Method:Classic General Q&A

Re: View only customization

Method_Audisho — Mon, 04 May 2015 18:42:24 GMT

Hi Fran,

Thanks for the response. I forgot about the save action on the Customer dropdown.

Mike,

That does pose a bit of a problem for the solution that I proposed. This can be resolved by simply disabling the customer dropdown for the read-only users using the Enable/Disable Field/Object action. They will still be able to see the customer, but will not be able to select the dropdown field, hence the save action will not be triggered. I hope this helps.

-Audisho

Re: View only customization

fran — Mon, 04 May 2015 18:13:43 GMT

HI Mike,

If you just copy the screens, then you need to adjust in several places to turn off any 'saves' or 'table updates'. You want to allow the employee to select a SO/Invoice, but not make changes.

There are several places on the screen where you need to 'turn off' Saves or screen updates.

One is the 'Save' Buttons. Either take away or add conditional statement where a particular Role can only save.
Customer dropdown - this dropdown does a lot of work. And has "Saves" incorporated in it when the Text is changed. Disable all of the functionality.
Invoice/SO lines grids(in details section)- make the grid 'read only'. On Invoice/SO screens it is editable.
Disaable or hide 'Clear/New' button so they can't create new transactions.

As always good practice, set up a dummy customer (use a very obvious name so that you can easily delete later) and test your actions to make sure you are getting the results you want.

The Method guys may have other suggestions, but that is what I have done in past.

Good luck.. Feel free to reach out to a Method Partner for help or to Method consultants. May save you a bunch of time.

Re: View only customization

Method_Audisho — Mon, 04 May 2015 18:04:18 GMT

Hi Mike,

For the most part, removing the ability for a user to select the save buttons will essentially give them a read-only version of the screen. They will be able to make changes to data in the fields, but since they do not have access to the save buttons, these changes will never be saved.

Additionally, on the transaction screens (sales orders, invoices etc.) you are able to make changes to line items directly on the grid. Due to this functionality, even without access to the save buttons, changes can be saved to the line items of a transaction. This option can be disabled in the grid preferences.

All you would need to do to make these screen read-only is make a copy, remove the save buttons and disable editing and adding directly on the line items grid. You would add this read-only version of the screen to your Employee Only tab group.

Initially, this is the more simple option. Things become a little more complicated if you plan on doing additional customization, as you will need to maintain 2 versions of the same screen (editable & read-only). Allow me to propose an alternative option. This option is initially quite a bit more complicated, but will allow you to more easily maintain and add customization down the road.

You will need to setup your own custom user permissions for determining what objects on the screen will load. If you only have 2 types of users (read-only and not read-only), a custom Yes/No field on the Users table should suffice (e.g. IsReadOnly). You’ll need to create a custom permission screen to allow modifying this field for your users.

You’ll also need to add a second line items grid to the screen. This second grid will have all the same properties as the original, but will not allow adding or editing directly on it. This second grid will appear in place of the first when the user’s IsReadOnly field equals Yes.

Then on the screens you want to make ready only, in the OnScreenLoad event of the screen, retrieve the value of this field for the signed in user from the Users table and store it in an action result (use the where clause: RecordID = Value From Session: User- RecordID). Then compare this action result with a conditional statement to determine whether or not to display the save buttons and which grid to display (editable or non-editable). Screen objects can be displayed or hidden using the Show/Hide Field/Object actions.

These are just 2 ways in which this can be accomplished. The choice is completely up to you and will likely be dependant on your needs. I just wanted to make sure that you are aware of the drawbacks of having 2 screens and give you an alternative. I hope this points you in the right direction, but please post back if you have any follow up questions.

-Audisho

View only customization

Mike.s — Mon, 04 May 2015 15:23:00 GMT

Hello,

I am looking for direction in regards to creating view only screens for some of our employees. In particular I want to make the view only QB's Sales order and invoice screen. I have already created an employee only Tab group, so I would imagine the next step would be to make a copy of the screen and then create a conditional statement that does not allow certain employees to alter things. Am I on the right track? Can someone guide me through this process? Thank you.