Allowing mulitusers to view only their updates (Access 97)

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I’m sorry if this is pretty basic. See what happens when you try to learn as you go!!!! I have a form that will allow 30+ users to update private information that should not be viewed by other users. Is there a way to restrict the form so that only that particular user can see what they have put in? Or, if that would be too difficult, only allow the user to update without seeing any existing records?

Thanks.
Christine

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Access doesn’t really provide record-level security. SQL Server has better tools for this.

If it’s just a matter of keeping people from accidentally seeing/updating information entered by others, you can obtain the network user name when the database is opened, and filter all forms and reports to display only information for that user. However, this is not really secure – it’s still possible to get at all data for someone who really wants to.

It should be possible to work with the user-level security that Access provides to create a more secure solution. Read the Microsoft Access Security FAQ downloadable from MSKB article 165009.

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It’s a fairly straightforward task to limit the data displayed on a form. First, create a text field in the primary table called UserID. Next, make the data source for the form a query, activate Access User Security by giving the Admin user a password, and create a unique userID for each person using the database. Make sure everyone is using the same workgroup security file (system.mdw), and set the query criteria to be the CurrentUser() Access function. Use the StartUp properties to open the form when the database is opened, and be sure to hide the database window so tables can’t be seen. I should add that this isn’t a foolproof system – someone who knows something about Access may well be able to get into the underlying tables and see data they shouldn’t. If that’s not acceptable, then you need to take a number of additional steps to really lock things up. Post back if you want more info about any of this.

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