The structure and elements of a Registry entry

The Vitalware Registry module is a user-friendly interface to a database of access permissions, functions, display options and other settings applied to individual users, groups or the entire system.

The following diagram illustrates some of the possible values that can be used in the first five keys and how the selection of a value in one key can determine what options are available in subsequent keys:

A Registry entry is made up of a variety of elements: labels, variables, defaults and the value itself. We can represent this as:

Key User User Group Group Group Group
Key 1 User User Group Group Group Group
Key 2 user user group group Default Default
Key 3 Table Table Table Table Table Table
Key 4 table Default table Default table Default
Key 5 Entry
Value value

where:

User

This entry is for a user whose name is given in user.

Group

This entry is for a group whose name is given in group.

user

The name of the user affected by this Registry entry.

group

The name of the group affected by this Registry entry.

Table

The Vitalware module that this entry affects. A module is a user-friendly interface to a database table.

table

The back-end name of a Vitalware module, e.g. eparties for the Parties module. eparties is the name of the database table that holds data entered and displayed in the Parties module.

When a user logs in to Vitalware, the Registry is searched to determine which modules the user has access to (specified in a Table Access Registry entry) and the operations that the user can perform on those tables (specified in a range of Registry entries).

Tip: See Field Level Help for details of how to find the back-end name for modules, tabs and fields.

Default

If Default follows Group, e.g.: Group|Default|...

the Registry entry applies to ALL groups.

If Default follows Table, e.g.: Table|Default|...

the Registry entry applies to ALL modules.

value

The value tells Vitalware which permission, condition or value to apply for the specific circumstance described by the preceding sequence of keys.

value will often refer to one or more tabs or columns / fields in a module.

Tip: See Field Level Help for details of how to find the back-end name for modules, tabs and fields.

If the value comprises multiple entries, each entry is separated by a semicolon:

Group Admin Table Access eparties;eadmin;ebirths;edeaths;edivorces

Read on for details of how to reference Tabs and Fields and Columns: