Security Subroutines

An R-type or V-type VOC entry can optionally include the name of a catalogued security subroutine in field 4 (R-type) or field 5 (V-type). This subroutine can be used to determine whether the user is to be allowed to execute the command.

The security subroutine is written using QMBasic. A simple subroutine that prompts for a password is shown below.

SUBROUTINE SECURITY(OK, VERB, REMOTE.FILE, REMOTE.ID)

PROMPT ''

FOR I = 1 TO 3

DISPLAY 'Enter security password: ' :

INPUT PASSWORD HIDDEN

IF PASSWORD = 'FSKJJ' THEN RETURN @TRUE

DISPLAY 'Incorrect password'

NEXT I

RETURN @FALSE

END

The arguments to this subroutine are:

OK	Used to return the result of the validation. This should be set to True if the command is to be allowed, False if it is to be rejected.

VERB	The name of the R/V-type VOC entry being processed.

REMOTE.FILE

The name of the file containing the remote item to be executed. This is a null string for a security subroutine referenced from a V-type VOC record.

REMOTE.ID

The record of the remote item to be executed. This is a null string for a security subroutine referenced from a V-type VOC record.

If the validation fails or the subroutine cannot be found in the catalogue a message is displayed:

This command is restricted (verb)

The security subroutine mechanism can also be used for other purposes such as auditing use of specific commands, diagnostic traps, etc.