Can linked table location be hidden?

[John_G]

Good morning all -



Is it possible to hide the locations of linked tables that we see when using linked table manager? I want to have a desktop Access FE database link to a BE database which is on an intranet server. I know this works because I have done it, but for security reasons can the link address be hidden? That is really a just-in-case scenario, because I can establish the links when opening the main form, and delete them when closing it. It's also easy enough to keep users out of the ribbon and the navigation pane.

If that can't be done, is it possible using VBA to map the database location to a network drive letter, as you can do with Computer - Map Network Drive (Win 7), without knowing what drive letter is the next one available?

Thanks.

[June7]

If users are not in the ribbon or navigation pane, how are they interacting with the link manager?

Why are you establishing and deleting links?

I use UNC pathing in my frontend linking and don't have to deal with user's drive letter mapping.

[ItsMe]

If you use VBA to hide the objects, they will not appear. This is unlike using the Options to change the hidden property.

[John_G]

Thank you, ItsMe - worked great (once I found the right VBA code!!)

[orange]

Care to share the discovery with others?

[John_G]

Sorry, yes. Here you are:

Sub Link_Tables(Optional HideTable As Boolean = True)
   
  Dim wksp As Workspace
  Dim TableName As String
  
  '
  ' Open the specifications database
  '
  Set wksp = Workspaces(0)
  Set SPECSDATABASE = wksp.OpenDatabase(DATABASENAME)
  For Each tbl In SPECSDATABASE.TableDefs
    If Left(tbl.Name, 4) <> "MSys" Then
      Debug.Print "Linking to " & tbl.Name
      DoCmd.TransferDatabase acLink, "Microsoft Access", DATABASENAME, A_TABLE, _
         tbl.Name, tbl.Name
      If HideTable Then Application.SetHiddenAttribute acTable, tbl.Name, True ' will hide the table "tbl.name"
    End If
  Next
  SPECSDATABASE.Close
End Sub

DATABASENAME is a global variable containing the database location:

Global Const DATABASENAME As String = "\\eis-xxx-iv03147\web_sites$\cmpapp\dpgr\access_database\dmh rr\web_dmhrr_specs.mdb"

This routine is called when the main form of the desktop application is opened.