Creating an e-wallet with Base
Using OpenOffice.org Base you can easily build a database for storing personal data such as passwords, software and hardware serial numbers, PIN codes, etc. This article shows you how to overcome the two challenges of creating such a solution, namely storing disparate data, and securing access to it.
The first problem is that the data you are going to store in the database won’t easily fit into a table with predefined fields. For example, to store info about your hardware, you need the serial number, date of purchase, and seller fields. However, to keep track of your credit cards, you need fields such as card number, expiry date, and bank info.
A possible solution to the problem can be a database that allows you to change fields’ labels on-the-fly. Simply put, if you enter a serial number into FieldA, you set the field’s label to “Serial no.”, and if you use the same field in the next record to enter a credit card number, you can set the label to “Credit card no.” Here is how this can be done.
Figure 1: Main table
Start by creating a new Base database and adding a new table. Populate it with fields as shown in Figure 1. FieldA, FieldB, and FieldC will be used to store the actual data, while LabelA, LabelB, and LabelC will be used as labels. You can add as many fields as you want, just remember to create label fields for each of them.
The next step is to create a form, which will be used for entering, editing, and viewing the data stored in the table. Press the Text Box button in the Form Control toolbar and draw a rectangle in the form.
Figure 2: Specifying the data source for FieldA
In the Properties dialogue box, click on the Data tab and select FieldA from the Data field drop-down list. To create a label for FieldA, press the Combo Box button in the Form Control toolbar and draw a rectangle to the left from the FieldA text box.
Use the Combo Box Wizard to select the LabelA field. Make sure that the Yes, I want to save it in the following database field option is selected, and choose the LabelA field. Repeat the described steps for other label fields. Save the form, and open it in viewing mode. When you create the first record, all fields and labels are empty. Enter the data you want and type the fields’ labels directly into the appropriate combo boxes.
Figure 3: Selecting a label
The next time you create a new record, you will see the previously entered values in the label combo box. In this way, every new value typed into a label combo box, will be added to the attached drop-down list. Gradually, the drop-down lists will contain all the values you need, and you can then use the drop-down list to choose the item you want, instead of typing it.
Figure 4: Using AxCrypt
The next step is to ensure that the data in the database is safe. The best way to achieve this is to encrypt the .odb file using AxCrypt an encryption tool based on the AES-128 and SHA-1 cryptographic primitives. Although AxCrypt employs advanced encryption technologies, it’s easy to use. Once installed, you can access AxCrypt’s commands through the context menu. Right-click on the database file, choose the Encrypt command, and enter the desired passphrase. To open the encrypted database, double-click on it, enter the correct passphrase, and the file will be decrypted and opened in OOo Base. You can also encrypt your database as an .EXE file, so it can be decrypted on another machine without AxCrypt. Finally, to make the encrypted file even more difficult to break, you can create a key file and save it on an external storage device (for example, a USB key). This will allow you to decrypt the file only if the key file is present.
