Supressing the "no access" records

[new_user]

I have a calculation for a user account to only show records that meet a certain condition.

Problem is, it shows a record with the message <no access>. I'm looking for a way to suppress any display of a record that does not meet the criteria.

I don't want to have the 50 records that meet the condition shown and 2000 records that don't meet the condition showing up as <no access>.

Thanks.

FileMaker Version: 7

Platform: Windows XP

[DrRoebuck]

Are the records found automatically? If so, you can add access conditions as criteria to the find.

If not, you can use scripting for any finds a users performs. For instance, a "Perform" button on the layout when they're in Find Mode that triggers a script with the steps:

Perform Find []

Constrain Found Set [Restore] (where Restore = the conditions for access)

[new_user]

I've configured their user account for a custom record privilege to only show certain records. But it shows "no access" for every record that does not meet the criteria.

[dkemme]

I would use both the restriction to certain records and DrRoebuck's suggestion to limit the search to records you want them to see. If you can control the find process, such as make the user click on a button that runs a script to enter the find mode. You can then secretly add to the find request to only find records they have access to, thus avoiding any "no access" records. You still want to configure the account to limit access to every record though, in case a more accomplished user manages to get into the find mode by another route and sees sensitive data.

[new_user]

The users will be accessing the records from the web. If I understand correctly, they won't be issueing a FIND command. They will be logging in and then have certain records displayed to them.

[BruceJ]

Through the web, you can still script the find. Or - you can create a relationship based on some predefined calc and the calc fields used to determine access, then display these in a portal via the web. Forget the List view on the web, use a form view and show the records through a portal instead.

[new_user]

Thanks for the information. I'll give it a try, but I see I'll need to work with the manual a lot more - I'm not sure what a "portal" is for this program - but I'll see what I can do.

I am a little disappointed with the program, though. I saw a very good review of it in a recent issue of PC Magazine, but many things about the program seem unintuitive.

For instance, if I'm screening out records based on certain criteria, I'm puzzled why in the world the program would still display records that don't meet the criteria in any manner - in this case as <no access> records.

The whole point of screening out records is to screen out records and I'm disappointed how much effort it seems like it takes to keep them from displaying.

When I used dbase or rbase or reflex or ms-access, when you issued criteria to display only certain records, the records meeting the criteria were the only ones that were display.

[BruceJ]

You're not screening out records with user the security features, you're only setting user access.

You need to use finds to gather sets of records you want the user to see.

A Portal is a critial part of many layouts (aka "form"). It's simply a way of showing a "list" of related records from inside of another record. I've used some oftheprograms you've beenf amiliar with in the past, and once you imerse yourself into FileMaker I', confident that you'llfind it's even more intuitive - all new programs require a lot of "Ah-ha" moments...

[new_user]

Thanks for the explanation on the screening.

I'm still confused on what this "portal" is. If you can direct me to any good tutorials on it (the online manual that came with the program isn't too good, and a thirdparty book I bought is also not too helpful), I'll take a look.

Thanks again.

[new_user]

I tried what you said but unfortunately am still having a problem.

I selected "layout" mode and then clicked on the portal icon which brought up a small "portal setup" window. I'm not sure what to do in the "show related records from" section of the portal setup window.

It initially says "unknown," but I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I only have one database, called "helpdesk," which I had previously set up, but don't see how to get past this step.

Thanks.

[DrRoebuck]

I'd tackle one thing at a time, and wouldn't worry too much about setting up portals for this particular task. Portals are used in relational databases; you can learn them when the time comes.

As for this particular task, I'd stick dkemme's advice: use a combination of field-level access privileges and constrained found sets to prevent users from seeing the "no-access" fields.

[new_user]

Thanks again. I'll forget about portals for the time being.

So I should use the "Find" command somehow and link it to an individual user account?

[BruceJ]

Create a script that performs a find, and link the script to a button on a starting page for the database.

You can use:

Allow User Abort [Off]

Set Error Capture [On]

Perform Find [Restore]

If[Get(FoundCount) <1]

Go to Layout [original layout]

Else

Go to Layout [ >>insert the name of the layout for the list view<< ]

End If

[DrRoebuck]

I

access_sample_file.zip

[new_user]

Thanks. I will try it.

[new_user]

Thanks for the files! I will try them.