Edge Browser 6
By Richard Rost
3 years ago
Adding Trusted Domains to the Edge Browser In this Microsoft Access tutorial, I'm going to show you how to use the new Edge Browser Control.
In Part 6 we will be learning about Trusted Domains. We'll see how to set up a trusted domain table and learn about what does and does not work in the browser with regards to trusted domains. MembersMembers will learn how to set up a Bookmarks table. We'll make a combo box that we can drop down to pick common destinations. We'll make a List Items Edit Form to easily add domains. We'll make a button to click on to add all four versions of that domain to the Trusted Domains list (domain.com, www.domain.com, and both of those with http and https versions). Silver Members and up get access to view Extended Cut videos, when available. Gold Members can download the files from class plus get access to the Code Vault. If you're not a member, Join Today!
PrerequisitesRecommended Courses
Keywords TechHelp Access 2016, Access 2019, Access 2021, Access 365, Microsoft Access, MS Access, MS Access Tutorial, #msaccess, #microsoftaccess, #help, #howto, #tutorial, #learn, #lesson, #training, #database, Edge Browser Control in Access, Access Trusted Domains Table, Setting up Trusted Domains, Access Control Trusted Websites, Configure Trusted Domains, Access Web Control Trusted Sites, Customize Browser Control Access, Implementing Trusted Domains, Managing Trusted Domains Access.
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Intro In this video, we will talk about setting up trusted domains for the Edge browser control in Microsoft Access. I will show you how to create a table of allowed domains, configure the browser control to use this list, and discuss common issues you may encounter with domain formats, including handling HTTP, HTTPS, and domain forwarding. We'll also go over some scenarios where external links still open outside of Access due to how the site or HTML is set up, and share tips for making sure your users only access approved websites from within your Access application.Transcript In today's video, we're going to talk about trusted domains for the Edge browser control. You have to actually give the browser control a list of what domains the user is allowed to browse to. I'm going to show you how to do that in today's video.
Today we're going to learn about trusted domains. I showed you a little demonstration at the end of the last lesson. Let's go to PCRESALE.NET. Go to the links page and here you'll find links to other domains, other websites.
If I try to go to any of these, including my own, it will open up externally in whatever your web browser is, in this case, Edge. I normally use Chrome myself, but I open it up in Edge just to show you. Obviously, that's less helpful if your users can only go to a specific website.
Again, I'm going to reiterate that Microsoft is airing on the side of caution, and I understand why they're doing this. Generally, you're not going to build something in Access to replace your users' web browser. You're not going to try to replace Chrome or Edge, but usually, this tool is designed to allow you or your users to go to a specific site to get information, to push information, like submit a form, that kind of stuff.
The thought is that you're going to set up, you the developer, the admin, a list of sites they're allowed to go to. They can't browse in the window going anywhere else. You can still put a button there and give them the command to go to a different site. If you give them an address bar up here, they can type in whatever they want and watch that site.
The trusted domain only refers to places they can go by clicking on links inside the browser itself. If you give them buttons over here, you can go wherever you want.
How do we set up a trusted domain list? We're going to create a table that has a list of the domains that are allowed for your users to go to in it.
We're going to create table design. It doesn't matter what this table is named. It doesn't matter what other fields you have in here, but the first field has to be the domain name. I'll just call it trusted domain and we'll make that a short text string. You can put other stuff in here if you want to add notes. You want to add a date, whatever you want to.
I'm going to put a date in here. Date added, just so we can sort them based on the date that you added them if you want to. I'll make the default value equals now. Save it. Now, again, the name of the table doesn't matter because we're going to specify it in the properties for the control. I'm going to call it trusted domain t. Primary key.
Be careful because that first field has to be your trusted domain. If you say yes here, Access is going to add an ID auto number, which you don't want. But what you can do is delete that. What you can do is you could make this trusted domain field the primary key. Go to table design, hit the primary key button.
Now, yes, it's a text field and yes, I say that almost always you should have a primary key that is an auto number. This is one of those rare exceptions because Microsoft has deemed that the first field has to be the trusted domain. And you don't want to double up on these anyways. There's no reason why you'd want to add this multiple times. If it wants two domains in here, there's no reason to have it the second time. So this is fine.
