Remove users from database.

Topic

New Reply

In order to manually compact our Access97 databases, we need to remove remote users from the databases. We are running them on an NT4 network. Some databases are split into a front end with linked tables, others are not. The questions are as follows:

1. How can we remove users at will in Access97?
2. How can we remove users at will from a specific Access97 database using WinNT 4?
3. How can we write a popup box in Access97 to give users a warning that the database will be shut down momentarily?
4. What is the best resource for scheduling and running automatic compaction of Access97 databases, given that late at night, there will be no users in the database?

Reply | Quote

Replies

Andy, I really don’t know how to help you, but I have a similar problem at work. We have about 1,000 users. What I do is to walk over to the network administrators (we use Novell) and he shuts people off when they have left the database open and they are not at work. The network guys also can send a network alert to tell people important information, such as “We are closing the database for a while. Please log off!”

Do you have a similar system? If you don’t, you may not be able to do what you would like.

Reply | Quote

There is a free tool called Jet4Admin available from FMS, Inc that will allow you to administer a Jet database and force users to log out. I believe it works in either Access 2000 or Access 97, but check the website for details.

As far as the popup is concerned, that’s usually a network admin issue rather than an Access operation. However, I can’t remember if Jet4Admin includes that functionality or now.

You can download the JetComp utility from the Microsoft site, and that utility can actually compact a database from outside Access, so it isn’t necessary to run Access in order to compact the database. You would need a script that would call JetComp, pass it the existing database name and path and a name and path to compact to, then would delete the old database and rename the new one to the old name. JetComp will not write to an existing file, so there’s some work to do to make sure the whole thing runs.

Reply | Quote

There is a solution to your problem in the Access 97/2000 Power Programming books by F. Scott Barker.

The proposed solution involves using a hidden form with a timer on it that periodically checks a flag file on the network. When you want to log all users off, you set the flag file. When the user’s app next checks the file it will cause a pop-up form to be displayed asking the user to stop working and log out of the application. The pop-up form informs them that that they will be automatically logged out in 5 mins and a field on the form starts to countdown – showing them how much time they have left.

Once the countdown has began it can be stopped by resetting the flag file on the LAN. A message is then displayed to the users informing them that they may carry on working.

HTH.

Dave.

Reply | Quote

I’ve been searching for a long time for a way to pop up an informational form on a users system through access. My application would be passing call information to claims representatives. This is the first glimmer of hope I’ve had, i.e. using the timer event to set a form visible. My only question arises from having used OnTimer in the past, it appeared to slow down the application. Was that just a perception problem on my behalf, or is there indeed a resource issue involved in using OnTimer ?

Reply | Quote

Yes you do have to watch for performance issues when using the timer, especially when as in this case, you are checking a network file.

It is best to set the timer interval for as long a period as possible. i.e. only check the flag file every 10 mins if this is acceptable. It means that not everybody will get the message at the same time but you know that they will all have had it 10 mins after you have set the flag on the network.

In the case of logging all users off to compact/repair the DB you need to check every 5-10 mins, but in your case, if you can set the timer interval to 60 mins, then even better.

Dave.

Reply | Quote