Networking
Please note that the network version is only available as an option and must be obtained separately. See details at:
www.propriosoft.com
New to ProprioSoft version 3.0 is a multiple user-enabled version.
If you want several people using ProprioSoft at the same time, you need to install the network version, which has a separate program running on a separate computer. This computer becomes the server (ProprioSoft Server with the database) for client applications (ProprioSoft clients) running on other computers. Of course, a network connection needs to exist between the server and the client computers.
ProprioSoft 3.0 is designed to work in a client-server environment. It has optimistic concurrency support meaning that when user 1 and user 2 display the same data and if user 2 saves the data first, user 1 gets a message saying he must redisplay the data if he tries to save it himself. This prevents data corruption in the sense that data is not overwritten by another user without forcing a redisplay of the newly changed data.
This is very important when considering multiple user software to maintain data integrity.
Connecting the client to the server
Once ProprioSoft Server is up and running on the host computer, a client connects to it by specifying the name or IP of the computer where ProprioSoft Server is installed. When you start a ProprioSoft client for the first time, a dialog box opens up asking for the location of the server. For instance, if ProprioSoft Server were running on the same computer as the client, you would enter "localhost" or "127.0.0.1" here. The name is then saved to the client's proprio.ini file for later use. If the server switches location, then the dialog will pop up again upon startup because it won't find the server.
Once you're connected to the database through the server program, you need to provide a username and password. The Administrator (the main user that runs the database in ProprioSoft Server), should have created at least one client user. Once logged in, you have access to the network database along with potentially many other users.
When you come across the following message:
This record has been updated by another user.
You cannot update it until you pickup the other user's changes.
Please refresh by selecting it again.
This means that you have run into the situation explained in the introduction and you simply need to refresh your view of the data.
Acquire or Release Exclusive Access
Sometimes a user with the proper permissions would like to perform some tasks that require exclusive access to the database. This user might wish to make some major changes to the database that will disrupt other users' work. Selecting Acquire Exclusive Acccess from the File menu will attempt to do just that. If other users are logged in, the operation will fail. It will not disconnect them. Only the Administrator can do this at the server program. If no users are logged in, exclusive access will succeed and no other users will be able to log in at this point until the current user releases exclusive access by selecting from the menu or logs out.