Let's save this, close it. Now let's go into our browser control design view, open up the properties for the browser itself. Where is it? Data. Ah, it's under Data. You would think that would be under Other, but it's under Data.
Trusted domains right here. Pick your trusted domain's table right there. Save it. Close it. Now, we don't have any domains in here yet. So let's open this up and we're going to put in here a trusted domain.
Let's make this nice and big so we can see the whole thing. I'm going to put in here https://599CD.com. Save it. Close it. Open up the browser. Go to PCRESALE.net. Go to the links page. Go to this right here. Click and it loads in the browser now because it sees it in trusted domain t.
Let's go back. Let's try to go to Google. And, all right, Google loaded up in my external browser because it's not in trusted domain t. So let's go to trusted domains. https://google.com. Close it. Let's try to go to Google again.
And it still loaded up in the external browser. Why is that? I left this in the video intentionally because the trusted domain table gets read when the browser is initialized. So you have to close the form and then reopen it. And now you should be able to go to Google. And I still can't go to Google. Oh, what happened?
Well, let's take a look at the exact domain. Click up here and click again. Look at that. There's a www in front of it. You got to have that as part of the domain name. Copy that. Back out here. Close the browser. Open this up again. Put that in here now.
You don't really need that trailing slash if you don't want it. You have to have anything in front of that domain there. That's technically a separate domain.
Let's try it again. Close it. Open it. PCRESALE. Links. Google. And now we're good. So you got to reload the browser and you have to have the exact domain. If it's got anything before the Google.com, you got to have that in there too.
Here's another interesting scenario. Go back to the links page. Notice I have a link in here taking you to my website with just HTTP. HTTPS is the secure site. Most commercial websites nowadays have a secure certificate, they call it. Some don't, like PCRESALE.net does not have one. I didn't buy one for this because it's only a training database, a training website. I only use it for teaching classes. I don't take any credit card numbers on the site, so it doesn't need to be encrypted.
Now if I try to go to this one, it's going to open up in the external browser. There it is. So I close that. I'm going to add the HTTP version of that to the trusted domain list. And now let's see what happens. Back out here. PCRESALE. Links. Go to this one. And it loaded.
I do want to show you one thing though, and this is interesting. Close this. Go back into the trusted domains. Remove this one. Where is it? Remove the secure one.
Now if I come in here, go to PCRESALE. Go to links. Now try to go to this one, which is still in the trusted domain table. I removed this guy. Click and watch what happens. Again, it opened up in my external browser. Why is that?
Well, I have programmed my website so that if you go to http://599CD.com and press enter, the browser, my website, is automatically programmed to redirect all traffic to https because I want them to be on the secure side, encrypted. I don't allow unsecure traffic. So that's something that my web server does. A lot of sites do it. And if you don't have this in there, it won't work.
You got to have both of them in your trusted domain table if there's a possibility of going to the unsecure version. So I'm going to put that back in like that.
The same thing, I put a bunch of these in here. The same thing is going to happen on YouTube. The same thing is going to happen on LinkedIn. A lot of other places that you go to, you got to have these in your trusted domain list if you want the user to be able to browse to them from inside the browser. You also have to add any domains if they forward as well.
Let's go back to here, go back to links. I just added my website, my personal website, which really just takes you to the about page on my domain. But RichardRost.com forwards to 599CD and then a page on there.
Let me show you. If I take out this guy, and I go back to the browser and I go to my website right here. Again, it's going to open in my external browser because that forwards to 599CD. So domains sometimes forward to other domains. Those have to both be in your trusted domain list. So again, I have to come back in here and put this in here.
Now that I'm thinking about it, you got to make sure you also have, and this would be just HTTP. That's just a domain forward. So now it should work. Fingers crossed. Nope. Still opened up externally. Probably have to have both.
If it's not working and you can't figure out why, put both of them in there.
So what do you got to try? If it's not working, try the HTTP version as well as the HTTPS version. Remember, some of them don't have www. Some do. It won't always show in your address bar. You got to double check it. YouTube, for example, requires both.
