How can I get an Interbase password if I have only the BDE alias?

Question

I am trying to connect to a Interbase DB at runtime via the BDE. I am trying to do this in a formless project (but not a console app). The alias is known. I retrieve the alias from the registry. Example: MyAlias.

//create alias params list  
AParams:= TStringList.Create;  

//create a session to get alias parameters  
ASession:= TSession.Create(nil);  
ASession.SessionName := 'MainSession';  
try  
 ASession.GetAliasParams(tmpAlias, AParams);  
finally  
 ASession.Free;  
end;  


//connect to database 
dbMain:= TDatabase.Create(nil);  
with dbMain do  
begin  
 //AliasName:= 'MyAlias';  
 DatabaseName:= 'test';  
 LoginPrompt:= False;  
 Params.Assign(AParams);  
 try  
  Connected:=True;  
  if Connected then ShowMessage('Connected!') else ShowMessage('Failed to Connect!');    
 finally  
  Free;  
 end; //try  
end;//with  

//free alias params list  
AParams.Free;

Anyway, it doesn't look like the Session.GetParams actually gets the password. How do I get the password? Is there a way to get all the connection info from the BDE and make the connection if I know the alias? I'd rather not hard-code the username and password in case the client changes them in the future.

Answer 1

Shane, if you could get the password from the database only knowing the alias, all the security of the database will be pointless. so the answer is NO , you cannot retrieve this info only knowing the BDE alias. the way to connect to a database with a password protection is request the user and password to the final user or storing this info in an encrypted configuration file.