This appendix discusses the way that roles are built into ABF and Vision applications.

Roles are used to associate database permissions with an application. You can use roles to give the application its own permissions, beyond those of the user who runs it. This adds flexibility in assigning and controlling privileges. For example, an application can be assigned a role, such as "employeechanger," with privileges that allow changes to be made to the database. Because the user does not normally have these privileges, this ensures that the user can only make changes to the database by running the application. You can build your application with any necessary checks to ensure that changes to the database are made in an appropriate way.

To associate a password with the application role, ABF prompts you to give the password when you test the application or create an executable image. This password is not saved anywhere in the database, although ABF remembers the password from the previous session. The password is never displayed on your screen.

After you create an executable image with a role, the password is not necessary to run the application image.