Any idea on Access Runtime?????

[anilgoje]

Hi,
I think some of you might be aware of Access Runtime.I have to install Access Runtime along with my VB Application.Now can anyone tell me as how to install this so that the user cannot change the design,delete the rows etc.If anyone knows about it then please do explain me about this.

Regards

[jeroenh]

Before I can give you any answer I would like to know if your programming within Access or within Visual Basic.

When your programming within Visual Basic you wil have to supply the ADO or DAO drivers you used. When you use the Refrences screen you will know wich of these files are needid in your case. In this situation the only way to change the database by the user is only possible if he has a programming envirement. Then he can use the same technique as you did. But you think, what if the user has Access himself. Then just make sure that the extension of the database isn't one of the extensions used by Access. I always the extension JHD. This stand for Jeroen Hoekemeijer Database, Access won't open this file easy.

However..... When you made the entire project within Access, then you will have to supply Access in order to make it run properly. And when people have Access then they can always change the database.

So here are your options. If your sitiation isn't one of the above then tell us what your exact situation is.

[paulw]

Jeroen,

You are not quite right. Changing the file extension is OK but all the user needs to do is change the extension back to .MDB

The Access runtime will allow users access to only those methods exposed by the programmer through menus, forms etc. There is no design environment in the runtime, so it can protect a database' intrinsic objects, such as tables, queries etc., however, the database itself remains a standard .MDB and can be changed if the user has the full copy of Access.

Protecting the code can be done by wrapping the product up as an MDE file. This prevents modification of forms, reports and code modules.

To really protect yourself, use Access as a front-end MDE and put the back end data on to an NT Server running SQL Server. Access itself is inherently insecure and any security add-ons that are available are easily side-stepped.

Cheers,

Paul.