Backup Database PID check - Microsoft Access Forum


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Backup Database PID check

Dan Jackson

3 years ago

Yo guys, hows it hanging?

I got to thinking. I might give the back up Database a whirl. Then I gots to thinking (yeah, still hurting). How awesome would it be if the Database could check if an external drive is connected and prompt the user to run back up?
You could run it on load or a timed event, or even on close button or unload.

Now, you could check for the drive letter fairly easily but they change and, more importantly, the drive letter could point to the wrong drive. Then I thought some more (losing consciousness at this point!) - could access check the device id? Then it would only run if the specific drive was present.

Ok, now Im thinking some more and Ive almost reached a totally different plane of existence!
- An unbound textbox for the user to paste their chosen device id into
- access looks up the value in textbox to see if the device ID is present
- would be really cool if it could then lookup the necessary drive letter and automatically present that as the backup path

Am I talking crazy or would this be achieveable? Cant wait for responses, cheers

	Dan Jackson OP @Reply 3 years ago

Dan Jackson OP @Reply

3 years ago

I asked chatGPT's opinion and here's the response - it's beyond me so anyone to weigh in?

Yes, it is possible for Microsoft Access to read an external drive's device ID. You can do this by using Windows API functions from within Access. One way to do this is by using the "CreateFile" function to obtain a handle to the device, and then using the "DeviceIoControl" function to send an IOCTL_STORAGE_GET_DEVICE_NUMBER control code to retrieve the device number.

In this code, the GetDeviceID function takes a drive letter as input (e.g. "D") and returns the device ID as a long integer. You can call this function from your Access database to obtain the device ID of an external drive.

Here's an example code snippet in VBA:

code

Private Declare Function CreateFile Lib "kernel32" _

   Alias "CreateFileA" (ByVal lpFileName As String, _

   ByVal dwDesiredAccess As Long, ByVal dwShareMode As Long, _

   ByVal lpSecurityAttributes As Long, _

   ByVal dwCreationDisposition As Long, _

   ByVal dwFlagsAndAttributes As Long, _

   ByVal hTemplateFile As Long) As Long

   

Private Declare Function DeviceIoControl Lib "kernel32" _

   (ByVal hDevice As Long, _

   ByVal dwIoControlCode As Long, _

   lpInBuffer As Any, _

   ByVal nInBufferSize As Long, _

   lpOutBuffer As Any, _

   ByVal nOutBufferSize As Long, _

   lpBytesReturned As Long, _

   ByVal lpOverlapped As Long) As Long

   

Private Type STORAGE_DEVICE_NUMBER

   DeviceType As Long

   DeviceNumber As Long

   PartitionNumber As Long

End Type



Private Const FILE_SHARE_READ = &H1

Private Const FILE_SHARE_WRITE = &H2

Private Const GENERIC_READ = &H80000000

Private Const OPEN_EXISTING = 3

Private Const IOCTL_STORAGE_GET_DEVICE_NUMBER = &H2D1080



Function GetDeviceID(ByVal driveLetter As String) As Long

   Dim hDevice As Long

   Dim bytesReturned As Long

   Dim devNum As STORAGE_DEVICE_NUMBER

   Dim devID As Long

   

   hDevice = CreateFile("\\.\" & driveLetter & ":", _

      GENERIC_READ, FILE_SHARE_READ Or FILE_SHARE_WRITE, 0, _

      OPEN_EXISTING, 0, 0)

   

   If hDevice <> -1 Then

      If DeviceIoControl(hDevice, IOCTL_STORAGE_GET_DEVICE_NUMBER, 0, _

         0, devNum, Len(devNum), bytesReturned, 0) Then

         devID = devNum.DeviceNumber

      End If

      CloseHandle hDevice

   End If

   

   GetDeviceID = devID

End Function

	Kevin Robertson @Reply 3 years ago
Have you tried it? I had to add PtrSafe after Declare as I'm using 64 bit Access. `Private Declare PtrSafe Function` `CloseHandle` generates an compile error: Sub or Function not defined. I remmed out that line and got a value returned. I don't know if it was the correct value, but at least no error. MsgBox GetDeviceID("C") - returned a 0 MsgBox GetDeviceID("G") - returned a 2

	Dan Jackson OP @Reply 3 years ago
Its waaaay beyond me at the moment. I'm still on Expert 12! I did pick up on it being 32 bit, would defo need to be 64

	A Glenn Yesner @Reply 3 years ago
Didn't Richard do a video about using the PID of the drive to keep customers from loading a developer's program on more than one machine? Can't remember for sure if it was a Tech Help or a Developer (early to mid 30s) video. Probably could reverse engineer that to check for the existing PID.

	Alex Hedley @Reply 3 years ago
Access Registration Seminar?

	A Glenn Yesner @Reply 3 years ago
The video I was thinking of might be Developer 35 lesson 1

	A Glenn Yesner @Reply 3 years ago
The part about serial number starts at about 8:12 an goes to about 10:45.

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