Make Form View Always the Same

Joe_Mathis

Hi Everyone,

I know that all users have their own zup file so that they can resize and show/hide columns, set screen sizes etc.

We have a new client that hates this from a support point of view. If California office needs help and calls Georgia they are confused because the screens are different.

Is there a simple way to bypass the zup so that the forms stay the same?

Savatage

go to the form->Tools->Designer

Move the columns around in the order that they want them.
Set the visible property yes/no depending on what they need to see.
Set the column widths as they need.

Save the form.

The same changes need to be made to the other location's form also.

Now even if changes are made and/or zup's are reset, it will remain in this set way when re-opened. Also the hidden columns will still be there but the user can decide on those extra columns if they need to see them.

It's pretty much what I would try to do first.

You can look at some of the form properties too like SaveTableView=NO
Save Column Width , etc etc so any changes made by the user will not be saved.

Joe_Mathis

Hi Savatage,

I have a kinda solution, and it may not be too bad of an idea...
A little background, the customer uses Terminal Services and DB logins on a SQL db for all users.
1) Have the sysadmin run a session with "guest" login setting all windows and forms, path to DB etc.
2) Save the resulting ZUP file to a share and make it read only.
3) Create shortcut with ID=guest.zup (or whatever the path/name is). This should stay constant because they are all using the same screen right?
4) Remove other shortcuts in start menu etc.

Why won't this work? It seems too easy for me.

I will also look at going into each form which is probably a more permanent solution.

I will give them the options and then let them decide if it's still worth it. The main issue is that they want everyone to have the same form. No hiding columns, no showing optional columns, just the same... everybody uniform.

I personally like to hide the columns I don't use, but it's their decision not mine.

Thank you for your advice.

DenSter

I would consider saving the zup files in a shared folder on the network and run a batch job to empty that folder every night. You could even add a little .bat file with a DOS command to the startup script and have that remove the user's zup file on logon.

Joe_Mathis

I presented all three methods to the Client and they liked the startup script the most.

I like it too! Not my problem anymore