So you need https://youtube.com and www.youtube.com. Sometimes you run into links that are m.youtube.com. I think sometimes they also have a YouTu.be. One of those shortened domains. You got to have all of those in there if you're getting different links to different YouTube videos.
Now, there's one other situation you're going to run into as well where you can't really get it to work easily. Go to my website, for example. If you scroll all the way down to the bottom, I got these little buttons down here that take me to YouTube, LinkedIn, and this is my RSS feed.
No matter what you do, if you click on this YouTube link, it's going to open up in the external browser even though I've got it in my trusted domain list. Why is that? This I have set in the HTML to open in a new browser window.
Here I'll show you. If you just come down to my website, click on my YouTube channel, it opens in a new browser tab. Or if you try to go to my LinkedIn page, click on that, it goes to... So that's something that's built into my site. It's designed to open in an external window. You can't get around it easily. You can rewrite the JavaScript or the HTML in the page itself, but that's really complex. I'm not going to go into that today.
If you examine this, if you right-click and then come down to Inspect, it opens up the inspection. You can see right here, there's the image and here's the hyperlink. It's a target equals blank. That tells the browser to open up that link in an external window or a new browser tab. There's not much you can do about it.
It's not possible to rewrite the HTML in here. Am I going to cover that today? No. I probably won't cover it in a TechHelp video, but if enough of you want to see it, I'll cover it in maybe a seminar or a developer lesson because it's fairly complex.
I do want to mention Daniel Pineo has another good article and video called Bypassing Trusted Domains. He has figured out a way you can rewrite the JavaScript in the page and intercept the user's clicks in the browser control. It's pretty cool stuff. I'm not going to go into it, but he does a really good job of explaining it. All the source code is on his website. It allows you to completely get around having to have a trusted domains table. It's worth a view. Go check it out. I haven't tested it myself, but it works in the video. So I trust him. He's got a lot of great material.
Personally, I find that most people who are going to be using the Edge browser control are going to be using it on specific sites. So if you need this, go check it out. But me personally, I'm fine with the trusted domain list. I just put in there the two or three sites I'm going to work with and that's good enough for me.
If you want to learn more, in today's Extended Cut we're going to build a bookmark combo box. I'm sure you've seen in browsers where you got bookmarks where you can save different sites that you like to go to on a regular basis. We'll do the same thing. We'll make a little drop-down box and you can pick it and it'll go to that site.
Here it is. Down, go to Google, boom. We'll make a list items edit form. What does that mean? Well, if you want to edit these items, just click this button and this guy opens up and you can add stuff easily in there.
Drop it down, click this button. Maybe I want to be able to go to Microsoft.com. It'll automatically add in the HTTPS for us.
I'll make this button here where I can say add the URL to my trusted domains table. Click that and it will not only add Microsoft.com, but if you look in the table, it will add all four versions of Microsoft.com. There's HTTP, there's HTTP with www, there's HTTPS, and then there's HTTPS with www. So you don't have to add all four versions. Makes it much easier for you.
I can drop this down, click on that and go right to Microsoft. And by whatever Microsoft's got on here, the Surface Laptop or whatever.
So that's all covered in today's Extended Cut videos for the members. Silver members and up get access to all of my Extended Cut videos. There's hundreds of them. There's a lot of stuff to watch. Gold members can download these databases that I build in these videos and you get the code vault and you get all kinds of stuff. All the members, Silver and up, get a free lesson once a month. So there's lots and lots of reasons, lots of perks, lots of benefits to joining. Check it out. You'll find a link down below.
But that is going to be your TechHelp video for today. I hope you learned something. Live long and prosper, my friends. I'll see you next time for Part Seven.Quiz Q1. What is the primary purpose of setting up a trusted domains list for the Edge browser control in Access?
A. To restrict users to specific websites for security and functionality
B. To track all websites users visit in the control
C. To increase browsing speed for users
D. To replace the need for external browsers entirely
Q2. Which of the following methods allows a user to bypass the trusted domains restriction from inside the Edge browser control?
A. Using the address bar to navigate to a new site
B. Clicking on links within a trusted site
C. Using a button provided by the developer to navigate
D. Both A and C
Q3. When setting up the trusted domains table, what is a key requirement for the first field?
