Orginal Owner

[Kin Kam]

Hi

I was wondering if you any of you can help me. I've designed a database in
Access 97, and I am concerned that someone else would "promote" it as their
own. Is there any way of putting in a secret - much like an Easter Egg - or
anything equivalent so in the case of ownership issues I can press a few
buttons and it then pops up my name!!

Thanks inadvance!

Kin

 

[Cheryl Fischer]

If you have developed the database independently and are considering selling
it to a client, you might consider having an "About" form (much like the
Help|About menu item in Access). There, you could put such items as
authorship, version #, etc. You could then deliver the database to the
client as an MDE so that the form could not be modified.

However, if you have developed the database as an employee of a company, be
careful. In many locales, including the United States, the database would
not belong to you but to your employer.

hth,

 

[Charanjeev Singh]

Hi Kin,

You might want to consider using Microsoft Office 97
Developer Edition to package your application. However, I
am not sure if it is offered at this time - you might
choose Microsoft OfficeXP Developer Edition instead

In addition you might always want to setup Security within
your application - Microsoft OfficeXP Developer Edition
includes a Security Manager that allows you to apply
security to your application.

Refer ACC2002: Overview of How to Secure a Microsoft
Access Database (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?
scid=kb;[LN];289885)

Also, You might want to convert your application into and
MDE before you send it out to others.

The best approach depends on what level of restrictions
you would want to apply.



Regards,

Charanjeev Singh
Technical Consultant
Microsoft Developer Support
MCSD, MCDBA

 

[Kin Kam]

Thanks Cheryl, Chareenjev

The database is developed independently and it does belong to the company,
but I want my name to be credited discreetly without this other employee
from gaining the advantage, as this person works within the same team.
Putting this in an MDE file is not something I want to do as the database is
still going through some refinements from the other person. The issue is
that I developed the 'core' of the processing - Queries to be exact, and
what I don't want is this person claiming that they had developed it
outright.

It is a relatively simple database, but it is something that I have done
with no one else's help on it. To be fair I am a bit cheesed off with it as
the core of the database had been finalised by myself only to be taken away
from me and is cosmetically developed by people who don't know how the
system operates.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.


---------------------

 

[John Vinson]

The database is developed independently and it does belong to the company,
but I want my name to be credited discreetly without this other employee
from gaining the advantage, as this person works within the same team.
Putting this in an MDE file is not something I want to do as the database is
still going through some refinements from the other person.

If they're reasonably knowledgable about Access and have an unsecured
..mdb file, there's probably nothing you can put in that they can't
take out.

The two things I could suggest are to create a table USysSignature
with a text field in which you specify your authorship; be sure it's
stored as a System table and set its Hidden property to true. They'll
be able to find it if they go looking but it won't be at all obvious.
You could even include it in several obscure queries (as a one-row
table it won't affect the query result) so the app will break if they
delete it, if you want to be nasty!

Or, probably more legitimately, view the database Properties - right
mouseclick the database window and select Properties - and fill in the
summary properties appropriately; you may also want to create some
custom properties.

 

[Arvin Meyer]

I was wondering if you any of you can help me. I've designed a database in
Access 97, and I am concerned that someone else would "promote" it as their
own. Is there any way of putting in a secret - much like an Easter Egg - or
anything equivalent so in the case of ownership issues I can press a few
buttons and it then pops up my name!!

I use a custom database property named "Copyright" which is not visible, but
can be called from code. Put the following code in a standard module, change
my name to yours and run the code CreateC and UpdateC from the debug window.
Then delete the module. Putting the code back in a new module and running
GetCopyright will produce the text:

Portions of this application use code which was copyrighted by, and remains
the property of, Arvin Meyer ©1995-2003

---------------Begin Code----------------------
Option Compare Database
Option Explicit

Sub CreateC()
On Err GoTo Err_Handler

Dim db As DAO.Database
'Set db = OpenDatabase("C:\FullPathToFile.mdb")
Set db = CurrentDb
db.Properties.Append db.CreateProperty("Copyright", dbText, 123)

Exit_Here:
Set db = Nothing
Exit Sub

Err_Handler:
MsgBox Err.Number & ": " & Err.Description
Resume Exit_Here
End Sub

Sub UpdateC()
Dim db As DAO.Database
'Set db = OpenDatabase("C:\FullPathToFile.mdb")
Set db = CurrentDb
db.Properties("Copyright").Value = "Portions of this application use code
which was copyrighted by, and remains the property of, Arvin Meyer
©1995-2003"
Set db = Nothing
End Sub

Function GetCopyright()
Dim db As DAO.Database
'Set db = OpenDatabase("C:\FullPathToFile.mdb")
Set db = CurrentDb
GetCopyright = db.Properties("Copyright").Value
Set db = Nothing
End Function
---------End Code-----------------

The custom property will live with the database, and all copies of it. It
will not survive if all objects are copied to a new, empty database.
--
Arvin Meyer, MCP, MVP
Microsoft Access
Free Access downloads:
http://www.datastrat.com
http://www.mvps.org/access

 

[Tony Toews]

You might want to consider using Microsoft Office 97
Developer Edition to package your application.

But anyone with a full version of Access could then open it up to do
anything.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm

 

[Tony Toews]

I use a custom database property named "Copyright" which is not visible, but
can be called from code.

The custom property will live with the database, and all copies of it. It
will not survive if all objects are copied to a new, empty database.

And if someone knows to write some code looking for properties then it
is easily deleted or changed.

Who knows. The other person on his team may be getting his best work
from this newsgroup. <smile>

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm

 

[Kin Kam]

Tony, Arvin and John

Many thanks for your help in this little ditty on ownership. I doubt it
that this other person would actually look in this newsgroup - but then
again I may be wrong

The using of the USysSignature file is ideal, and I will be populating the
summary field with my name!

The use of the VBA code is really sneaky..but I like it.

Once again thank you all for your help in this. I take it you lot were once
in a similar position where I am now

Take Care

Kin

 

[Tony Toews]

Once again thank you all for your help in this. I take it you lot were once
in a similar position where I am now

Not at all. But I'm always interested in esoteric things. <smile>

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm