Upgrade from Access 2K to 2K3

[Guest]

hello, I will be upgrading from Office 2K to 2K3....any issues anyone has run into, please advise. Also, any issues especially with Access databases
Thanks.

 

[Allen Browne]

Make sure you have JET 4 SP8. (You need that for Office XP anyway.) To
check, find msjet40.dll (typically in windows\system32), right-click, and
choose version. It should be 4.0.8015.0.

Biggest problem is the new "security" model.

Every time you open any of your databases in A2003, you will be warned that
it is a nasty piece of work and should not be trusted! You may receive 3
dialogs in a row, every time you start any mdb file. Some of them are long
and confusing, but you must read them in detail to figure out what question
you are answering. Unless you choose the non-default answer in each case,
you do not get to open your file.

The major problem with this is not you using A2003, because you can get
around the problem by setting security to Low. The real problem occurs if
you develop for other people, and they upgrade to 2003. Try telling their
network administrators to set security to Low.

--
Allen Browne - Microsoft MVP. Perth, Western Australia.

Reply to group, rather than allenbrowne at mvps dot org.

hello, I will be upgrading from Office 2K to 2K3....any issues anyone has

run into, please advise. Also, any issues especially with Access databases.

 

[Guest]

Allen,

I just read your reply about the new security model in Access 2003. I just upgraded and experienced those never ending dialogs when I tried to open an existing application. It has caused all sorts of problems in my mind. In Access XP, you could choose to work in 2000 or XP mode. I find no such setting in 2003. Almost all of my customers are on 2000. Because of that option in XP, I was able to still do work for them with very little problems. Do you know what’s going to happen when I send them an app for their 2000 that I worked on in Access 2003?

On this security model, is there any way to find out what these “insecure†expressions are in an application? All it does is tell me the app has some, but doesn’t tell me what they are, where they are, or what to do to make them “secureâ€. I printed out a 5 page help screen titled, “About Microsoft Jet Expression Service Sandbox Mode.†It lists “Blocked Functions located in the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) Object Library†and “Blocked Functions and Properties in the Microsoft Access Object Library.†It gives an example of how to use a blocked function in code, which I suppose means would allow it to be classified as safe if you follow this guideline, but it does not explicitly say that. Their suggestion is to wrap a blocked expression in a user-defined public function such as:

Public Function MyCurDir() as String
MyCurDir = CurDir()
End Function

So, does this mean that I need to check my existing applications for all of these listed functions and write wrapper functions around them, and then my app will be “Safe� If the answer to that is “Yes,†then obviously the next question is who will be the first person to write a utility to do that and retire in Tahiti? LOL!!!

If you can refer me to any sites addressing this issue, I would so greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,

Bob

 

[Allen Browne]

Firstly, the file format has not changed since A2002, and it can natively
work with A2000.

Sandbox mode will not get around the problem. It just prevents certain
things in certain contexts (detailed in the article you read), but the user
still gets some of the security dialogs if the mdb has any code, any macro,
or any action query.

While I do appreciate Microsoft's push towards trustworthy computing in
general, forcing this in Access users is as appropriate as forcing seatbeats
on bicycle riders in my view.

--
Allen Browne - Microsoft MVP. Perth, Western Australia.

Reply to group, rather than allenbrowne at mvps dot org.

Allen,

I just read your reply about the new security model in Access 2003. I

just upgraded and experienced those never ending dialogs when I tried to
open an existing application. It has caused all sorts of problems in my
mind. In Access XP, you could choose to work in 2000 or XP mode. I find no
such setting in 2003. Almost all of my customers are on 2000. Because of
that option in XP, I was able to still do work for them with very little
problems. Do you know what's going to happen when I send them an app for
their 2000 that I worked on in Access 2003?

On this security model, is there any way to find out what these "insecure"

expressions are in an application? All it does is tell me the app has some,
but doesn't tell me what they are, where they are, or what to do to make
them "secure". I printed out a 5 page help screen titled, "About Microsoft
Jet Expression Service Sandbox Mode." It lists "Blocked Functions located
in the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) Object Library" and "Blocked
Functions and Properties in the Microsoft Access Object Library." It gives
an example of how to use a blocked function in code, which I suppose means
would allow it to be classified as safe if you follow this guideline, but it
does not explicitly say that. Their suggestion is to wrap a blocked
expression in a user-defined public function such as:

Public Function MyCurDir() as String
MyCurDir = CurDir()
End Function

So, does this mean that I need to check my existing applications for all

of these listed functions and write wrapper functions around them, and then
my app will be "Safe"? If the answer to that is "Yes," then obviously the
next question is who will be the first person to write a utility to do that
and retire in Tahiti? LOL!!!