Edit Records Privileges

I have heard reports recently about some confusion regarding the behavior of the Edit Records privileges.  These privileges are set in the Privilege Set Custom Privileges area; they are part of the Record Level Access (RLA) privileges for a specific table.

Record editing privileges can be set to Yes, No, or Limited. Developers select these options from the drop-down menu under the Edit area in Custom privileges in the Privilege Set. What happens to a user’s privileges and when it happens depend on which setting a developer chooses.

Obviously the Yes setting means that the user can edit records. This is a common setting.  Developers might reasonably assume that a No setting means a user cannot edit records in the designated table. That is a correct assumption insofar as it goes; the issue is that it does not take effect until the session where the user created the record is ended.  This means that a user can create new records, and even after the user commits those records by any of several means, he or she can continue to edit them.  This persists until the session ends, usually the result of exiting FileMaker Pro.

In order for the restrictions on editing to take effect immediately upon committal of the record, developers must select the Limited option. That option is usually employed for invoking the privilege under differing conditions.  A common example would be that a user could delete only his or her own records. Another example would be to block deleting records that the user created before a certain date compared to the current date.

In this instance however, developers can simply select the Limited option and in the calculation dialog that option presents, enter a value of 0.  Thereby, once a user creates a record and commits it, the user can no longer edit the record. Committals can occur in numerous ways.  So, in this instance, it might be a good idea for the user to deselect the Layout option automatically to save records.

The following screen shots illustrate these items.

I hope that this explanation clears up any confusion and uncertainty about the behavior of the Edit Records privilege in FileMaker Pro. 

Steven H. Blackwell
Platinum Member Emeritus, FileMaker Business Alliance