Something New For Developers..

[Doji3333]

For me, one problem I've constantly run into is the ability/inability for users to be able to modify global variables in encrypted EFS files. It is simply not possible (once I encrypt a file for distribution). The possible solutions are ...

1. Provide all of the global variables as INPUTS (in the EDIT window). This is a viable solution, but requires lots of space in the code and lots of work to setup the DEFAULTS for the variables.
2 Simply distribute the EFS file in an unencrypted format - ok for some - not for others...

So, I have a spent a bit of time developing a solution...(which was actually quite simple)...

First, lets assume we have the following global variables in our file...

var StartTime = 630;
var EndTime = 1315;
var DefaultStopOffset = 0.50;
var DefaultPTLevel = 1.50;
var Indicatorvalue1 = 22; 

Now, if I wanted to allow a user to modify these (in an encrypted EFS file), all I would do is copy these values into a TEXT file (using NOTEPAD) and assign a filename to these variables... then add the following to my code...

//---[ text file MENTExmplApp.txt ]------------
StartTime = 630
EndTime = 1315
DefaultStopOffset = 0.50
DefaultPTLevel = 1.50
Indicatorvalue1 = 22 

Here is the sample code...

var vSetupFile = "MENTExmplApp.txt";

var StartTime = 630;
var EndTime = 1315;
var DefaultStopOffset = 0.50;
var DefaultPTLevel = 1.50;
var Indicatorvalue1 = 22;

function preMain() {

  fReadSystemStatus();
}

function main() {
  .. your systems code
}

function fReadSystemStatus() {
var tOutString = "";

  var f = new File(vSetupFile);
   if(f.exists()) {  
     f.open("rt");
     while(!f.eof()) { 
        tOutString = f.readln();
         eval(tOutString);
     }  
     f.close();
   } // end if file exists.  
} 

Now, when the EFS runs, the users variable settings are read from the file and used. So this gives all users the ability to modify/edit contained global variables within an encrypted EFS file. Of course, the TXT file has to be stored in the FORMULAOUTPUT directory - but it works very well.

Thought this might be of use to other developers..

B