MS Access uses a file it calls "Workgroup" to define valid user accounts and passwords for its internal access control. The database engine underlying MS Access, called "Jet", that the "System DB".

In Access 2003, it can be set through the UI: menu tools / security / Workgroup manager, or with the "/workgroup" command-line switch. The story with Access 2007 is a bit more complicated, see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918583 .

Our "connect to a Access file" wizard does not give users the possibility to set which workgroup shall be used, and uses the Jet default, which is not necessarily the same as the one MS Access uses. This leads to a frustrating "opening a .mdb file does not work" for the user, as the MS Access default has possibly been set by an Administrator and the user knows nothing about it.

Our "connect to Access file" UI should:

 1) Use the same workgroup as MS Access by default
 2) Allow it to be set differently
 3) Allow the user to set a Username and password. Default to "Admin" and no password.

Currently the only way to open a .mdb file with a specific workgroup is to choose "connect to ADO" instead of "connect to Access", and in the ADO "browse" UI, choose "Microsoft Jet 4.0 OLE DB Provider", go to the "All" and set property "Jet OLEDB:System database".

The one used by MS Access 2003 is in the registry at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Access\Jet\4.0\Engines\SystemDB

Access 2007 is probably similar. There is no notion of workgroup for a .accdb file.

The file you need to change in LibreOffice is dbaccess/source/ui/dlg/ConnectionHelper.cxx, in function

   IMPL_LINK(OConnectionHelper, OnBrowseConnections, PushButton*, /*_pButton*/)

there is a big

        switch ( eType )

The case we are interested in is

  case  ::dbaccess::DST_MSACCESS:

There, you need to get no only a .mdb filename, but also the discussed workgroup file, which has extension .mdw.

You may also need to adapt ODbDataSourceAdministrationHelper::getConnectionURL() in file DbAdminImpl.cxx, as well as ODbTypeWizDialog::determineNextState in file dbwiz to activate a new state ADDITIONAL_PAGE_MSACCESS, which you have to create first.

Finally, the dialog itself is in file dbaccess/source/ui/dlg/dbadminsetup.src, section TabPage PAGE_DBWIZARD_MSACCESS.

You need to stick the path to the chosen workgroup (.mdw) file into the constructed ADO URL as ";Jet OLEDB:System database=THE_PATH". Have a look at sw/source/ui/dbui/dbmgr.cxx, function SwNewDBMgr::LoadAndRegisterDataSource. You may also need to adapt ODsnTypeCollection::extractHostNamePort in file dbaccess/source/core/misc/dsntypes.cxx so that it copes with (ignores) this extra bit.


Make sure you start from a code checkout of 24 november 2011 or later, as ADO is completely broken in older versions.