These preferences control various database behaviors
Setting Database Preferences
1.Choose the Home workspace by clicking the Home tab above the ribbon.
2.In the Settings section of the ribbon, click Preferences
3.When the System Preferences window opens, expand the Database section of the hierarchy on the left.
4.The following preferences are available:
•Allow Asterisk - controls whether an asterisk (*) is consider a wildcard character in searches along with the standard percent (%) symbol. i.e., "Smi*" is equivalent to "Smi%" when looking for all records that start with "Smi."
•Auto-Login - enables you to specify the user name, password, and/or database entry for the Login window. If you specify all three, the system will not stop at the window when starting MemberTies. Instead, the fields on the Login window will be completed for you using these entries, and the log in process will start automatically as if you had entered the values and clicked the button yourself. Note that if you use more than one user name, you probably shouldn't set all three options, or you won't be able to log in as anything different without changing the preference setting. These settings are stored in plain text in a configuration file, so do not use this if security is a concern.
Note: this preference is considered to be user-specific, but it really is "computer" specific. Since the this preference obviously can't be stored in the database (because you'd have to log in before you could get to the data to see how you'd prefer to log in), it is stored in a configuration file on the computer. Thus, it is read and used prior to the database connection being established.
•Backup Prompt (Days) - specifies the number of days after which you want to be prompted to perform a database backup. When prompted, you can choose open the Database Toolkit to initiate the backup, or cancel the process. Set the value to zero (0) to prevent prompting.
Note: regardless of the setting, you can always start a manual backup via the Database Toolkit.
•Backup Timeout - specifies the number of seconds the system will wait for the backup (or restore) process to finish before assuming that an error has occurred. The default is 120 seconds. If you have a very large database (or slow computer) and experience a timeout when running a backup or restore process, increase this value.
•Event Logging - controls whether the event logging system is active.
•File and Photo Storage - - controls whether member photos, and related files (i.e., files linked to members, groups, and activities) are stored in the database, or stored as links to the physical files. When setting this preference, you must specify the maximum file size that can be stored. The default is 50 KB each, and this is really a pretty large number. Most digital cameras take very large photos by default that would dramatically exceed the 50 KB limit; but, if you reduce the photo to a standard 1.5" x 2" wallet sized photo such as would appear on an ID card, the file size will be reduced as well. Other documents like text files, word processing and spreadsheet files, are normally fairly small.
Note: Emails and logo files are always stored in the database regardless of this preference setting.
| Storing files on the Computer, Good vs Bad: |
oGood: Files on the computer means the database remains smaller, and photos and files will open faster because the file already "exists"
oBad: Files on the computer can be lost; with multiple users, files must be on a shared network drive; when moving the database, all of the files as well and restored to the same directory path
| Storing files in the Database, Good vs Bad: |
o Good: files are always with the database, and backed up with the database, and multiple users always have access to the same files
oBad: large files may slow down the database in some cases when opening them; a major database problem could corrupt files; large image files must be scaled down to conserve space
•Maintenance Prompt (Days) - specifies the number of days after which you will to be prompted to run table maintenance (sometimes referred to as "housekeeping") on the database. When prompted, you can choose to start the Database Toolkit to do the maintenance. Set the value to zero (0) to prevent prompting. The default value for this preference is 30 days.
Note: regardless of the setting, you can always choose to run maintenance via the Database Toolkit.
•Stale Connection Threshold - the number of hours after which a database connection is automatically removed by the system. This is checked every time a user logs in, to see if other existing connections need to be removed.
5.Click Save after changing settings.
Note: The Auto-Save Preference Changes preference controls whether the system saves each preference automatically when changes are made.
6.When finished, click Close.