|
vb123.com |
|
|
Home Contact Us Order our Software RSS &
Newsletter
Get Good Help
The
Workbench
Find out who has your database open, start the
correct version of Access, easy compacting and backups, change startup
options, mde compile, shutdown database
Read and
Download Garry's Blog
About The Editor
Garry Robinson
writes for a number of popular computer magazines, is now a book author
and has worked on 100+ Access databases. He is based in Sydney,
Australia or try our new site built with
SharePoint Designer |
Is Your Database Corrupt ?
See all newsletters
Access Unlimited is an email newsletter that provides free tips, help and information for skilled Microsoft Access users and related software disciplines.
Produced by Garry Robinson (known below as "Ed") from Sydney, Australia.
In this edition,
SQL Server Developer
Pricing Plummets
Reserved Words
Limiting comments from reviewers in Word
Garry’s Book Chapter Overview
Good Reading
New Year’s Resolution - Add SQL Server To The Bag Of Tricks
One of Garry’s new year’s
resolutions is educate Access developers on the joys of upgrading to SQL server
as part of this newsletters bag of tricks (Don’t worry, I won’t get too carried
away). To kick this initiative off, what better than to bring to your attention
the availability of a new pricing structure ($50) for the SQL Server Developer
Edition.
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/howtobuy/development.asp
When you have finished
reading that, you may want to reflect on the different versions of SQL server
that are available.
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/planning/SQLResKChooseEd.asp
In the meantime Garry is working on a tool that will quickly resolve these and other SQL server upgrade issues before you actually upgrade the database.
Garry’s other New Year’s resolution was to regain some of the fitness discarded during the book writing phase of my life. That is recommended for all developers as we work in a profession that is good for brain and bad for body.
HOW DO YOU GET INTO USING A SERVER AS A BACK-END DATABASE
Occasionally I get asked by the developers that I consult to about what is the best way to learn SQL Server. My answer is simple. Select an in-house or personal database that you actually use on a regular basis and convert the back-end (data and relationships) to a Server database. Good examples are contacts databases or billing databases. Now throw away the Access backend and don’t use it again. By committing to this process with a database that matters, it won’t be long before you work out which are the correct books to purchase, what software and tools you need and what are the best web sites to help you in your task. In a few months, you will have forgotten how hard it was and will actually be able to talk to your clients or boss about server databases with some knowledge. The same too can also be said about Access security, you just have to commit to a project to learn it and if you put it off for ever, your resume is going to start looking a little less attractive to your next boss or client.
GARRY’S MS ACCESS PROTECTION AND SECURITY BOOK
Garry’s book has now been printed and is selling well. If you want to find out more about the book, what people have been saying, read the table of contents and the free book chapter on Access backup and recovery, head to the following address (the book is for Access 97 users onwards)
If you want to find out more about what is in the book, go the very end of this email where I detail what is in the book.
One important issue that you should always be aware of when you are naming objects in your database is the use of reserved words. Whilst Access does let you get away with reserved words, you are always better off NOT using them. A simple rule of thumb is if the word you intend to use is simple; check out if it is a reserved word. Now when you want to upgrade to SQL server, you now are working in 2 or 3 environments where reserved words are important. Access, SQL Server (or another server) and maybe ODBC. Anyway here are some good lists of reserved words that you may want to review to make sure that you aren’t digging yourself into a hole.
Access Reserved Words
http://www.utteraccess.com/forums/access/access242075.html
SQL Server and ODBC
Reserved Words
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/tsqlref/ts_ra-rz_9oj7.asp?frame=true
UPDATED GRAF-FX
Graf-FX is now available
with all workgroup security removed. For a short time you can still purchase
this as a standalone product.
http://www.vb123.com/graf/
LIMITING REVIEWER COMMENTS IN WORD
In MS Word 2002 and
2003, it is possible to only look at the comments of some of the reviewers. In
the following picture, you will see how to turn the comments from different
people on and off.
DSN Less ODBC for Access by
Danny Lesandrini
http://www.databasejournal.com/features/mssql/article.php/1491011
MS Access on the web --- Interesting discussions
http://www.15seconds.com/issue/010514.htm
Understanding SQL Server
2000 Locking Issues
http://www.databasejournal.com/features/mssql/article.php/3289661
Programming DTS packages
for SQL Server.
Click Here
Smart Access In January
In January 2004, Doug
Steele shows you how to add drag-and-drop to your Access application using
combinations of multi-value and single-value controls. This article expires at
the end of the January, 2004.
http://www.pinpub.com/html/main.isx?sub=29
In another article in the
same edition, Garry writes about how to setup a protected directory in Windows
XP so that only user accounts that have system permission can open the database
or browse the folder. This complements Chapter 12 in Garry’s book where the
operating system is demonstrated to be a great friend of the Access Database
administrator looking for security.
Read More
If you like this newsletter, why not try the websites of
others who contribute to this newsletter.
http://www.vb123.com/explore/links.htm
WRAPPING THIS EDITION UP
After reviewing the sales of our products during the holiday break, I decided that the focus of the web site would be on selling the professional pack rather than concentrating on individual products. As a result all the individual products such as the Toolshed and Graf-FX will soon only be available as part of the Professional Pack. To help encourage this approach, professional pack upgrades will now cost less than $10 and the upgrades will apply to all our software.
So thanks for reading our popular newsletter. Feel free to make comments, copy the email to a friend or maybe even contribute to the next edition. And if you can, have a look at our software by using the Marketing section on the left hand side of this newsletter. If you really like this newsletter, why not purchase The Toolshed and you will get all the other newsletters and plenty more in a developer’s knowledge base tool with super searching facilities.
