Is it possible to retrieve the name (or IP address, whichever) of a computer that is accessing a file on my shared folders via workgroup? If so, what would I need to retrieve it? Filename? File directory?
I am using vb.net 2005.
The short answer is NO.
But, if you are on the computer that has the share, you can go into Administrative Tools>>Computer Management>>System Tools>>Shared Folders>>Open Files and and you might get some information about what files and who. But this is not reliable because only certain files apply locking and they will only show up here if locked from another computer. Too often windows will tell you the file is locked but you will not see the information in here.
Related
I'm trying to copy a file from a local computer to a remote share but I get an exception saying "Can't find the specified file".
My.Computer.FileSystem.CopyFile("C:\filename.jpg", "\\focserver2\consultoria\teste\filename.jpg")
The remote shared folder has full control permissions on "Everyone".
What am I doing wrong? Or it's not possible to copy to network paths using FileSystem.CopyFile ?
Thanks.
João
The issue does not appear to be the destination but the source. I assume that the sample you showed above is NOT the real code and in the real code, you combine a couple values together to define the source. To help prevent issues, get in the habit of using the Path.Combine() method when concatenating strings for a file path. It's a life-saver.
The next most important thing is to learn how to debug your code by setting break-points and seeing what the values of your combined strings are before posting to websites. This is a good one to get you started. http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/debugging-tips-with-visual-studio-2010
Most likely the problem is that you are trying to access the root folder of the C:\ drive. This folder is generally locked down by the operating system, and even simple file operations don't work easily there.
Try copying the file from a subfolder e.g.
My.Computer.FileSystem.CopyFile("C:\Temp\filename.jpg", "\\focserver2\consultoria\teste\filename.jpg")
I am extremely new to Ms-Access. I have a central back end access database in server computer. And all the users have the front end user interface installed on their system.
Now, whenever I make any changes to the interface in my local, i need to re-install the updated interface on each of their system. Is their any way that i can do so that i will make the changes only on my local and it will be automatically reflected on all the users' systems.
Thank you.
Ok there are a couple of options that you can do to either fully or paritally automate this process.
Partial Automation
If you don't have a lot of users and you don't want to do a great deal of coding you can write a simple batchfile or vbs file which you set up on the users desktop as an icon. Batch file code would show the following type of information.
#Echo Off
REM Copy your file from server location to local user machine
xcopy "F:\ServerDirectory\databasename.mdb" "C:\ClientDirectory\databasename.mdb" /E /Y /R
Set this up on the users machine as an icon and whenever you want them to update their front end ask them to double click the icon. This will overwrite their client with whatever you place in the location on the server. It is advisable to create all table links to the database back end having UNC paths as well.
I have used this successfully for various applications - I make changes to the front end place in appropriate location on the server and then do a quick e-mail to people just to ask them to double click the bat file icon.
Full Automation
Programmatically set version control up using visual basic so the client checks version number of the client against a server number and if the client is not the latest will download a new version.
This is more involved and full instructions are available here.
Front End Auto Update
When you deploy an MS Access solutions like this, you need to decide whether to share the client MDB file between all users, or distribute copies to each user. It sounds like you have taken the second option. Each choice has merits and disadvantages. If you stay with the current approach, you might look at a scripting option to deploy updated client MDB files between users.
I'm working on a VB.NET (2010) project that will need to write text files to the end user's computer. I have read online that due to some user's security settings, that the safest place to write files to is the Application Data folder.
But what I would like to do (if possible) is allow the user to select where they want the files written to, via a SaveToFile dialog (I am using a SaveFileDialog in combination with My.Computer.FileSystem.WriteAllText).
So my question is... if I use a SaveFileDialog (as opposed to saving a file without using a dialog), does that mean that my files will always be written to wherever the user selects?
Or is it possible that the user could select a location (ie their "desktop"), and it would not write the file there, due to their security settings? (UAC, Firewall, etc).
If the latter is possible, is there anything I can suggest to the user that they can do that would enable my program to write files to wherever they select, and it would work 100% of the time?
Like maybe... if they right-click on my program's exe file and go to Properties > Security, and make sure the 'Write' permission is allowed, will that do the trick? Or is there more to it than that?
And does it mke any difference whether or not they are logged into their computer as "admin"?
I've read a lot of conflicting things about all of this online, so I'm just trying to getting a better understanding of it all so that I know how to proceed.
Thanks!
The [Save As] dialog will only let the users select a folder they have read and write acceess to and that is done for you by the Operating system . So that is the best option in my openion
I am writing a program in vb.net that requires a user to log in before he can use the application. The main user is created when the program is installed, similar to how windows works when it is installed.
The main user can add additional users to the program. I already know that I should store the passwords encrypted. My question is, where should I store the usernames and passwords? The registry, Isolated storage or .config file. I don't want any user to be able to modify/delete that file as the other user would obviously not be able to log in. Also, this file should be accessible for any user that logs into the computer.
The computer is not guaranteed to be connected to the internet, so it must be stored locally.
