How to avoid opening a password-protected mdb

  • I'm looping through my pc's folders to open each mdb that I encounter and look for a sub in its vba modules. The problem is there are a few mdb's which have been password-protected and so I'd like to skip opening them since I don't know the password so I've tried to solve it as you see below because when the dialog box asking for the database password comes up and I click the Cancel button I get the message: "run-time error '2467': The expression you entered refers to an object that is closed or doesn't exist." but it doesn't allow me to exit the dialog box gracefully and continue the scan with the next mdb so I commented the code out in the sub below; what can I do to achieve that?

    Sub ProcessDatabase(ByVal strPath As String)

    Dim vbc As VBIDE.VBComponent

    On Error GoTo ExitHere

    app.OpenCurrentDatabase strPath, , ""

    For Each vbc In app.VBE.ActiveVBProject.VBComponents

    ProcessModule vbc.CodeModule, strPath

    Next vbc

    ExitHere:

    On Error Resume Next

    ' If Err = 2467 Then

    ' app.CloseCurrentDatabase

    ' Exit Sub

    ' End If

    app.CloseCurrentDatabase

    End Sub

    Giorgio

  • Before opening the database with "app.OpenCurrentDatabase" you could first try to connect with an OLEDB connection. The OLEDB connection doesn't use a GUI so you can easily handle an error in the code. If the connection succeeds you can open the database, if the connection fails you should skip it.

    ** Don't mistake the ‘stupidity of the crowd’ for the ‘wisdom of the group’! **
  • Thanks, what's the code to do that? I'm looping through all the folders on my pc's hard drive.

  • I'm not sure if this code is compatible with VBA, but I use this (modified for security reasons) code below in VB6:

    Private Function GetConnectionstring(ByVal strDatabase As String) As String

    Dim strProvider As String

    On Error GoTo ErrorHandler

    strProvider = "Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0"

    GetConnectionstring = "Provider=" & strProvider & ";Data Source=" & strDatabase & ";Jet OLEDB"

    End Function

    Dim strDatabase As String

    Set objConnection = New ADODB.Connection

    Set strDatabase = "{full_path_to_file}"

    strConnection = GetConnectionstring(strDatabase)

    objConnection.open strConnection

    If you can't use this code I'm sure you can find many samples on the internet. Just search for "OLEDB VBA Access" or something similar.

    ** Don't mistake the ‘stupidity of the crowd’ for the ‘wisdom of the group’! **
  • Thank you so much, it definitely runs without a hitch but I'll be able to test it against password-protected mdb's only on Monday so I'll let you know then.

  • Unfortunately, even by using the code you see below, whenever the loop encounters a password-protected mdb, the dialog box asking for the password still comes up, any other workarounds?

    Private Function GetConnectionstring(ByVal strDatabase As String) As String

    Dim strProvider As String

    On Error Resume Next

    strProvider = "Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0"

    GetConnectionstring = "Provider=" & strProvider & ";Data Source=" & strDatabase & ";Jet OLEDB"

    End Function

    Sub ProcessDatabase(ByVal strPath As String)

    Dim vbc As VBIDE.VBComponent, objConnection As ADODB.Connection, strConnection As String

    On Error GoTo ExitHere

    Set objConnection = New ADODB.Connection

    strConnection = GetConnectionstring(strPath)

    objConnection.Open strConnection

    objConnection.Close

    app.OpenCurrentDatabase strPath, , ""

    For Each vbc In app.VBE.ActiveVBProject.VBComponents

    ProcessModule vbc.CodeModule, strPath

    Next vbc

    ExitHere:

    On Error Resume Next

    ' If Err = 2467 Then

    ' app.CloseCurrentDatabase

    ' Exit Sub

    ' End If

    app.CloseCurrentDatabase

    End Sub

  • If the previous doesn't work I'll have to guess some follow up steps.

    What happens if you supply a dummy password? Will this generate an error or will it still pop-up a dialog box? If I recall correct you can always add a password to the connection string. In case of a non-password protected database the password will be ignored.

    ** Don't mistake the ‘stupidity of the crowd’ for the ‘wisdom of the group’! **
  • Thank you, if you look at

    app.OpenCurrentDatabase strPath, , ""

    you can see the password argument is indeed filled, just by a zero-length password

  • Unfortunate I'm currently not able to setup or test this myself. I can only give you some pointers...