Extra - The Road Map
To Garry’s Book
In
this section I explain how the book is organized and give you a brief rundown on
what you can expect to find in each chapter. Essentially, I have split the book
into four chapter threads that deal with different aspects of protecting and
securing your Access database. Introductions to the chapter threads and the
chapters follow.
The Options and Attributes Chapters
Access is a very versatile product, and you can vary the way that it works and what people see by changing the startup and database options and the attributes of objects in Database window.
Chapter 2: Protecting Your Database with Startup Options
Startup options will make it difficult for users to modify your database objects and data. They will also direct the user to employ the user interface that you intended for them to use and, as you will find out later, you will want to be aware of a number of issues if you want to protect the database options. Even though they seem easy to use, you have to be careful about how you set them up if you want users to continue using them.
Chapter 3: Using Database Options and Attributes to Protect Data and Objects
Find out which of the 50 or so database options will protect or expose your database. You will also learn how to hide objects in the Database window so that users, who are exploring the objects through the Database window or the importing interface, are less likely to stumble on your important data and objects.
The Protect and Improve Your Database Chapters
There is more to protection and security of an Access database than just stopping people from doing or seeing things. These chapters explain why you have to set up your database in a certain way, how you can recover from object changes or unintentional deletions, user surveillance, and specific improvements offered by changes to toolbars and menus.
Chapter 4: Providing a Solid Foundation with Good Programming Practices
This chapter will show you how to launch your Access software, how to split your database into software and data, and how to set up error handing. These issues are necessary background topics when you are setting up Access protection and security.
Chapter 5: Backing Up and Recovering Your Databases
It goes without saying that backups are important. This chapter shows you how to make additional copies of your database and back up the data and objects in them. More importantly, it shows you how to recover them.
Chapter 6: User and Object Surveillance
Find out who is using your database and how they are using it. This important surveillance information can help you with administration issues such as asking users to log off the database for maintenance and upgrades of the database or the network. It can also assist you in targeting security for your database. Auditing user activities is an important part of the protection process.
Chapter 7: Protecting Your Database with Menus and Toolbars
Find out the tricks of
the trade for building menus and toolbars, and then how you can apply those
toolbars to your database by using either form and report properties or the
Access startup options. By setting up menus and toolbars correctly, your
database will be easier to use and harder for most users to crack.
The
Internal Database Security Chapters
If you want to lay claim to having security in an Access database, you really have to implement some form of workgroup (user-level) security. These chapters detail how to set up a more secure workgroup environment, the bigger security issues, and the specifics of securing the different types of objects in the database. Included in the chapters are strategies that allow you to avoid the pitfalls of password-cracking software, Access importing options, and solutions to the most elusive issue of all, data protection.
Chapter 8: Developing Workgroup Security
First up, you will learn how to set up a developer’s workgroup file and why it is an important tool for every Access developer. You will also find out how to achieve a lot of security and protection without producing too complex a security design and how to create a database that is not susceptible to password-cracking software. In this chapter, you will also find a complete list of all the driving instructions relating to workgroup security that covers all the internal database security chapters.
Chapter 9: Security Concerns, Encryption, and Database Passwords
Find out about the tools and Access menu options that can readily punch holes in your supposedly secure Access database. In the process, learn why you need to set up your workgroup security in a certain way and understand why database encryption and database passwords are more applicable as a spoiler rather than a security defense mechanism in their own right.
Chapter 10: Securing Data with Workgroup Security
This chapter takes you through the conventional ways of protecting your data with workgroup security and then outlines how you can set up your workgroup files so that password-cracking software will not be very effective. Get instructions on incorporating Windows 2000/XP security so that your users simulate logging on to the database by using Windows user accounts. Finally, if you contemplate distributing important Access data outside the company network, be wary.
Chapter 11: Object Protections and Security Measures
Learn the intricacies of the all-important MDE database format, as well as many other ways to protect the queries, forms, reports, macros, and modules in your database. Specifically, get instructions for hiding linked tables, using remote queries, opening your forms and reports so your users cannot edit them, and how to use data access pages with workgroup files.
Chapter 12: Protecting and Securing Your Database with the Operating System
No matter what internal protection and security measures you add to your Access database, you can improve your protection substantially by using a modern operating system with a file server or peer-to-peer server. This chapter details how you can set up a group of Windows users that has permission to open the folder that your database resides in. If you really want to improve this protection to a secure level, use the detailed instructions in this chapter or show them to your network administrator so that no one can browse the folder and subfolders where the databases are stored. This process also makes it very difficult to copy the databases from these folders. You’ll also get a brief review of many other issues, like external security, personnel, and other related computer security topics.
The Appendices
Appendix A has a list of all the workgroup security information used in the chapter. Appendix B details the instructions for registering Access Workbench 1.3, a program I wrote. Appendix C is a free bonus chapter from Russell Sinclair’s Apress book, Access to SQL Server. This chapter discusses the reasons for and against migrating an Access database to SQL Server and the difference between Access and SQL Server.
Read more on the book and
find out where to purchase it
http://www.vb123.com/map/
Garry Robinson
- Software Consultant and Author
GR-FX Pty Limited
Sydney, Australia.
Ph +61 2 9665 2871 Fax +61 2 9665 8448
Software Resources http://vb123.com/
Chief Unlimited Assistant - Jenni Komarovsky from New Zealand
--- The end of this edition of Access Unlimited ---
Click on this button
to read the previous edition of Access Unlimited
Published 2004-01