Relationships and read-only files

[jharlin]

Hi, everyone.

Here's a question from a newbie. I'm trying to establish a DB which has two elements - a password-protected data entry side, and a read-only record browser. My initial thought was to create the read-only version as a separate copy of the first DB, but with every field as a related field to the data entry DB. This seems like it will take forever, though, to define all of the relationships and then reconstruct in the read-only file. Is there another option available to me?

Any help would be appreciated.

[Fitch]

Why not just set up access privileges in one file to control data entry vs. browse only?

[jharlin]

Because I'm setting it up for people to access off of a network; and I'd prefer to not complicate matters by making them remember passwords.

[Fitch]

You can set up a default password in the Document Preferences, so the user never has to know.

For the users who need to do data entry, you can give them a version with a higher-level password, or you can give them a separate "opener" file, which is simply a file with a startup script that launches your main file. Give the opener file the appropriate default password (or no password), and the main file will open up with the same priveleges.

[jharlin]

This is a great solution to the problem at hand. Thank you. Only one question has come up due to this:

I'd like to set it so that the read-only file is limited for all fields EXCEPT one (a "Notes" field). I've created a master password and a more limited password. I'm now attempting to choose "Limited..." from the Edit Records section of the Privileges options for the limited password. The calculation window appears and I can't figure out what I need to type in order to allow access to only one field in the database.

Any ideas?

[Fitch]

You will need to set up two Groups: master and limited, or whatever you want to call them. The master password will always belong to all groups. The limited password, you can go to Access Privileges - Overview, and make all the fields read-only except the one you want.

[jharlin]

I tried this. The problem now, though, is that every time I try to access a field in the limited group, it tries to run through all pertaining scripts and displays an error message for each. This sometimes leads to clicking one radio button causing 10 error messages to appear.