A. It must be an auto number primary key
B. It must be a text field containing the domain name
C. It must include a date type by default
D. It must be the last field added to the table
Q4. What must the trusted domains table contain for a domain to be properly recognized by the browser control?
A. Only the base domain without subdomains
B. The full and exact domain name, including any prefixes like www
C. Generic 'site' names like 'google'
D. Only HTTPS versions of the domain
Q5. If you add a new trusted domain while the form with the browser control is open, what must you do for the new domain to take effect?
A. Reboot the database
B. Close and reopen the form with the browser control
C. Refresh the trusted domains table only
D. Restart Microsoft Access entirely
Q6. Why might a link to a site like Google open in the external browser even after adding google.com to the trusted domains table?
A. The site is not supported by Edge browser control
B. The domain in the trusted domains table does not exactly match the link (such as missing www or HTTP/HTTPS differences)
C. Google blocks embedded browsers by default
D. There is a size limit in the trusted domains table
Q7. If you want users to visit both the HTTP and HTTPS versions of a website using the browser control, what should you do?
A. Add both HTTP and HTTPS versions of the domain to the trusted domains table
B. Only add the HTTPS version
C. Only add the HTTP version
D. Enable domain forwarding in the browser control settings
Q8. How does domain forwarding (such as richardrost.com forwarding to 599CD.com) affect your trusted domains list?
A. Only the original domain needs to be added
B. Both the forwarding domain and the destination must be added to the trusted domains table
C. No domains need to be added if forwarding is enabled
D. The browser control automatically adds forwarded domains
Q9. Why might links that are coded to open in a new browser window (using target="_blank") still open in the external browser even if they are listed as trusted domains?
A. This is a restriction of the Edge browser control's design
B. The database is corrupt
C. Trusted domains only work with target="_self"
D. The link is too long
Q10. What is a suggested approach if you cannot get a particular site to open within the browser control despite adding it to the trusted domains table?
A. Try adding both HTTP and HTTPS, with and without www, to the trusted domains table
B. Contact Microsoft support immediately
C. Only add the site's IP address
D. Disable all browser security features
Q11. What is one way to automate the process of adding all necessary versions of a domain (HTTP, HTTPS, with and without www) in the trusted domains table?
A. Build a button or function that adds all four permutations automatically
B. Only add the main domain and let the control figure out the rest
C. Use Access macros to guess missing domains
D. Only accept secure sites and ignore HTTP
Q12. What limitation exists if a hyperlink on a website is coded to open in a new window or tab?
A. The browser control cannot intercept it due to the target="_blank" attribute
B. The control will crash
C. The site will be blocked entirely
D. The link will always open within the current browser control
Q13. How can advanced users bypass or intercept the trusted domains implementation in the Edge browser control?
A. By rewriting the page JavaScript to intercept clicks as described by Daniel Pineo
B. By only adding more fields to the trusted domains table
C. By changing the Access ribbon settings
D. By renaming the trusted domains table
Q14. What is the main reason why you might need to include shortened or mobile domains like m.youtube.com or youtu.be in your trusted domains list?
A. Because links may use these alternate domains and only exact matches are accepted
B. Because Access requires five domain entries minimum
C. Because these domains are more secure
D. Because short domains are blocked by default
Q15. What is generally NOT recommended as a primary key for your trusted domains table in this specific context?
A. Auto number
B. Text domain name field
C. No primary key at all
D. Using a date as primary key
Answers: 1-A; 2-D; 3-B; 4-B; 5-B; 6-B; 7-A; 8-B; 9-A; 10-A; 11-A; 12-A; 13-A; 14-A; 15-A
DISCLAIMER: Quiz questions are AI generated. If you find any that are wrong, don't make sense, or aren't related to the video topic at hand, then please post a comment and let me know. Thanks.Summary Today's TechHelp tutorial from Access Learning Zone covers how to set up trusted domains for the Edge browser control in Microsoft Access. When you use the Edge browser control in your forms, you must decide which websites your users are allowed to access. Microsoft has chosen to prioritize security here. Instead of letting users browse freely as they would in Chrome or Edge, the idea is for developers to specify a list of permitted sites. This way, the browser control in Access cannot serve as a general browser replacement, but instead is used as a tool for specific business needs, like submitting a form or retrieving information from an approved website.
