Access 2007

[KenHigg]

Interesting article. Especially the Macro / Security thing. I saw some pretty extensive demo's last week and the UI was real different...


Link

 

[KenHigg]

I went cold turkey with the Office 2007 beta in June. I'm still struggling with finding things and never seeming to have the right ribbon handy but I'm looking forward to the next build which I suspect we'll see very soon. I'm sure a lot of the little anoyances have been cleaned up.

There is still one pending bug I have out. The wizards now generate embedded macros because of this hangup MS has with macro security. This is not a problem if you are developing in an .accdb but if you are developing in an .mdb, changes you make with the wizards, cannot be seen by earlier versions of Access. I don'tknow what the final resolution will be but it is possible that we may loose the wizards entirely if the database is in .mdb format.

The ribbons did seem to do a lot of jumping around depending what you were doing at the time. Their primary argument for this seemed to be that there was functionality available that you may over look if you had to navigate multiple layers of menu items. I think I still prefer the menu method over the ribbon thing but I suspect I'll get used to it like everything else...

Do you know where I could find a good read on how one would go about creating a 'Trusted' application?

Thanks,

 

[Geoff Convery]

What you need is a "Code Signing Digital Certificate". I found out all I know about them (which is rather more than I want to know but rather less than I need to know) from the MS Knowledge base; but the articles there would strain the definition of a "Good Read" I'm afraid. It depends on what you need the trust to be like, if you need to distribute the applications widely you'll have to spend money with an international organisation to get a licence, if you just want to stop all those irritating messages on your own and your colleagues' PCs every time you start the Access, then you can "Self Certify". It's all in the knowledge base but getting it out made my brain hurt!!

 

[AccessJunkie]

Hi Ken,

Do you know where I could find a good read on how one would go about creating a 'Trusted' application?

Here is a recent post of mine in the newsgroups which I think covers your issue (if I'm understanding it correctly):

The security alert stuff has been much improved in 2007 over 2003. Instead of getting forced to click through about 285 prompt screens in 2003 , Access 2007 just displays one message on the Message Bar. The content can temporarily be turned on by clicking the "Enable Content." However, Access will still disable the harmful content the next time you open the file.

The good news is that with 2007 you can define any number of folders (even ones on a server) as a "Trusted Location." Any database files placed in that folder are treated as trusted which means *no* more prompts at all. Cool, huh?

So how do you set this up?

Follow these steps:
1. Click the Microsoft Office Button in the upper left to display the new File Menu
2. Click the Access Options button near the bottom right corner of the File Menu to open the Access
Options dialog box.
3. Click the Trust Center tab on the left side column.
4. Click the Trust Center Settings button on the Trust Center tab.
5. A new dialog box appear called Trust Center. One of the tabs on here is Trusted Locations.
6. Click the Trusted Locations tab.
7. On this tab look for the button called Add New Location in the bottom right corner.
8. Now browse to a folder you want to designate as trusted.
9. There is an additional check box on this dialog box that says, "Subfolders of this location are
also trusted." If you check that box, any subfolders and subdirectories within that main folder will
be trusted.
10. Click Ok on that dialog box and your new trusted location is listed above.
11. Keep hitting OK to back out of all the option screens.
12. Now close Access completely.
13. Move any database files to this folder which *you* deem as trustworthy.
14. Open one up and observe no more nagging prompts or messages. Sweet.


Any files that you may be concerned about, just don't open them from that trusted location.

Hope that helps,
--
Jeff Conrad
Access Junkie - MVP
http://home.bendbroadband.com/conradsystems/accessjunkie.html
Access 2007 Info: http://www.AccessJunkie.com

 

[KenHigg]

Thanks for the links/info Geoff and Jeff. I think I like the folder option, provided the trusted attribute cascades down through subordinate folders...

 

[shadow9449]

Hi Ken,


Any files that you may be concerned about, just don't open them from that trusted location.

Hope that helps,
--

Hi, Jeff

We were talking about this a few months ago, but I don't know if you had these details then.

So, if I write an application, and set up my trusted location to be C:\MYAPP, can I intall this on any computer (perhaps with a self installer) that will create a C:\MYAPP folder and then put the MYAPP.MDB into that folder and have it work, or can this only be done on the user's computer?

SHADOW

 

[AccessJunkie]

Hi Shadow,

So, if I write an application, and set up my trusted location to be C:\MYAPP, can I intall this on any computer (perhaps with a self installer) that will create a C:\MYAPP folder and then put the MYAPP.MDB into that folder and have it work, or can this only be done on the user's computer?

If I understand you correctly, no the trusted location is machine specific and not tied to the application in any way. (I think, don't quote me there).

If you create that folder on your machine, place your app in that location, set up that folder as Trusted through the Access UI, then you will see no prompts on your machine and no content will be disabled.

If you then create an installer routine to create that folder on another machine and place the database in that location I believe the other user would see a security message and most of the app would not function because Access will disable the content.

Is that what you're asking?

I have *not* tested this next part of my discussion so again don't assume I'm 100% correct.

When you set up a Trusted Location in 2007 through the Access UI, this information is certainly written back to the Registry. In my 2007 Beta testing I have designated a folder called "Development" on my Vista machine. I just did a quick Registry scan and found some very interesting keys in the following location: Office-12.0-Access-Security-Trusted Locations
All the relevant information is listed in these keys. I did not fill out an optional Description for this folder through the UI so that key was blank. I just now went back into Access and added a description. Sure enough, that info now shows up in the Registry here.

So I have to believe that if your installer creates the folder (and any subfolders if needed), copies in the files(s) where needed, and then creates all the necessary registry keys in the appropriate places your application should open fine on the other machine with no security message and no content disabled.

Does that help?
--
Jeff Conrad
Access Junkie - MVP
http://home.bendbroadband.com/conradsystems/accessjunkie.html
Access 2007 Info: http://www.AccessJunkie.com

 

[shadow9449]

Hi Shadow,

So I have to believe that if your installer creates the folder (and any subfolders if needed), copies in the files(s) where needed, and then creates all the necessary registry keys in the appropriate places your application should open fine on the other machine with no security message and no content disabled.

Does that help?

Yes, thanks

So long as Microsoft clearly documents what registry keys have to be created in order to make this work on other machines, it should be ok.

SHADOW

 

[AccessJunkie]

Hi Shadow,

So long as Microsoft clearly documents what registry keys have to be created in order to make this work on other machines, it should be ok.

Do you know if it's Ok to post a screenshot in here?

--
Jeff Conrad
Access Junkie - MVP
http://home.bendbroadband.com/conradsystems/accessjunkie.html
Access 2007 Info: http://www.AccessJunkie.com

 

[KenHigg]

Hi Shadow,



Do you know if it's Ok to post a screenshot in here?

Sure...

 

[AccessJunkie]

Here is a screenshot of the relevant keys. I would imagine if your install routine can create all these necessary keys, then the database should open with no prompt on the Message Bar and no content disabled.

--
Jeff Conrad
Access Junkie - MVP
http://home.bendbroadband.com/conradsystems/accessjunkie.html
Access 2007 Info: http://www.AccessJunkie.com

 

[dsfcom]

I've added these keys/values and still get the warning? Might these keys/values be stored elsewhere? Are other keys/values involved in the process?