    So you say you don't get an error with the "objConnection.Open strConnection" command when you execute this against a password protected database? And what if you query for example for a list of tables within this "objConnection" object? Will the result of that give you something to conclude if you are querying against a password protected database?

    You need to do something within the ADODB object to see if you are accessing a password protected database or not. After that you only proceed to open the database with "OpenCurrentDatabase" if it is not password protected.

    ** Don't mistake the ‘stupidity of the crowd’ for the ‘wisdom of the group’! **
  • You're right, I get no error. How do I query for a list of tables within the objConnection object?

  • Take a look at this site: http://allenbrowne.com/func-ado.html. You can use the sample to query the database for a list of tables. Hopefully this will give you an error when executing against a password protected database, so you know you'll need to skip the rest of the function.

    ** Don't mistake the ‘stupidity of the crowd’ for the ‘wisdom of the group’! **
  • Thank you, still no can do. Following your latest advice, the code is now

    Sub ProcessDatabase(ByVal strPath As String)

    Dim vbc As VBIDE.VBComponent, objConnection As ADODB.Connection, strConnection As String

    On Error GoTo ExitHere

    Set objConnection = New ADODB.Connection

    strConnection = GetConnectionstring(strPath)

    objConnection.Open strConnection

    ShowSchema

    objConnection.Close

    app.OpenCurrentDatabase strPath, , ""

    For Each vbc In app.VBE.ActiveVBProject.VBComponents

    ProcessModule vbc.CodeModule, strPath

    Next vbc

    ExitHere:

    On Error Resume Next

    ' If Err = 2467 Then

    ' app.CloseCurrentDatabase

    ' Exit Sub

    ' End If

    app.CloseCurrentDatabase

    End Subbut it just glides through the ShowSchema function without any error when it encounters a password-protected mdb(which I've attached to this post); for your info, the content of the immediate window, after it does that is

    tblEvents

    tblEvents

    tblEvents

    tblEvents

    tblEvents

    tblEvents

    tblEvents

    tblEvents

    tblEvents

    tblEvents

    tblEvents

    tblEvents

    tblEvents

    tblEvents

  • The code below will give you a working example. It will loop through all files within the given folder. When the file is of a type: "Microsoft Access Database" then an ADODB connection is setup to that file. When an errors occurres a message is displayed stating the filename and the error message. Else the message is displayed stating the file is accessible.

    strPath = "{your folder path here}"

    Set objConn = CreateObject("ADODB.Connection")

    ' create objects to the file system

    Set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")

    Set objFolder = objShell.Namespace(strPath)

    Set colItems = objFolder.Items

    ' ignore errors and proceed to the next line

    On Error Resume Next

    ' loop through each file

    For Each objItem in colItems

    ' check the file type

    if objItem.type = "Microsoft Access Database" then

    ' build the connection string and try to open the file

    strConnect = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=" & strPath & "\" & objItem.name & ";"

    objConn.Open strConnect

    ' check for errors

    If Err.Number = 0 Then

    ' no error: replace the line below with the code you need to perform on an accessible database

    wscript.echo objItem.name & " can be opened." & vbCrLf

    else

    ' error occurred: remove this ELSE block if you don't want any messages regarding inaccessible databases

    wscript.echo objItem.name & " is inaccessible." & vbCrLf & err.description & vbCrLf

    end if

    ' reset error

    Err.Clear

    end if

    Next

    wscript.echo "End script"

    Replace the messages (ECHO commands) with the applicable code suitible to your needs.

    ** Don't mistake the ‘stupidity of the crowd’ for the ‘wisdom of the group’! **
  • Hi again, thank you, I'll only be able to test your code tomorrow on a password-protected mdb. I hope I'm wrong but don't you think that since your latest code mimics your previous code:

    strConnection = GetConnectionstring(strPath)

    objConnection.Open strConnection

    no error will be raised even when a password-protected mdb is encountered?

  • Yesterday I was finally able to create a test case of my own. The code I provided in the previous post is tested by me.

    Initially I just used the code "objConn.Open strConnect". This did indeed default pop-up with the password-mismatch message. But when I also used the code "On Error Resume Next" it didn't pop-up anymore and the process continued to the "if err.number" block, so I could display my own message box.

    Please let me know your results...

    ** Don't mistake the ‘stupidity of the crowd’ for the ‘wisdom of the group’! **

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