Re: How to store user settings


Global Fields are not part of any record - they are global to the
entire Table and so only stored once.

Yes, this was clear from eyeballing the table and seeing the Global
Fields repeat the same value down the whole column (for all records).

You answered my question when you said that Global Fields are only
stored once. I presumed otherwise from seeing the same values filling
whole columns of the table. Now I understand that that is only how
they're displayed. Since they are stored only once, my concerns about
waste of space and processing load disappear.

Most helpful. Thank you.


I am in New Zealand on the other side of the planet

New Zealand? Wow. My unthinking assumption is that everyone I "speak"
with is right around the corner. I'm in a small town called New York
City. I continue to be amazed at how technology has evaporated
distance. Such a major change for our species in so short a time.

it takes a while for the electrons to move through all those
wires. ;o)

I have a similar problem -- but with neurons instead of wires :)


Thanks again for the explanations.




On Sun, 08 Jun 2008 13:51:05 +1200, Helpful Harry
<helpful_harry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In article <21em44h2kuto8jig1kvahdks1taid3g5gv@xxxxxxx>, Nelson
<noreply@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Thank you for your reply. Ok, in FileMaker, preferences are best
stored in fields rather than in a separate INI file.

Digression: First, a little context may help. The data is membership
info for our local civic association. The runtime program is used by
one volunteer. For several years, they've been using a similar
program I wrote in Visual DialogScript (another scripting approach
with its own unique strengths). Now I'm trying to duplicate that
program in FileMaker and of course improve it. This is not to fill
any need but to learn and give FileMaker a real try.

Resumption: So, this single-user's settings could be stored in a
Global field, but wouldn't that mean writing each preference item to
all 2600 records and storing 2600 fields with the same item for each
of many preferences? Seems inefficient.

Global Fields are not part of any record - they are global to the
entire Table and so only stored once.

You can see this for yourself:
- Define a Global Field (set to whatever data type you like)
- put it on a Layout and type some data into it while
viewing one record.
- Move to the next record and the Global data is still visible.

This makes them perfect for storing user settings in a single-user
solution.

They don't work in a multi-user / server set-up because only the Host
computer saves any chanegs to the Global data. It's in this case that
you need to use a separate Table of normal Fields to allow connected
users to make changes and have them be saved, possibly with one record
per user if they need their own set of settings.

For a runtime solution this is unnecessary since the runtime can't be
shared across a network anyway.




Would the other approach you mentioned make more sense here? That is,
store the preferences in another small table? Or is FileMaker so fast
that it wouldn't even notice that extra writing load and extra space
used (file size)?

Finally, I wonder what took you so long. After all, my post was there
for several few minutes before you replied :) In other words,
thanks!

Hey, give me a break, I am in New Zealand on the other side of the
planet - it takes a while for the electrons to move through all those
wires. ;o)


Helpful Harry
Hopefully helping harassed humans happily handle handiwork hardships ;o)
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: How to store user settings
    ... Ok, in FileMaker, preferences are best ... stored in fields rather than in a separate INI file. ... program in FileMaker and of course improve it. ... solutions, are user filepaths, settings, and preferences ...
    (comp.databases.filemaker)
  • How to store user settings
    ... In FileMaker ... solutions, are user filepaths, settings, and preferences ...
    (comp.databases.filemaker)
  • Re: How do search engines index multilingual content?
    ... That says "give me British English if you've got it, ... It's arguable that when a user *first* runs the browser, ... to make a choice of default text size, language preferences, and ... default settings, and here they are: ...
    (comp.infosystems.www.authoring.html)
  • Re: Any raw data specs for the Apple IIgs BRAM?
    ... could save multiple preferences for multiple programs. ... settings in the emulator control panel as well as the BRAM settings, ... and carry the two together as a single 'profile', ... disks you launched ... ...
    (comp.sys.apple2.programmer)
  • Re: Default E-mail
    ... to copy and paste the link into entourage. ... Preferences. ... MacOS X uses the extension and file type settings to ... IC-Switch is a helper utility for Internet Config (hence the "IC" in its ...
    (microsoft.public.mac.office.entourage)
Loading