Read Only Portal for limited users

[BlueWolverine]

Hello,
MS Access 2003 on XP Pro.

I have an inventory access file that I would like to post to a shared
network drive. I am not sure that I will be able to grant READ ONLY access
to certain users, versus "edit database structure" or "edit data" access.

I was wondering if I created a another database file that linked its tables
back to the originals, if there is a way for that (new) file to be explicitly
READ ONLY such that no data could be entered, altered, deleted in any way. I
don't mind people looking at the data but we don't want anyone but the three
power users touching the data itself. and only one of us should be messing
with structure at all.

Is there any way to make changes between linked tables (external data) one
way such that A can change B but B cannot change A?

Thanks.

If there's a better way to do this, please by all means let me know.

 

[Chris O''Neill]

Hello,
MS Access 2003 on XP Pro.

I have an inventory access file that I would like to post to a shared
network drive. I am not sure that I will be able to grant READ ONLY access
to certain users, versus "edit database structure" or "edit data" access.

I was wondering if I created a another database file that linked its tables
back to the originals, if there is a way for that (new) file to be explicitly
READ ONLY such that no data could be entered, altered, deleted in any way. I
don't mind people looking at the data but we don't want anyone but the three
power users touching the data itself. and only one of us should be messing
with structure at all.

Is there any way to make changes between linked tables (external data) one
way such that A can change B but B cannot change A?

Thanks.

If there's a better way to do this, please by all means let me know.

You really don't need to go to all that trouble. If you implement user
level security properly, you can grant read only access to everyone except
the few people you want having full access.

I suggest, if you haven't already done so, that you download, print, and
read from end to end the MS Access Security FAQ located here:

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=207793

Once you have a better understanding of how Access user level security
works, you'll be able to figure out how to secure your database in the way
you want. There's also a very good summary here:

http://keith.wilby.users.btopenworld.com/dbase/example.htm

Hope the above helps...

Regards, Chris

 

[Chris O''Neill]

Btw, a couple of other measures you can take to ensure your security is up to
snuff:

1. For any forms that access the database, you can set the AllowAdditions,
AllowDeletions and AllowEdits properties to false.

2. Create an MDE file of the database that will be available to other
users. That removes all code and prevents anyone from changing the forms,
queries, and other objects.

Hope that's helpful...

Regards, Chris