Any VFP Security For Protecting Table Structure + User Access To Data? 1

[drosenkranz]

Hello There,

I was wondering if there were any security features tucked away in VFP 6.0 similar to Access '97's capabilities where I can Encrypt the data file so you can't see the data with any utility or I can remove a user's administrative rights to changing the file's structure. Everything I find in the VFP 6.0 documentation points at the operating system or networking. I want to:

1) protect my structures from unauthorized modifications.

2) prevent a user from looking through ("snooping&quot data stored on the server.

Does VFP 6.0 have any of these facilities built into the language or do I need to rely on NT and outside administative controls?

Will VFP 7.0 address either of these two points?

Thanks,

Dave The 2nd mouse gets the cheese.

 

[rgbean]

While VFP 6.0 does allow you to prevent modifications on tables that are part of a DBC (by adding code to the appropriate triggers), this only works if the tables are opened by VFP. (If the tables are "standalone", then there are no triggers available to prevent changes.) If you open the tables in some of table view utilities or in any hex viewer you can still modify the data. There is nothing native to prevent "snooping" in VFP 6.0.

VFP 7.0 has added some new events that can also prevent opening and viewing of tables in a DBC, but the same warnings apply for standalone tables and access by non-VFP methods.

The only way to really protect the data in VFP tables is to do your own encryption/decryption (w/ checksumming for integrity) or use a third party product like Cryptor by Xitech.

Rick