Database Reference
In-Depth Information
NOTE
When FileMaker asks for an account name and password, propeller-heads say it's
authenticating
the
user. In other words, it's making sure the user is for real. And the account name and password taken
together are often referred to as
credentials
. This topic, for the most part, dispenses with this jargon,
but you may run across the term elsewhere. Just so you know.
WORKAROUND WORKSHOP: SPYING BY SCRIPT
Once you've set up database accounts, FileMaker remembers the account name of whoever is cur-
rently signed in. Find out what FileMaker knows using the
Get(AccountName)
function. For ex-
ample, if you want to record the account name in an Access table when someone runs a particularly
important script, the script can create an Access record and take notes before the script goes into its
main work. To keep track, you could include a script step like this:
Set Field [Access::Notes ; Get ( Account-
Name )
& " ran the script on " & Get ( Current-
Date )
& " at " & Get ( CurrentTime )]
Then every time the script runs, FileMaker looks up the name of whoever is signed into the file at
the moment, and puts the person's account name and the date and time in the Notes field.
FileMaker also knows the name of the privilege set used when someone logs in. The
Get(AccountPrivilegeSetName)
function tells you which one it is.
What They Can Do
But who gets into your database is only half the story. You also control
what
they can do.
You decide which layouts users can see and which scripts they can run. You can even let
them see only certain records. Each bit of access is called a privilege. Every person is unique,
but you probably don't need to grant each person a unique set of privileges. For example,
you may have one privilege set for Accounting and another for Sales. People with the Ac-
counting privilege set can run reports, but they can't enter new orders. People with the Sales
privilege set can enter and edit data, but they can't run reports. You can make as many—or as
few—privilege sets as you need. And you can give 50 accounts the same privilege set, or
make a privilege set just for one account.
