Log Out with MDW??? - Possible?

[Alabaster]

I have an app built with a mdw securing it. everything works great except people are not exiting the app and the next user at the computer keeps using the previous users id. Is it possible to do a LOGOFF and clear user info from the DB workspace, forcing the next user to logon as them?
I need to keep better track of who's doing what in the app, but the loading time and data connection time is bugging the users.

Thanks in Advance.


Peter
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There are 10 type of people in this world,
Those that understand binary and those that dont.

 

[JeremyNYC]

Search here and the other access fora for "boot users". It's been well covered several times. You should find some good stuff.

==
Jeremy Wallace
AlphaBet City Dataworks

http://www.ABCDataworks.com

Access Databases for Non-Profit Organizations

Please post in the appropriate forum with a descriptive subject; code and SQL, if referenced; and expected results. See thread181-473997 for more pointers.

 

[Alabaster]

JeremyNYC, I've seen and used this code before but what I am looking for is a way to "Change User" without exiting the app and restarting it. Kind of like the windows log off, you don't need to restart the computer to log on as someone else. I want the app to stay running just change the current user.

Thanks

Peter
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There are 10 type of people in this world,
Those that understand binary and those that dont.

 

[JeremyNYC]

Peter,

Ah. Sorry for the misunderstanding. Unfortunately, that's not possible. You could trick you users by writing code that does this--by using another database. But I don't think you'd gain anything. The whole bit of sharing computers is really a pain, because users so rarely take the care they should to switch properly. If there's any way the organization can spare $600, they can get another computer and be done with the whole mess for less than the amount they'll pay you to deal with it.

On the other hand, if all the users sharing the computer are of the same security level (all of the groups they belong to are the same), and your only concern here is tracking who's doing what, and you trust your users to be good about switching userIDs, you might be able to go about it a little differently...

Build a bogus user who is a member of exactly the same groups as the users in question, with a name like Multiuser and a password that all the users will share. (You might want to change that password every month and e-mail it to each of these people when you do.) Build code that pops up a special form when this user logs in. On that code, have a combo box that lists the user names of all of the people who will share this computer (cast your net broadly). Then make a way to "end the session" when a person is done with the computer, or when a new person shows up. This will just bring you back to that same form. Then, in all the places where you grab the username, use a function that grabs the username and, if it's Multiuser, substitues the value of the combo box of that form (which will never close, it will just go invisible).

Do be aware that this will lead to a relatively poor security situation, if that's a concern to you. But if there are people sharing computers, my guess that this is not a big concern to you.

How's that sound?

Jeremy

==
Jeremy Wallace
AlphaBet City Dataworks

http://www.ABCDataworks.com

Access Databases for Non-Profit Organizations

Please post in the appropriate forum with a descriptive subject; code and SQL, if referenced; and expected results. See thread181-473997 for more pointers.

 

[Alabaster]

That was my gut feel. Unfortunatly, there are some areas that some of the users should not be getting at. One of the users that uses this computer as near "GOD" access to the system, and if it is his id that logs on first then the rest of the "MINIONS" could wander into areas they shouldn't. I know I should slap the god user around for not logging out but its always the same excuse, "I didn't think I would be away from it for that long"

Since this is a personal pet project, time is not of major concern, so I might just see what kind of trickery I can pull. I'll be sure to share my findings.

Thanks

Peter
---------------------------------------
There are 10 type of people in this world,
Those that understand binary and those that dont.

 

[JeremyNYC]

Peter,

If it's about amount of time that the person is away from the computer, and if security _is_ that much of an issue you might want to think about implementing that code you've seen (after you slap that user). You can set it up to check for inactivity. It would probably end up being a decent bit of work, but it might be worth it.

You'd have to update some control on a hidden form with the current time every time the user takes an action. It might be enough to check for any time the user moves to a new control or moves the mouse. Then there would be a timer on the form that checks every x minutes to see when the last time the user took an action. If it's more than some amount of time, ask the user if he or she is still working (with a custom popup form, not a dialog box). If you get no response by the time x minutes have passed again, close the application, abandoning whatever record the user had open.

It is a bunch of work, and it will require a lot of testing. But it doesn't seem like any of it should be too complex.

Jeremy

==
Jeremy Wallace
AlphaBet City Dataworks

http://www.ABCDataworks.com

Access Databases for Non-Profit Organizations

Please post in the appropriate forum with a descriptive subject; code and SQL, if referenced; and expected results. See thread181-473997 for more pointers.