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sparklegrrl

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Hello all. I have a quick question. Is there a way to set user levels in access?

Thanks in advance.
 

plog

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No.

But if you want to explain what you would like to accomplish we can help you build it.
 

sparklegrrl

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I need to assign users the ability to access everything or for example, job & shipping information but not the purchase order section.
 

plog

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There's a few ways to accomplish this--none are foolproof for someone intent on screwing up your data.

1. Seperate front ends. Each user gets a special front end and only the forms that they can use are in it.

2. Permissions table. This requires you set up tables to track what permission each user has and what forms those allow access to. This will require VBA to lock down each form/report and require someone to maintain that list and act as an admin giving and rescinding permissions.
 

sparklegrrl

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Ohhhhh I love that idea! It gives me something to go on. Thank you!

Also - side question. Is it true that Microsoft is going to stop supporting access soon?
 

plog

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Yes, sometime around 2006. At least that was the date I was given when I heard that the first time.
 

The_Doc_Man

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We hear the "doom and gloom" for Access every so often. Then something comes out that was meant to replace Access. Then that something falls so flat on its face that you can't even recognize it anymore. Then the next version of Access comes out and the cycle starts over again. I've heard the "Access is going away" many times. EVERY TIME, the thing meant to replace it either is so buggy that nobody buys it or it is so under-featured that nobody buys it or the customers jump on Microsoft's ... stuff ... and they abandon the glorious idea they had because nobody will buy it.

If you happen to come across posts by someone called NFK in this forum, he's a Microsoft hater and an extreme Access hater. Ignore him. He'll tell you 10,000 reasons why Access should be burned at the stake. But when pressed, he can't offer anything that anyone wants to use - or can afford to use.
 

The_Doc_Man

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On your original question (user levels), the way I did this was:

1. Users table - lists users and their role-number. #0 was disabled user, #1 was guest, #2 was "normal" user, #3 was admin user. But there is no reason you couldn't have more than that.

2. Each form's Form_Open event looked up the current user in the Users table, found the role number, and ran tests to decide (a) to not open the form or (b) to open the form but use the Form.AllowEdit and other .Allowxxxx flags to prevent unwanted action or (c) open the form and use the .Allowxxxx flags full access.

3. I also had the Form_Load stuff check for any special controls not compatible with a given role and to disable those controls. (Obviously, that is always some type of special-case check unique to each form.)
 

Pat Hartman

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The "Access is dead" rumors tended to originate from the SQL Server team since they "own" the Jet engine. MS added a desktop version of SQL Server in around 2000 which started the first set of rumors that "Access" was dead. Then in 2006, the Access team took Jet and turned it into ACE (.accdb format) and that started a new spate of rumors. I was in the NY MS office early in 2006 for a meeting and got into a very heated discussion with the regional SQL Server manager who was trying to convince me that Access was dead. Of course I had just come back from Redmond where I had a very early preview of A2007 so I knew how much time and money MS had invested in the new version of Access and it was clear that MS had no intention of killing Access anytime soon. The confusion is caused by people who don't know the difference between Jet/ACE and Access. People who call Jet/ACE Access (which includes the SQL Server team) think that when Jet is being dropped that Access is dead. I frequently correct people on forums because almost all the bad press that Access gets is actually directed at Jet/ACE because although they are truely fine products. They are still only desktop database engines and therefore no where near as robust as SQL Server. But for all of you who understand the difference, you know that Access is actually infinitely scaleable since when your FE is linked to SQL Server or some other RDBMS, the number of concurrent users is NOT controlled by Access but by the number of SQL Server CALs you own. This is because in a properly implemented Access application, each user has his own personal copy of the FE and there is NO file sharing except what is done by the server.
 

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