Thanks
To tell you the truth if someone has the will power to look for the file they will find it, so storage can help up security but I would focus on the contents of the file itself.
You could try to store the data of the application as a encrypted file which could stop the amateur attempts but as you are using the .net framework your program could could be decompiled and any symmetric encryption algorithms could be rendered useless.
I think your best bet would be to either generate a seed according to the computer the program is on, and if decryption fails call home or go into Lock Down.
Another option would be to store the encrypted (encrypted with your symmetric key) file and a hash file (in different locations probably). If the hash of the loaded file then does not match the hash file your program could then call home (If you have a home to call).
This is just a idea, haven't actually tried anything like this.
If you are not able to use windows users/credentials in any way on the machine, then there really is no absolute way to prevent the file from being removed/changed, Since anyone on the computer has the same access as the main user, who needs rights to modify the file in order for him to add users through the program.
The only way to do it for sure is to have the main user logon with a different user name, and set the file permissions on that file/folder to make sure that only the main user has modify permission to the file (and the other user account does not have the right to modify permissions). I know you said it wouldn't work in your environment(which is?) but you might be able to create users and run stuff under different credentials through your code without having the users log on any different.
The only crazy way I can think of is to create a service on the computer that once it starts running, it opens and holds a handle to that file with sharing set such that no other process can open the file for writing. You'd of course have to workout some way for the main user to be able to add users.
I've got an Access 2007 database that I developed which connects to SQL Server for the actual data storage. I used the Package Solution Wizard to create a distributable installer which included access runtime (with an ACCDE file) which I went around and installed on 15 or so PCs. Anyway, my question is, what is the best way to distribute updates to this database? Right now I'd need to go around and remove and reinstall. That's not a problem... I was just wondering if there was another way.
I've tried leaving the front end on a network share but it seems that most people suggest storing the front-end on the local machine, which makes sense. The problems I've run into when I leave it on a network share (at least with Access 2003 mdbs) is that I find myself needing to compact and repair often and I also have to kill the open sessions (user's who have the file open) when upgrading. I would imagine it could also hypothetically create an unnecessary bottleneck if the user was not on the local network.
Automating front-end distribution is trivial. It's a problem that has been solved repeatedly. Tony Toews's http://autofeupdater.com is one such solution that is extremely easy to implement and completely transparent to the end user.
We developed a vbscript 'launcher' for our access apps. That is what is linked to on the start menu of user's pcs and it does the following.
It checks a version.txt file located on a network share to see whether it contains different text to a locally stored copy
If the text is different it copies the access mdb and the new version.txt to the user's hard drive.
Finally it runs the mdb in access
In order to distribute an update to the user's pc all that is required is to change the text in version.txt on the network share.
Perhaps you can implement something similar to this
Make a batch file on the server (network drive).
Create a shortcut link to that batch file.
Copy the shortcut to User's Desktop.
When user double-clicks on shortcut, it will copy a fresh copy from network to local.
Replace old database.adp on the server drive when you update a new version.
Each user gets a copy of database.adp on their machine.
Remove Security warning when opening file from network share is here.
Batch File
#ECHO OFF
REM copy from network drive to local
xcopy "Your_Network_Drive\database.adp" "C:\User\database.adp" /Y /R /F
REM call your database file - Access 2007
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\MSAccess.EXE" "C:\User\database.adp"
This is a very old post and I used the autofeupdater until it stopped working so I wrote one of my own and it has evolved over the last few years into something that I have used with many clients. It's so simple to use and there is no interface. Just an EXE and a very simple config file.
Please check it out here. I can also help with custom solutions if none of the configurations work for your needs. http://www.dafran.ca/MS-Access-Front-End-Loader.aspx
After trying all of the solutions above (not exactly these solutions but these are the common suggestions in the Access community), I developed a system entirely within Access using VBA that allows an admin DB to create and publish objects to client DBs without the need for user intervention or management of multiple DB files.
This approach has several benefits:
1. It simplifies the development process by having a dedicated environment (admin DB) for development and testing totally separate from the client DBs.
2. It simplifies the update/distribution process by allowing a developer to push out updates in real time that client DBs can implement in the background, without involving users. Can also allow devs to roll back to previous versions if desired.
3. It could be used as a kind of change management system within Access for developers who want to commit multiple changes to objects and modules and retain past changes.
4. It allows for easier user access control by allowing an admin to easily assign certain objects to specific users/roles without needing to maintain multiple versions of the DB.
I will hopefully post the code to GitHub soon, I just have to get clearance from my workplace to release it. I will edit this post to include the link when I have.
We have usually kept the Access front ends on network drives, and just put up with the need to compact and repair on a regular basis. You will probably find you need to do that even when they are installed locally, anyway.
If you must have it installed locally, there are various tools which will enable you to "push out" software updates, and the guys over on ServerFault would have more information on those. Assuming such tools aren't available, the only other option I can think of is to write a small loader program that checks the local .MDB against a master copy on the server, and re-copies it across if they are different, before then launching the MDB.