The limitation is straightforward: users can only click on links within the browser control that point to these trusted domains. You can still program buttons or address bars in your form for direct navigation elsewhere, but clickable links inside the displayed page are restricted by your trusted domain list.
To set this up, start by creating a table to hold your allowed domains. The key point is that the first field must store your domain name. You can add additional fields like notes or the date added, but that domain field comes first. If you want to track when you add each domain, you might include a "date added" field with a default value set to the current date and time.
When naming the table, it does not matter what it is called, since you specify it later in the browser control's properties. You should set the domain field as the primary key—this is one of the rare situations where using a text field as a primary key is perfectly acceptable, since you do not want duplicate entries. If Access tries to insert an ID auto number, delete it, and assign the primary key to your domain field instead.
After building your table and saving it, switch to the properties for your browser control. In the Data tab, you will find the setting to specify your trusted domains table. Choose the table you created and save your changes.
Now you can start adding trusted domains to your table. Be aware that the domain you enter must match exactly what the browser tries to load. For example, entering "https://599CD.com" will enable that site, but if someone attempts to navigate to "https://www.599CD.com", it will not work unless that variant is also included. It is best practice to check exactly which domain appears in the browser's address bar—especially whether there is a "www" prefix, a different subdomain, or any difference in the protocol (http vs https).
Also keep in mind that whenever you add or remove entries, you will need to close and reopen the form containing the browser control so it re-reads the trusted domains table. Failing to do this can result in confusion when a site you just added still does not load internally.
Be careful with secure and non-secure versions of websites. For instance, many modern commercial sites use only HTTPS, but some training or smaller sites may still use HTTP. If your site or another site automatically redirects HTTP traffic to HTTPS (as mine does), you will need to enter both versions into your domain table for reliable operation.
A similar issue occurs with sites that forward from one domain to another. If you have a link going to "MyWebsite.com" but that address forwards to "599CD.com/about", both domains need to appear in your trusted domain table. When in doubt, enter all possible variants for the domains you want to allow, including those with and without www, and both HTTP and HTTPS protocols. Popular sites like YouTube frequently require both "youtube.com" and "www.youtube.com", and sometimes even other variations for mobile or short links.
There are some situations you cannot control from Access. If a webpage is deliberately coded to open a link in a new window or tab (using target="_blank" in the HTML), it will always open externally in the user's browser, never in the embedded control. This is common for social media buttons or external links at the bottom of many pages. Adjusting that behavior would require rewriting the page's HTML or JavaScript, which is not practical within an Access database. If you are interested in a much more advanced approach that rewrites JavaScript to bypass these restrictions, I recommend checking out Daniel Pineo's work on this topic. He has an excellent article and video that provide all the details and source code, though it goes well beyond the scope of this lesson.
For most Access developers, simply maintaining a comprehensive list of trusted domains is sufficient. Keep your list up to date with every domain and variant your users need to access.
Also, in today's Extended Cut, I will show you how to build a bookmark combo box, similar to the bookmarks feature in a modern web browser. This will let users easily select from a list of favorite sites. You will also learn how to create a list items edit form, making it simple to add or remove bookmarks directly within the application. I will also demonstrate how to create a function that adds all four common variants of a domain (HTTP, HTTPS, with and without www) to your trusted domains table instantly, simplifying domain management even further.
Silver members and above get access to all my Extended Cut videos, where you will find even more tips, solutions, and projects. Gold members can download the databases I build and access my code vault and additional resources. Every Silver member gets a free monthly lesson as well. If you are interested, follow the link below to learn about membership perks.
You can find a complete video tutorial with step-by-step instructions on everything discussed here on my website at the link below.
Live long and prosper, my friends.Topic List Setting up trusted domains for the Edge browser control
Creating a trusted domains table in Access
Configuring the first field as the trusted domain
Assigning the trusted domain table in the control's properties
Adding domains with and without www prefixes
Adding both HTTP and HTTPS domain versions
Understanding domain forwarding and redirects
Handling links that open in a new browser window
Addressing target blank in HTML links
Troubleshooting domains not loading in the browser control
Recognizing the importance of exact matches for domains in the table |
