Issue 26982

Hi,

It would be nice IMHO to have the ability to mark any data source as Read only 
when the datasource is set up within OOo.

My reason for this is that I use OpenOffice.org to connect users to their live 
data and I would like to be able to specify in the data source the user only 
has Read Only access.

Whilst this is not secure and probably not acceptable in a large corporate 
environment (and these environments would have better more secure facilities) 
I feel it is acceptable in a small business environment.

This approach would solve some issues which keep cropping up for me and others 
users in users mail list that I have read.

For data sources such as text and Calc this field could be marked as Read 
Only - Yes, and greyed out. This provides feedback to the user they are using 
a Read Only data source.

For dBase the first user gets Read/Write access and subsequent users get Read 
Only access. By providing the ability to set the users Read Only access I 
could then set the primary user as the only user with Read/Write access. This 
would make the existing dBase driver a magnitude better in a small business 
environment. 

In a small business environment one user is often given the role to maintain 
important lists like telephone list. Many users can then access this list in 
read only mode.

For ODBC some data source such as MS Access allow you to specify Read Only. 
However the ODBC dBase driver does not provide this ability. Thus there is no 
way in OpenOffice.org to prevent users accidentally over typing data in the 
data source. A Read Only flag would enable this to be controlled within OOo 
more easily.

I cannot speak for other data sources but I think the same may apply there as 
well.

Having a Read Only field would provide users with feedback and some additional 
options. However it is not fool proof.

It may not even be worth the effort. But I felt it was worth raising as an 
idea as it would make my use and experience with OpenOffice.org much better. 
As a consultant this approach would allow me more options to use 
OpenOffice.org to meet client requirements. Currently I use Microsoft products 
to get around these issues.

As a final note it is probably important to treat data sources with this field 
as they currently are by default. That is if the data source is seen as Read 
Only the field is marked as Read Only and greyed out so the user knows they 
can't change it. If the data source is Read/Write then the field defaults to 
Read/Write and can be changed to Read Only by the user via the data source 
setup.

Use the idea as you see fit.

Thanks

Kelvin