I understand your method and actually its a very logical way of handling it.
But unfortunately - it won't do for our environment :)

I am getting convinced that this is a rare request, judging from the answers
I have found (or not found) on the internet...

--
Eddie


"GSnyder" wrote:

Fiji,

A sneaky way I've used to get around this in the past is to bring up a form
using VBA with a User ID and Password box (formatted as password, so it shows
up as ***** when they type into it). I then added a GO button that updates
all of the pivots, getexternaldata or whatever. Inside that VBA code, then I
programatically set the connection strings and set the UID= Forms1!UserID and
the PWD= Forms1!Password.

So, I've not stored the password in any files and the only way to get to the
password is if the user has access to that machine when it is running the
code (which means they must already have the logon and password). It makes
it easier for the user because they only need to type everything in once
rather than for each different data source.

If you're interested in more info about that loophole, I can post some
further code snippets for you.

Happy calculating!

--
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"fijieddie" wrote:

Thanks for the reply. We do not want the user to enter user and password for
reports as it would become less user friendly. There are numerous
applications and a lot more reports. As for the user id and password,
previously we had Microsoft Office 97 as the default and then it was Office
2003. It was harder to get to the connection properties. In Excel 2007 (which
we are moving slowly towards), there is a simple button there that allows you
to view the connection string. Also, due to management wanting to tighten
security, we are reveiwing all these "loopholes".

I guess hiding the connection settings is not normally done?

--
Eddie