"Prakash" <si****@omantel.net.omwrote in message
news:11**********************@j44g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
[snip]
Making the MDE does protect the code & that will suffice for the time
being.
However, if a user does not own a copy of MS-Access, then how do I
supply him with a run-time version. What would I have to purchase &
what would be the cost implications involved ?
You would need to acquire the Developer's Tools for Access 2003. This requires
both the Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Office along with the Microsoft
Office Access 2003 Developer Extensions. I am not familair with the specifics
as I have only used the Developer's Tools for Access 97, but basically these
would allow you to build a custom installation propgram for your app that also
installs the Access Runtime. Purchase of these is also what gives you the
rights to legally distribute the runtime.
Also ... Rick mentioned something about preventing a user from getting
to my table structures directly by using User-Level Security. I have a
couple of books on MS-Access and would love to read more about it.
Could you please point out which topics to read & any caveats to watch
out for ? Is it v.v.complicated ?
I would suggest going to the microsoft.public.access.security newsgroup and
reading for a while. In that process you will hopefully avoid the common
problems and misperceptions about how Access security works. It is somewhat
counter-intuitive and complex and nearly all who attempt it for the first time
using only the wizards and the help file fail to end up with a properly secured
file. Once you've dug deep enough though and it "clicks" it is not that
difficult.
Within many of those articles you will find links to web articles that provide
very specific step by step instructions. I recommend using one or more of those
(on test files) until you are comfortable with it.
Access security is breakable with tools easily available by those who know how
to use Google, but as barriers in Access go it is the best one you will be able
to come up with. There are also many obfuscation techniques that can be used
instead of or in addition to user level security. You should find references to
many of those in that forum as well.
--
Rick Brandt, Microsoft Access MVP
Email (as appropriate) to...
RBrandt at Hunter dot com