where system database, system.mdw, is
located. You can either set the SystemDB property of the DBEngine object or
set the IniPath property to the registry location of the system database. For
example:
DbEngine.SystemDB="C:\MyApplication\system.mdw"
3. Open the database.
Note that opening a secured Access database is different from opening a database
that is secured with the Microsoft Access user-level security feature.
MORE INFORMATION
================
This section demonstrates how to create a sample Visual Basic program to open a
secured Access database. To use this sample program, you will need a secured
database with the following attributes:
Database Name: Secure AccessDB.mda
Database Table: Name
Table Field: Last Name
User Name: NewAdmin
Password: NewAdmin
Member of: Admins Group
Permissions: All
To create this secured database, refer to the chapter in the Access documentation
listed in the REFERENCES section of this article. Alternatively, you could
secure one of the sample applications using the same instructions and make the
appropriate changes in the code.
Steps To Reproduce
------------------
1. Start Visual Basic, or if it is already running, click New Project from the
File menu.
2. Place the following objects on the Form1 form and set the appropriate
properties:
Control Name Property Value
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Label Label1 Caption User Name:
Height 255
Left 120
Top 120
Width 855
Text Box Text1 Caption <Blank>
Height 285
Left 1080
Top 120
Width 1455
Command Button Command1 Height 372
Left 2760
Top 120
Width 1572
Label Label2 Caption Password:
Height 255
Left 120
Top 480
Width 855
Text Box Text2 Caption <Blank>
Height 285
Left 1080
Top 480
Width 1455
Label Label3 Caption <Blank>
Height 255
Left 120
Top 840
Width 4335
3. Copy and paste the following code to the Form1 Code Window:
Private Sub Command1_Click()
Dim MyWorkspace As Workspace
Dim SecuredDB As String
Dim slUserName As String
Dim slPassword As String
Dim db As Database
Dim rs As Recordset
'Set the location of the system database
DBEngine.SystemDB = _
"C:\Projects\Secured Database Article\system.mdw"
'Create a new workspace object
slUserName = Text1.Text
slPassword = Text2.Text
Set MyWorkspace = DBEngine.CreateWorkspace("New", _
slUserName, _
slPassword)
'Open the database
SecuredDB = _
"C:\Projects\Secured Database Article\Secure AccessDB.mdb"
Set db = DBEngine.Workspaces("New").OpenDatabase(SecuredDB)
Set rs = db.OpenRecordset("Name", dbOpenDynaset)
rs.MoveFirst
Label3.Caption = _
"The first record is " & rs.Fields("LastName").Value
'Close the recordset and the database
rs.Close
db.Close
End Sub
4. Press the F5 key to run the project or, from the Tools menu, click Run
Project. Enter a valid User Name and Password, and then click the command
button. The first record in the Last Name field is displayed in the Label. If
you enter an invalid User Name or an invalid Password, a run-time error
(3029) occurs.
Possible Errors
---------------
The following is a list of possible errors you may encounter when you write a
program to open a secured database. The error message is shown first, followed
by the code that is highlighted when you click the debug button. The possible
cause and then the solution is shown for each line of code:
Error: Run-time error '3028'
Can't start your application. The system database is missing or opened
exclusively another user.
Debug: Set My Workspace = DBEngine.CreateWorkspace("New", _ "Admin", _ "")
Cause: You are setting the workspace using the global administrator user name
and password. The global administrator may not have the necessary permissions
to open the secured database.
Solution: Change the parameters to a valid user and password as specified in
the system database.
Debug: DBEngine.IniPath = <path and file name of an initialization file
specifying the location of the system database>
Cause: In 32-bit Visual Basic, this property requires the registry entry of
the system database.
Solution: Set the property to the system database registry location or use the
SystemDB property of the DBEngine object. Set the SystemDB property to the
location and file name of the system database.
Error: Run-time error '3029'
Not a valid account name or password
Debug: Set MyWorkspace = DBEngine.CreateWorkspace("New", "UserName", _
"Password")
Cause: User name or password is not in the system database.
Solution: Add the user name and password to the system database. Refer to the
chapter in the Access documentation listed in the references section of this
article on how to add users to the system database.
Error: Run-time Error '3265'
Item not found in this collection.
Debug: Set db = DBEngine.Workspaces("New").OpenDatabase("SecuredDB")
Cause: New workspace was not appended to the workspace object of the DBEngine
object.
Solution: Use the Append method of the DBEngine.Workspaces object to append
the new workspace object to the DBEngine object. For more information, see
the Append method in the Visual Basic online Help.
REFERENCES
==========
Chapter 14 - Securing and Delivering Your Application, Building Applications
with Microsoft Access for Windows 95.
Visual Basic Online Help - search on IniPath property, and then select the topic:
DBEngine IniPath Now Uses Registry Entry (ReadMe)
For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft
Knowledge Base:
Q161016 : INF: Using DAO to Open Password-Protected Database (7.0/97)
Additional query words: Access
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Keywords : kbAccess kbVBp400 kbGrpDSVB
Technology : kbVBSearch kbAudDeveloper kbAccessSearch kbAccess97 kbAccess97Search kbAccess95Search kbVB400Search kbVB400 kbZNotKeyword3 kbAccess700
Version : WINDOWS:4.0,7.0,97
Issue type : kbhowto
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