The security features of DBF tables are extensive. If you intend to create private tables within dBASE Plus for which you want to set elaborate or varied access levels, the DBF table type is your best choice.

Table-level security relies on data encryption. Data encryption scrambles data so that it can’t be read until it is unscrambled. An encrypted file contains data that has been translated from source data to another form that makes the content unreadable. If your database system is protected, dBASE Plus automatically encrypts and decrypts tables and their associated index and memo files when a user supplies the required passwords or other login information.

In addition, DBF tables allow you to define which fields within tables users can access, and the level of access, read, read/write, or full.

The first parts of this section describe how to plan your security scheme for DBF tables. Topics include

The various levels of security

An overview of the various aspects of the DBF security

Planning group access for each table

Planning each user’s login and user access level

Planning user access to tables and fields within tables

At the end of this section are procedures for setting up your DBF security scheme:

Enter the database administrator’s password

Create user profiles

Set user privileges for table access

Set user privileges for fields within tables