Setting Up Security

The program has a lot of options that make you feel safe about opening potentially macro-ridden documents.

Password-Protecting Documents

See Password-Protecting Documents on page 158, and Protecting or Hiding Text Using a Section on page 413.

Setting Java Options

Choose Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org > Security. Mark options in Figure 5-55.

Figure 5-55. Setting OLE and Basic options

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Figure 5-54. Specifying Java options

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Notes on the Security Checks option for Java programs

When the Security Checks option is deselected, applets can read and write on all drives . Since JavaScript can access the entire Java environment via the LiveConnect interface, this is also possible for JavaScript when the check is deactivated.

Java classes that are started via the ClassPath, are not subject to any security checks, unlike the Java classes that, for example, are started via an <APPLET> tag in an HTML page.

You can deselect the security checks under either of the following conditions:

If you know precisely what the applet, Java application, or JavaScript will execute,
If you are logged on as a Guest under Windows NT / 2000 or UNIX and you are therefore prevented by the operating system from reading and corrupting security- related data.

Controlling Microsoft Documents Containing OLE Objects and Basic Macro Code

Choose Tools > Options > Load/Save and look at the VBA Properties and Microsoft Office windows, shown in Figure 5-55.

Specifying StarBasic Macro Options

To just turn everything off

Choose Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org > Security and turn off macros.

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If you'll be handling StarOffice 5.2 or other documents that have StarBasic macros in them, you can determine how and when to run them. The trouble with this of course is that OpenOffice.org still needs some StarBasic scripts to run. Unless you really need to change something, you can leave the defaults as is.

Choose Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org > Security and use Figure 5-56 and the subsequent notes to select the right options.
- The Microsoft Office settings let you specify whether to load and convert OLE Objects in Microsoft files when you open them in the program. Go ahead and leave all these marked unless you have specific reasons for wanting to leave the OLE objects as is.
- The VBA Properties window covers what happens when you open files containing Microsoft's Basic macro code. Unless you absolutely never and never will interchange documents with a Microsoft user , leave all of these checked. Leaving them checked disables the macro code, which is a darned good thing. Select any of the options and press F1 to read more about them in the Help.
Figure 5-56. Setting StarBasic Options
Choose Tools > Options > Browser > HTML and consider whether you need to select the StarBasic option. It must be selected for the program to consider the StarOffice Basic instructions when exporting in HTML format. You must activate this option before you create the StarOffice Basic Script, since otherwise it will not be inserted.

StarOffice Basic and HTML

StarOffice Basic scripts have to be in the header of the HTML document. After you add the macro to the document, it will appear in the source text of the HTML document (in the header) with the following syntax (a "Hello World" example macro is used):

 <HEAD> (any additional content) <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="STARBASIC"> <!-- ' $LIBRARY: library_name ' $MODULE: module_name Sub test msgbox "Hello World" End Sub // --> </SCRIPT> </HEAD>

Note

If you restrict the list of trustworthy URLs or choose Run Macro > Never , you may receive an error message about missing access rights when you try to run a script, e.g. when you attempt to run an AutoPilot or to load a template. If you want to be careful but not too careful, select According to Path List from the Run Macro list, then put the path to your program's directory, such as C:\office101 , in the Path List.

You can restore the standard for safe URLs if you have made changes by clicking Default .