mas@ulysses.att.com (Michael A. Schoen) (08/09/90)
Hello everyone. I have a programming question which, as it turns out, may not be at all Mac specific. I am writing a database program in Foxbase+/Mac for the school's newspaper. Foxbase, for those who don't know lets you design the user interface using painting tools, and then write the code in a language resembling Pascal and dBase II. My problem is this: I want to use passwords to protect certain parts of the database. For example, only the finance manager should have access to employee payroll. And only the circulation manager should be able to add subscriptions. However, I do not have the runtime-only module of Foxbase, so anyone with any computer experience could (I think) quit the program, load up the code, and look for the password. SO, does anyone know of any tricks to hide a password in code. I know that there is no way to hide it from a programmer, but since I am the only programmer on the paper, I just want it hidden from nosy people. The only solution I have so far is to cipher the code in a specific way, like putting two garbage letters between each real one, and shifting the real ones by 2. Then, have the program call a routine to decipher it. Also, I could make a few conspicuous variables named PASSWORD, just to keep them off the track. In fact, I could write it so that if anyone tried to use this nonsense Password, it could alert me to beef up security. DOes anyone have any other ideas as to how I could do this. Michael A. Schoen AT&T Bell Laboratories (provided for identification only) mas@ulysses.att.com