Field Name Q's

[DevilsSlide]

When a User changes User Def fields in the ACT! interface does it also change the Field Name at the Table Level?

Like if they change "User1" field to "Work Hours" in the interface would it also change the field name to Work_Hours or just leave it as User1?

Or even better yet is there an easy way to tell what the User 1 thru 9 fields to? In most cases my users would not know how to change them (so someone else probally did it for them) and/or have forgot what ones they changed.

I usually work in MS Access, but have a need to get information from an ACT DB into an Access DB that may be needed for other future conversions. The Conversion EXE that I'm using was build by someone else before my time and I can only map to User 1 thru 9 fields for Conversion to my Database, but not using ACT that often I hoped for a easy way to find out without having check it off Field Name by Field Name.

I do have the ACT SDK, but won't be able to dig in to it for a while. I hoped that someone might know off the top. If it can be done then I'll bump it higher on the list. If they say otherwise I'll explore otherways later as time permits.

Thanks - Any Input will Help

John

 

[Storyteller]

Hello DevilSlide,
Follow this link:

http://www.cornerstonesolutions.com/developer.html#ACTFields

This is a brief blurb about the "free" product:
ACTFields 2 is a utility that will document the selected database structure in columnar format, with special notation on changed fields.

Hope this helps,
Michael

 

[DevilsSlide]

Michael,

Thanks for the input. I worked more in ACT! in 6 hours last night than I had in the 3 years that I've known about it. I did find that I could use the layout design to copy the fields to the standard contact part of the screen then add my own labels (next to what they have changed them to) to ID what they were origanally.

I've have just downloaded your suggested product and it appears that it might have additional functions that I can also use. I have not tried it yet thou.

Again, Thanks for your Post.

John

 

[swk]

Are all your users on different databases or are they sharing a central database? You can control their ability to make changes by their status (ADMIN, DEFINE USERS) Standard User has full access, but cannot change a layout or database. to save on confusion, I generally change the name of the field (certain fields cannot be changed) which automatically changes the label. If that field is called in the layout, the name will change as well. You have already learned of the ability to change labels regardless of the field name, so yes, that does work, however if you are tracking several databases, it will become more difficult to keep track.

I have often combined databases, using unique fields in each for special needs and requiring certain fields to represent common information, using groups it is possible to restrict access to portions of the database (See the Temp Database thread). A central database is easier to manage and maintain than several scattered across many computers and you can use the layouts to display just the information each user needs.

Don't forget that you can also add other fields as needed, or redefine existing fields to suit your needs.

swk