Home > Designing and creating databases > Protecting databases > Authorizing access to files > Setting up access to a file

Setting up access to a file

You can protect access to a file in your database by authorizing other files to access the schema (tables, layouts, scripts, and value lists) in the file you want to protect. You must have the Full Access privilege set for any file that you want to protect and any file that you want to authorize.

A file that you want to protect must be local; however, once you turn on protection, the file can be hosted remotely. In addition, you need exclusive access to it, so make sure no one else is using the file before you begin. Files that you want to authorize can be local or remote.

To authorize access to a file:

1.	Open the file that you want to protect.

2.	Choose File menu > Manage > Security, then click the File Access tab.

3.	To protect this file against unwanted access from other files, select Require full access privileges to create references to this file.

4.	If any files that reference the protected file are currently open, you see an alert for each file, asking if you want to authorize the file. Click Yes.

5.	If you want to authorize additional files that are not currently open, click Authorize. In the Open File dialog box, choose a file to authorize, and click Open.

You may be asked to enter the name and password of an account with Full Access privileges.

You can also authorize remote files. See Opening shared files as a client.

Important  If you don’t authorize a file that references a protected file, the references will no longer work.

The authorized file appears in the File Access list, with the date and time it was authorized, and the account used to create the authorization.

Repeat this step for each file you want to authorize.

6.	When you are finished, click OK.

To remove authorization for a file:

1.	Open the protected file.

2.	In the File Access tab of the Manage Security dialog box, select the file for which you want to remove authorization, then click Deauthorize.

If the deauthorized file was open on any clients, then deauthorization will not take effect until the next time they reopen the file.

3.

Click OK.

To remove all restrictions to file access:

1.	Open the protected file.

2.	In the File Access tab of the Manage Security dialog box, deselect Require full access privileges to create references to this file.

In addition, you can optionally deauthorize files (see “To remove authorization for a file,” above).

3.

Click OK.

Notes

•	If you rename an authorized file and the file is currently open, the new name appears next to the original name in the File Access list. For example, if you renamed the file SalesReport to ExecReport, then ExecReport;SalesReport appears in the list.

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If users try to access a protected file through a file that’s not authorized, they are asked if they want to authorize the file now. If they click Yes but are not logged in to both files using Full Access privileges, they must enter the Full Access account name and password for the files. However, if they are logged in to both files using Full Access privileges, the file is authorized using their current accounts.

•	A protected file retains its list of authorized files if the file is cloned or included in a runtime solution, so you don’t have to repeat this process.

On one hand, this is helpful because you don’t have to repeat the authorization process. However, if you duplicate or clone a protected file, each file will also have the same ID. If you use both files in the same multi-file solution, you must reset the ID in one of the files so that each file has a unique ID. To reset the protected file’s unique ID, click Reset All, then click Yes. After resetting, you will need to reauthorize all files that are authorized to access the protected file and any protected files that file was authorized to access.

Important  Resetting the ID cannot be undone by clicking Cancel in the Manage Security dialog box.

•	To limit access to your solutions to particular FileMaker Pro versions, you can create a script that includes the Get(ApplicationVersion) function, to perform a version check whenever files are opened.