Thanks to the many, many people who responded to my question, can WP
forms be installed on a network as shared files, so that users can read &
copy, but not change the original? For those of you who asked, below are
exerpts from just some of the replies. The short answer seems to be: yes.
....All of our forms are on our Novell network & are
"write-protected". Our network administrator is the only person who has
the right to delete or change the files. Everyone else has "read-only"
priviliges in the affected directories. We tried it two different ways.
One was to flag each file the way we wanted it. The other is to set up
the rights to the directories the same way. The second option is far
easier because the person who updates would have to change the flagging
otherwise. This way, she just copies over files & it's much easier for
her.
This assumes that you have a Novell network. But I think that
most other networks have the same capabilities.
....We have a network and this has worked well for us.
We have a section of the network (P:) which is
available to all users. P: is known as pubdata.
Pubdata is where users copy documents to share with
one another. It's root directory is cleared out regularly
(weekly). However, pubdata has subdirectories which
are permanent, where everyone can copy documents
from but only a limited few can copy documents to, or
delete.
For example, pubdata has subdirectories:
faxes (for standard fax cover sheets), billing (for billing
invoices), shells (for standard fill in the blank documents),
precedents (for more confusing legal documents), client x y z
(for special projects), etc. I have control over some of these
areas, others in the firm are responsible for other sections. We
are the only people who can "write" to an area. This is all set up
by the network administrator. The rest of the users can copy from
here to their own directories for modification or use, but cannot
change the original, nor can they remove it. Sometimes we set up
subdirectories of pubdata for special projects, and once they
are finished, we remove the subdirectory.
....I don't know anything about the program in general, but there is a way to
write-protect files on the network.
You can use the basic DOS command ATTRIB. If you type ATTRIB filename +r
then the file will be write protected. It can be undone by using the -r
switch. Novell also has a built in utility called FLAG which is basically
a more advanced version of ATTRIB. Use FLAG *.* RO to make all the files
in a directory read only. (RW to reverse).
These can be undone by someone who knows what he/she is doing, but it will
stop the casual user or the accidental mistake. (For more security, you
can just give users read-only access to the specific directory in general.
Then no one can remove the write-protection except the system
administrator.
....We use several WP forms on a Novell network. Two ways I deal with them:
1. FLAG FORMS AS "READ-ONLY"
Use Novell's FLAG command and flag the forms as read-only. When a user
wants a form, they retrieve the form and save the document with a new name.
The "read-only" flag prevents them from making any changes to the form. If
they try, they will get an error code.
I have found that WP (DOS version) generally doesn't need any SHAREABLE
flags for documents. In WP, two (or more) people can call up (retrieve) the
same document. The 2nd user will see the document name in brackets, ex:
[N:\WP\FORMS\DEED.FRM] and can make changes, but can't SAVE the document.
The first user (who sees the document name without brackets) can make and
save changes (unless the document is flagged as read-only) or if they don't
have the necessary rights in Novell's security.
2. USE NOVELL SECURITY RIGHTS TO PREVENT "WRITE TO FILE"
Sometimes, instead of the READ-ONLY attribute, I will restrict users from
saving documents in an entire directory (or disk) by using Novell's rights.
Simple set the directory to "R" (read from file) and "F" (scan for files).
This lets users see the files, but not make any changes.
....Before I went out on my own, I administered the firm's Novell
network. I created a directory called FORMS, and gave everyone READ rights,
but not WRITE rights. So, they could load a copy of the form and make
whatever changes they wanted, but they would then have to rename the
document or save it in a different directory. Although this was on a Novell
network, I imagine that similar results can be obtained on other networks.
Good luck.
M.F.Henexson
Calif. Dept. of Justice
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Nov 14 2007 - 20:49:02 PST