Hi--

I am putting together a workflow database to track audio files that needs to be accessible via the web. I am having trouble making access privileges work the way I want to.

I only need two groups, one that can administer the entire db, and another that only has access to specific fields, like when they checked out a CD, when they will bring it back, and notes on its status.

I am running FMP 5.5 on a dual G4 running OSX.

I tried to set privileges in the overview category, enabling "read-only" for fields like the audio ID and name, and full access for the other stuff I noted above.

But, in the password section of access privileges, if I set edit to all, it lets the group edit all records, no matter what is in the access part. And I don't really get what I need to do in terms of calculations to adjust the "limited" part to only allow write privileges to certain fields.

Please advise.

thanks

Are you confusing records with fields?

No, I don't believe so. Each record consists of an audio file ID and name related from another DB, and then when the file was checked out, when it will be returned, and its status. These are all fields if I am not mistaken, and I want to limit access to fields because I don't want people who are checking out audio files to be able to change the name or ID of the file, yet they need to see this information to be able to figure out what they are working on.

Change the field's format on the layout not to allow entry?

That might be a workable solution, but by making those fields read-only an administrator can't change them either. And since other layouts exist, all a user has to do is switch to a different layout, which they can then modify, because there has to be some layout in which data can be entered. Is there no way to modify what fields are read-only based on what user signs in???

Set up passwords and groups. They allow field-level access.

I tried to set up passwords and groups. I have one group for administrators that can do everything, and another for the staff. I have selected certain fields for the staff user name as read-only, yet that doesn't seem to apply when editing the table via instant web publishing. Am I doing something totally wrong? Am I missing something?

As for passwords, do I need to edit the calculations in the edit field so that it is not edit all? If so, I can't figure out how to do that. Are there built-in functions for turning a field to read-only? If this might be the problem, is there somewhere I could go for reference?

[ January 30, 2002: Message edited by: E.B. Hanson ]