Password Mask Question

**Luuk** · Nov 23 '13, 05:30 PM

Why do you want to do that?

It does not make your password more secure.....

**Bala Kumaran** · Nov 23 '13, 06:53 PM

I think, You are telling about sha1 of password.

You can find the sha1 here http://www.sha1-online.com/

**dgunner71** · Nov 23 '13, 08:26 PM

Luuk -

It only offers security in that if someone does see the password (i.e. "Supervisor s") they do not know how long the password is. If someone sees ***** they can try common 5 letter words (for that user).

This input mask will make all fields appear to be filled with asterisks.

Thanks for any help.

**dgunner71** · Nov 23 '13, 08:27 PM

Thanks, Bala - but I think (not positive however) that I am looking for an input mask.

I wasn't sure how this might fit into Access.

Gunner

**NeoPa** · Nov 24 '13, 04:06 AM

An unusual request, as operators generally need the visual feedback to ensure they detect typos and accidentally hit keys. I don't believe I've ever come across code to handle this. It's equivalent to not showing anything at all. That can be handled pretty simply by capturing, but not echoing, keystrokes within the control.

Remember though, that security strength relies on people using it. If they find a system impractical, and what you suggest may well be considered to be inadequately practical, they find ways around it so that the strength of the security becomes irrelevant.

**Luuk** · Nov 24 '13, 02:26 PM

Ok, you mean something like this (password.php):

Code:

<html>
        <head>
                <title>password</title>
                <script>
                        function test() {
                                a = document.getElementsByName("password");
                                a[0].value = a[0].value + a[0].value;
                        }
                </script>
        </head>
        <body>
        The posted password is: <?php echo $_POST['password'] ?> <br>
                <form method="post">
                        <input name="password" value="" type="password" onkeydown="test()">
                        <input name="submit" type="submit">
                </form>
        </body>
</html>

This should then be tweaked to get the entered password because if you enter 'abc' the received password will be 'aabaabc' in this example....

But tweaking is easy just add a space (or more than 1, on line#7), and ignore spaces in the password......

**NeoPa** · Nov 24 '13, 02:31 PM

You do realise this is an Access question Luuk? It's very unclear what this could add to anybody's understanding of the matter.

**Luuk** · Nov 24 '13, 02:34 PM

sorry i overlooked that this was a question in the 'microsoft access/vba'-section, and not in the 'php'-section.

**dgunner71** · Nov 24 '13, 02:42 PM

NeoPa -

I may be explaining this poorly.

I have a "Users" form where all user accounts can be managed from. (I have my own security, my own log-in screen, etc.) For simplicity's sake, there are 2 user types - "Admin" and "User". The User can only view his/her account but the Admin has the ability to add, delete or view any account.

Currently when the admin views his/her account, everything appears normal. However, I have code in the form's OnCurrent event so that when they view another user's account, the password is asterisks (password mask). I could just as easily hide the controls when the Admin views another account (this may be a good option).

I was just curious if anyone had seen the code / mask for this. I'll keep looking and post it when I do find it. I'm pretty sure that I have it in my code library somewhere or scribbled in a notebook.

Thanks again for all your help!

Gunner

**dgunner71** · Nov 24 '13, 02:44 PM

Luuk -

Thanks for your assistance, but as NeoPa pointed out, I am mono-lingual (VBA). But I do appreciate all your assistance.

Very best,

Gunner

**NeoPa** · Nov 25 '13, 12:23 AM

That certainly is clearer now Gunner. Essentially you are looking for a way to display a set number of asterisks in place of a password value.

There is no easy way simply to format that. You say you believe you have something that does this from before. I very much doubt you have exactly what you're describing here. There is a "password" format such that each character is replaced by an asterisk, but you've explained that's not what you're talking about.

Nevertheless, I suspect you are on the right track when you consider simply not showing the control. It could be hidden then, in the required scenarios. If you must have it visible and showing asterisks (though I cannot see how that is any benefit at all) then you could change the .ControlSource in Form_Current() between your password field and "=""**********" "".

@Luuk.
No worries on posting in the wrong section. I'm glad it was a simple misunderstandin g as I was certainly confused as to what you may have meant. I don't often deal with such posts from a member who clearly has been quite involved on the site.

**dgunner71** · Nov 26 '13, 01:42 AM

Thanks again, NeoPa.

I'm planning to just hide the password control. If I do come across the code I'm referring to I'll post it for the community.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Bernie

**NeoPa** · Nov 27 '13, 02:19 AM

Hiding a control is very straightforward Bernie.

If you need the code for that it boils down to :

Code:

Me.MyControl.Visible = True/False

I find it works most easily if the value you set it to is a boolean expression rather than the literals True or False.

Thus, say a Boolean variable (blnMine) is already set with a value that indicates whether or not the account being reviewed belongs to the operator (if that's the logic you want), you would say :

Code:

Me.MyControl.Visible = blnMine

**zmbd** · Nov 27 '13, 04:08 PM

Here's a little trick I picked up awhile ago

Open the control properties:
Format tab
back style to transparent
back color to white or something that will give a good contrast with the form's background
Fore color to match the form's background.

With ACC2010 this has become really easy with the themes type entries.
So for a control located in the details section:

Back Color = Access Theme 5
Fore Color = Background 1
Back Style = Transparent
(set the back style AFTER you set the other properties or Access will default it back to "normal")

The form's Detail's section back color = Background 1

Now when the control has focus, the background of the control changes color and the text becomes visible as a contrast (in this case the password mask. When the control doesn't have focus, the transparent background lets the form's background show thru, and if the control's fore ground is the same colour as the section's back color, then the text will "disappear" into the background.

What I like about this... NO CODE!

ALSO
This is the way that I will show users which control has the focus on larger forms; however, I leave the control's fore color set to "Text 1, Lighter 25%" or even just "Text 1" or what ever color looks the best against "Background 1"

(and yes, I switch between "colour" and "color" I hate the latter and use it only when required... "color" doesn't match how the word is pronounced and it just drives me nuts... so does "knife" - I mean really, if the letter is there then use it! "gnue"
arrrrrrggghhhhh .... I'm going back to the lab and watch things bubble into a tar like mass! (^-^)

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