I am currently use secure fm on developer 7 to manage what my users can do through the menus and am considering upgrading to 8.5. I have had a little hands-on with 8.5 to see how the custom menu feature works, and it looks like I wouldn't need secure fm on 8.5 for what I do if I upgraded.

One thing I didn't remember seeing was whether I could manage what Secure fm calls the 'Sytem Menu'. In particular, I don't want users to be able to 'quit' or 'exit' my software any way but through my 'quit' script (I realize they can always do a 'Force Quit' or 'ctl-alt-delete'. But I want to be sure to be able to disable the exit and 'big red x' on my Windows applications and the 'quit ' on the Macs).

Would I be able to manage such things with custom menus in 8.5 or would I still need Secure FM?

TIA

The easiest way to stop people from quitting or closing windows is to create a script to run on close.

Once a user issues a "close" there is no way to stop that window being closed. Instead you create a new window with the same name, in the same position and the same found set.

This works even in FMP 7, and does not even require custom menus.

I tried this a year or so ago and found that it worked too well: I didn't include a way to NOT create the new window so I could never close the file!

I'm not sure I understand. What initiates the script to run on 'close'?

On a PC, the user can shut down the application by clicking on the big red X at the upper right of the window or by choosing file/exit. Is there a way to attach a script to those actions should they choose either of them? I want to disable those actions unless I can control what happens when they choose either of them.

Similarly, on a MAC, they can issue a 'quit ' from the system menu (or click on the red dot in the upper left of the window) to shut down the application. Can I attach a script to those actions so that I can take care of any housekeeping that might remain? If not, I want to disable them so the only way to shut down the application is by a 'quit' button on the layout.

I don't think I can do either in 7. Could I either attach a script to those actions or disable them in 8.5?

File > File Options

When closing this file

Perform Script x

The file will still close, but the script executes when the file is closing..

I don't use it much, but from what i understand, you are not replacing the close function that is triggered when File > Close is pressed or File > Exit (or either of the crosses in windows), simply attaching an additional set of steps to it before close is executed.

Hi

if you make a script with this step:

NewWindow[Name:"yourWindowName"]

and set the option of the file to perform this script on close, you'll never be able to exit the application, nor the file.

BTW: try the attached file

NoClose.zip

You might wish to do some comparisons in the new SecureFM - it does a MULTITUDE of things that FM does not do and handles windowing a thousand times better than native FM. You can disable windows closure easily. I would never go without it.

Secure FM Comparisons to FM

UPDATE: The comparison is at the bottom.

Edited March 18, 200718 yr by Guest
Added update