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Ways to protect sensitive information

Many applications use data that is for authorized users only. The following list suggests ways you can protect sensitive information in a form. Note however, that the fields associated with a form can still be exposed in a view.

• Write code that makes a control (and its data) invisible to unauthorized users. To identify a particular user in code, use the following code.

  Application.GetNameSpace("MAPI").CurrentUser

  The Visible property makes a control visible or invisible.

• Write code that sets the control foreground and background to the same color when unauthorized users run the application. This hides the information from unauthorized users. The ForeColor and BackColor properties determine the foreground color and the background color.
• Disable the control when unauthorized users run the application. The Enabled property determines when a control is disabled.
• Require a password to alter a form.
• Require a password for access to the application or a specific control. You can use placeholders as the user types each character. The PasswordChar property defines placeholder characters.
• If the form only appears in a public folder, you can set permissions for the folder to determine who can open the form.

Note  Using passwords or any other techniques listed above can improve the security of your application, but these methods do not guarantee the prevention of unauthorized access to your data.