Manage File - password snafu

[gessie]

I've finally set up an FMP file for public exhibition - having worked on it for a good while.

The last thing I wanted to do before signing off on the file was to lock it down so that users viewing the data wouldn't be able to change things - either by mistake or (mis)design - so I changed the Account privilege settings and created a new (User) account which loads automatically with a script when the file is started.

Worked a treat, and everything was fine until I noticed a few things that still need tweaking - a link goes to the wrong layout - small things like that. However, the "view Layout Mode" is greyed out for this Account- so I can't get back in there to make any changes. I return to using the original 'MyAdmin' account by holding down the Option key when loading the file - which works fine - BUT - the View layout mode is still greyed out - and I can't get back in to "Manage" the file - or even see the accounts and Privileges settings. Could I have set both ( I think there are only two Accounts) to be disabled, ie changed the MyAdmin account's privileges too? - I presumed that one would always remain as an Admin account with Full Access privileges. I have tried using the default Admin/blank way in - but that will no longer load the file at all.

Does anyone have any idea how to circumvent this situation?

It means a few days of work if I have to return to my last back-up before I changed the privilege settings - at least I can still see the more recent changes - but I will have to go through the database and redo all those changes to get back to the same state as the published file - if there's no way round the p-word problem.

Big thanks for any help, advice, hints.

gessie

[Steven H. Blackwell]

so I changed the Account privilege settings and created a new (User) account which loads automatically with a script when the file is started.

Which probably means that even when accessing the file with the option key depressed to force the credentials dialog to appear so you can enetr the Full Access Account, that as soon as you do, the file relogs in with the lower level account.

First, why did you go for several days without making a backup? This is a valuable lesson that you've learned here. Make very frequent backups.

Second, let's see if we can get the file open without the opening script's running. Make another blank file with no fields and no other Accounts. In the manage file references in the file menu, define a file reference to the original file. Then in the ScriptMaker of the second file, select another script from the first file to run. This will force the file open while bypassing the startup script. Disable that script until you figure out what you want to do with the file.

Steven

[gessie]

Dear Steven,

Your admonition is totally justified - another valuable lesson, indeed!

My only excuse - and it's poor -is deadline pressure on the last day. I had a backup from the evening before - but by 'several days of work' I mean that I did so much extra work in those final hours - that it will take a few day's of work to find everything I changed and replicate those changes. I've a closing script that does save everything securely when I quit the file; I just trapped myself with this opening script problem - before I closed it down.

Thanks for your ploy to try to bypass that script.

I have made another file - with nothing at all in it. By File references - I'm presuming that you mean File>>Manage>>External Data Sources in FMP 9's menu system. In the Manage External Data Sources - I've added the path to the original file.

When I quit and re-open that new file - I just get that file coming up alone. The Scripts>>Scriptmaker's "Manage Scripts" box comes up as empty when that new file is re-opened - so there is no Login script visible there to disable.

I think I sense what you're trying to do by linking the files - but haven't used External Data sources much before, and so far can't make the linking happen.

Maybe, I've got hold of the wrong end of the stick - and a bit more explanation might clear things up.

Thanks again for your time and patience,

gessie

[Steven H. Blackwell]

Are there any other scripts in the file other than the startup one?

Steven

[gessie]

Dear Steven

Yes there are - maybe forty or so scripts in total.

gessie

[Steven H. Blackwell]

The I don't understand why you can't call one, unless they are all marked as

Steven

[gessie]

Dear Steven

Sorry reality got in the way for a week - my Mother had a fall - so I was very busy.

You don't understand - and I'm confused by what it is that you don't understand - so things are going round and round and nothing's moving forward. When you first posted - it seemed as though you thought you had a solution to the problem I set for myself - and you thought it should work. I couldn't get it to work, however, and it's possibly because I wasn't doing exactly what it was that you were suggesting I do (simple lack of familiarity with the routines of making references to other files) Perhaps, if you'd step me through your proposed solution - we could make it work properly. Otherwise I shall simply have to go back to the process of redoing on a previously saved version all the work that I locked behind that opening script.

Regards

gessie

[Steven H. Blackwell]

The objective is to get the original file open without the Opening Script's running.

To do that, you have to run some other script in the file by calling it externally. The easiest way to do that is to create a second file and from scriptmaker point to some script in the original file and run it. That opens the file without the opening script.

Steven

[gessie]

Dear Steven

Success! - a little bit of a roundabout way mind you. I add it here in the hope that someone else might see it and find it useful!

Thanks for your explanation - that made a lot of sense - but just to make sure I went to check out running scripts via a relationship in an external file in the FMP knowledge base - and there was an associated entry called "Stopping a Startup Script" which caught my eye. That's exactly what I've been looking for these last two weeks - a way to stop the Startup Script from executing in the first place.

It says that if you open a file and then immediately press Command-period, the Startup script doesn't execute - and it worked exactly as said, giving me access to the file - and more important, the ability, once again, to get into layout mode and make some changes. There's a note that suggests that this might not be possible in Windows - as there isn't an equivalent key.

Many thanks for your patience all along - I learned a lot from the process.

gessie

[Steven H. Blackwell]

It says that if you open a file and then immediately press Command-period, the Startup script doesn't execute

That may depend on how the script is written. What is the number of this Tech Info?

Steven