Basic Information

This application can provide simultaneous work of several users with one database based on the client-server technology. It means that the main user (further referred to as Server) should open the local database as a file using the standard File > Open... menu item and make it accessible for other users connection (further referred to as Clients): File > Share Database.... To work with a remote database, clients should select the File > Open Networked Database... menu item.

To learn more about setting different access rights for different users, see the Users and Access section.

Server Mode

The database can be switched to the server mode only if it is opened by the user having the Administrator access level.

To work with the database in the server mode, you should:

1. Open an existing database using the File > Open... menu item.
2. Select the File > Share Database menu item.
3. In the displayed window specify a port on which the server will be created. By default port 6420 is used. You may have to choose another port in case you have already switched one database on the computer to the server mode, and want to switch another database to the server mode on the same computer.
4. You can check the "Monitor software with ADBServerMon" flag (if available) to run an independent application, that will monitor the database status, notify if something wrong and restart the server automatically.
5. Press the Finish button.
6. To make the DB inaccessible to the network connection, select the File > Disallow Network Connections menu item.

To quickly switch the database to the server mode, you can create a button with the Share Database action on the toolbar.

If you want the database to automatically switch to the server mode at startup, create a timer with the Share Database action that will be executed at the database loading.

To view a list of clients working with the database at present, use the File > Database Status… menu item on the Connected Clients tab.

Client Mode

To connect to the database opened in the server mode, you should:

• Select the File > Open Networked Database... menu item
• In the displayed window enter the address of the remote DB and the port on which the database was created. This information is passed to the server at execution of the Share Database operation.
• In this window it is necessary to specify the user name and password under which you want to log into the database. If the entered user name or password is not correct, you will be asked to re-enter them.
• Click the Finish button.
• After connecting to the database, you will be able to work with a remote database just as you work with a local database.
• To disconnect from the DB, select the File > Close menu item.

You can create a shortcut on the desktop for quick connection to a remove database. To do so, select the File > Open Networked Database... menu item and click the Create shortcut on desktop for quick connection link. In the displayed window specify the name of the shortcut for a remote database. Now you should only double-click the shortcut on the desktop to open a remote database.

Working with networked database

Work with the networked database is in fact the same as work with a local database. The only difference in work via network is that two users cannot edit the same record at the same time. If, for example, one user is editing a record and another user is viewing it, the latter one will get the Editing By UserName subscription at the top right corner of the record which means that the record is being edited by another user at the moment and can be accessed only in the read-only mode.

To learn how to create users and groups of users and set different access rights for them, see the Users and Access section.