hi everybody, There are some code components with hardcoded passwords. That needs to be changed to be picked from an INI file. Also, there needs to be a method wherein every 30 days once or some time period scheduled, the passwords should be changed by prompting the user. can u explain what is it expected from the above.Also explain me what is hardcoded? Thx Nanda

Sounds like homework. Here is the idea. Hardcoding puts the password in the code. Ex. input password If password = "12547892" then runcode else print "BAD CODE" notice that doing something like that is not very secure.

Nanda, Hardcoding means placing literals inside code. For instance, if I were to hardcode a password, I might do something like this: If Password = "PA$$WORD" Then... opposite of hardcoding is using variables, which are dynamic and not static, as in the string literal above... If Password = StoredPassword Then... Your program wants to elliminate the hardcoded password with ones that are selected from an INI file. To do this, you will need to keep track of the last time the password was changed (so that you can prompt the user in 30 days), and also load the ini file into a data member that can be used to verify passwords/store new password/save password list. Personally I suggest one of two ways: 1) Structured Array: This is where you create an array of a structure, or a type (in vb) 2) Collection: This is where you create a collection of a specific type. Both allow for dynamic allocation of memory (as long as you code for it) and both are quite effective. The Collection might be slightly harder to code and understand if you are a newbie to vb (hey I made a rhyme) so I will only show the Structure Array method. If you want to see the collection code, let me know. Using a Structure Array would be like this: Private Type INIFileStruct     UserName As String     Password As String     CreationDate as String End Type Dim INIFileRecord() AS INIFIleStruct Then when you load them from the file (one at a time) you can dynamically allocate space: Private Function LoadINIFile(ByVal FileSpec as String) As Long  Dim Count As Long  Dim TempString As String  Dim FSO As Object  Dim FileID As Long  Set FSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")  If FSO.FileExists(FileSpec) Then   Count = 0   FileID = FreeFile()   Open FileSpec For Input As #FileID   Do While Not EOF(#FileID)    ReDim Preserve INIFileRecord(Count +1) As INIFileStruct    Line Input #FileID, TempString    ' Assume the INIFile Integrity is USERNAME|PASSWORD|DATECREATED, this will depend on how you code it, actually.    INIFileRecord(Count).UserName = Left(TempString,InStr(1,TempString,"|")-1)    TempString = Mid(TempString,InStr(1,TempString,"\") + 1, Len(TempString))    INIFileRecord(Count).Password = Left(TempString,InStr(1,TempString,"|")-1)    INIFileRecord(Count).CreationDate = Mid(TempString,InStr(1,TempString,"\") + 1, Len(TempString))    Count = Count + 1    DoEvents ' This allows your program to talk with windows   Loop  End If  LoadINIFile = Count ' Return the number of records read End Function Now, just reverse the process to save the INI file, and use the individual elements to verify the username/password or to modify the password when DateDiff("d",INIFileRecord(CurrentRecordID).CreationDate,Date)) > 29 Hope this helps Chi Happens

Hi, Thank u so much Chi Happen for u r effort. I would like to another method also:Collection thx N_a_n_d_a.R