System Preferences
System preferences can be modified by a SpeedBase user in the administrator group and they are effective for all users.
Most of these settings are saved to your database and they will change if you connect to a different database
or you create a new database. Some settings are saved on the local machine and effective on that specific computer even if you
connect to a different database.
Open "Database" from main menu, select "Preferences" and then click to "System Preferences" item.
Display
Catalog Tree
"Catalog Tree" is the tree-like structure of catalogs and their views displayed on left side of the main window.
Catalog Tree Header: Enter text up to 20 chars to be displayed on top of the catalog tree.
This can be anything you like, e.g. your organization name or a short title for your database.
Max Views to Load: The number of view links displayed under each catalog in the catalog tree. If there are more views,
you may display them by clicking "More..." link shown after the last view. This helps the view links filling all of the visible catalog
tree in case you have a high number of views.
Main Toolbar Buttons
You may hide here some of the optional main toolbar buttons in case you do not need them.
Table View
"Table View" is the tabular display of the records in a catalog.
Quick Search Box Width: Determine the width of the quick search box on top of the table view area.
Record Window
"Record Window" is the window opened separately to display details of a single record.
Open Records in View Mode: If checked, all records are opened in read-only mode by default. To edit a record, you must first click the "Edit" button
displayed on top of record window first. This setting can help to minimize accidental changes on records in a multiuser setup. When uchecked,
the "Edit" button is not displayed as records are opened in edit mode in that case. The default setting is "unchecked".
Stick Field Labels: On a record window, the titles of data fields can either be left aligned with some space to the field box or sticked to the left side of the field box.
This is checked by default. If you change this setting, you may need to re-adjust alignments of either field labels or field boxes from
form designer window.
Record Toolbar Buttons
You may hide here some of the optional toolbar buttons on record windows in case you do not need them. This setting applies to all catalogs.
If you want to display some functions conditionally, you may do that via data access control.
Date & Time
Date Format: Select the date display format you wish to use.
Date Order: Select the preferred order of Day, Month and Year.
First Day of Week: Select the first day of week on your locale.
Time Format: Select the time display format you wish to use.
Data Format
Copy Format
You may customize the formatting of the data when the "Copy" button is clicked either from the toolbar of main window or a record window.
Header Seperator: Select a special character or type a custom character which will be inserted between field titles.
Recommended: Select {TAB} to paste to a spreadsheet software, type ":" when pasting as plain text.
Data (Field) Seperator: Select a special character or type a custom character which will be inserted between successive data fields.
Recommended: Select {TAB} to paste to a spreadsheet software, select {NEWLINE} when pasting as plain text.
Record Seperator: Select a special character or type a custom character which will be inserted between successive records.
Format: Select "standard" if you prefere some data like dates in a more standardized format. This may help the receiving application
to process data more correctly.
Include Field Titles: If checked, the field titles are also added to the copied record(s). Recommended when copying data in plain text format.
Skip Empty Fields: If checked, empty fields do not create an empty line or title in the copied data.
Enclose in quotes: If checked, text data is enclosed in quotes so that it can be better processed by spreadsheet software.
Tip: To copy in tabular format, where field titles are shown on top and each row represents a record, check "include field titles",
uncheck "skip empty fields", select field/header seperator as "tab" and record seperator as "new line".
Tip: To copy in plain text format where each line consists of a field title and field value, check "include field titles",
select field seperator as "new line", record seperator as "double line" and type a colon into the header seperator box.
Text Representations
Checked Box: Enter the corresponding text value to be used on reports when a checkbox is left checked.
Unchecked Box: Enter the corresponding text value to be used on reports when a checkbox is left unchecked.
General Button: You may overwrite the name used for the general button which is displayed on record windows.
Performance
Max. records per page: Select the maximum number of records which are displayed on each page of a
record list window (view). If you wish to display more records per page
select a higher number. If you notice a significant time delay while records are loaded, select a smaller number.
Max. items in a lookup box: When you type into the lookup box of a relational field, SpeedBase displays popup box to suggest
a list of records which begin with/contain the typed text, if this list loads too slowly you may select a smaller number.
Enable Chain Recalculation: Automatically recalculates all affected computed fields when some data is changed
in your database. This feature is essential to keep computed fields display accurate results and should not be disabled
except for temporary troubleshooting purposes.
Reduce Idle Time Network Traffic: If checked, SpeedBase significantly reduces the system generated database traffic
during idle state. This will however delay notifications of instant messages and may affect performance. This option should be checked
only if you are connecting via a VPN interface / mobile network with limited traffic quota.
Encryption
You may enable encryption feature to encrypt a selected set of data fields like passwords, ID's, SSN's etc. and save encrypted data
on a separate file location optionally outside your data folder.
Barcode Reader
You may configure SpeedBase to automatically find and open the record whose barcode has just been read by a barcode scanning device.
To do this, create a small text field in the desired catalog and save barcode text with the records. To activate the barcode processing feature,
select the catalog and the field carrying barcode data on this window. Whenever you want to use your barcode scanner, just click the "Barcode"
button from the main toolbar and scan a barcode. SpeedBase will automatically search for the barcode and display the associated record.
Review the help page Barcode Processing for more information.
Security
Show recently opened database history on this computer:
If checked, shortcut menu items for the recently connected databases are displayed under "database" menu when working with multiple databases.
You may click those menu items to instantly connect to another database without any need to adjust connection settings.
Note that, after enabling this feature, you must connect to each of your database once via connection window in order to populate the recent database menu.
Beware that this setting is saved on the current computer and is effective for ALL users logged into SpeedBase ON THE SAME computer.
So regardless from their access permissions, any user will then be able to switch between databases via recent database menu even if they cannot
display the connection setting window.
This setting is effective only on the computer it was enabled.
Create Event Log: If enabled, SpeedBase creates logs for all major settings and data modification events. Enabling detailed event log
option will also create additional logs for each record modification event. Beware that the detailed mode may generate a large number
of event logs. Event logging may also decrease the performance when large number of records are processed via tools like
import or mass replace.
To display event logs;
- Click "Design" from main menu, select "Catalogs" to open catalog managment window,
- Check "show system catalogs" from the bottom of the window,
- Select the system defined catalog "Event Logs", click "Properties" button,
- Check the box "display in catalog tree". Save changes and close all windows,
- A new catalog named "Event Logs" should appear on catalog tree. Right click on it, select "Create New" to add a new view,
- Add the required fields, adjust the other settings as needed, save changes.
Clean up Event Logs: Event logs remain in your database forever unless deleted manually. You may consider cleaning up older logs to
prevent your database filled with unnecessary information.