Access™ 2007 VBA Programmer's Reference

18.2. Security for the MDB File Format

To provide legacy support for the MDB file format, Access 2007 and the Access Connectivity Engine continue to maintain the security features available in previous versions of Access and the Jet Database Engine. With so many types of security features in Access, it is easy to become overwhelmed when deciding which method to choose. Following is a synopsis of MDB security features.

There are generally two common scenarios used when designing a database application:

• Standalone databases that contain all of the objects necessary to maintain the desired data, including tables, forms, reports, modules, and so forth. These databases are self-contained and consist of only one database file. These are generally used by a single user at any one time.

• Linked databases in which the database application uses two or more database files to fulfill its purpose. In this case, one database typically contains all of the forms, reports, and code and is usually defined as the front-end application. The other databases customarily contain the tables and data and are often defined as the back-end. This more complex model is typically reserved for multiple-user scenarios, where many people need to access data at any one time.

For the Access legacy MDB file formats, there are six security methods that can be used to secure a database. In most cases, several different methods can be applied to the same database to secure the Access solution in multiple ways.

• Shared-Level ...