4D Doc Center : Using user settings

4D v13.4

Using user settings

Starting with 4D v13, you can generate an external file containing custom settings. When this functionality is enabled, the settings contained in the external file (called "User settings") are used instead of settings stored in the database structure file (called "Structure settings").

This means that you can keep custom settings between updates of your 4D applications, or that you can manage different settings for the same 4D application deployed on several different sites. It also makes it possible to use programming to manage setting files using XML.

Enabling User Settings mode

To be able to externalize user settings, you need to check the Enable User Settings in External File option, found on the Security page of the Database settings.

When you check this option, database settings are separated into two dialog boxes: Structure Settings and User Settings. You can access these dialog boxes using the Design/Database Settings> menu or the Settings button in the toolbar:

User Settings dialog box

When the external mode is enabled, database settings are available in two dialog boxes: "Structure Settings" and "User Settings".
The "Structure Settings" dialog box is identical to the standard Database Settings one and provides access to all its properties. The "User Settings" dialog box contains a selection of relevant properties that can be externalized:

In accordance with the principle of user settings priority, when an option is modified in this dialog box, its value is taken into account instead of the one stored in the structure settings.

The following table lists the pages of settings found in the "User Settings" dialog box and describes their main differences with respect to standard settings:

Page of Database Settings	Page of User Settings
General page	Not available
Interface page	Identical to standard settings
Compiler page	Not available
Database/Data storage page	Not available
Database/Memory page	Identical to standard settings
Moving page	Not available
Backup/Scheduler page	Not available
Backup/Configuration page	Not available
Backup/Backup & Restore page	Not available
Client-server/Network options page	Identical to standard settings
Client-server/IP configuration page	Identical to standard settings
Web/Configuration page	Identical to standard settings
Web/Options (I) page	Identical to standard settings
Web/Options (II) page	Identical to standard settings
Web/Log (type) page	Identical to standard settings
Web/Log (backup) page	Identical to standard settings
Web/Web Services page	Method prefixing option not available
SQL page	Identical to standard settings
PHP page	Identical to standard settings
Security page	Not available
Compatibility page	Not available

User settings file

When you check the Enable User Settings in External File option in the Database Settings, the user settings file is automatically created and placed here:

[DatabaseFolder]/Preferences/settings.4DSettings

... where [DatabaseFolder] is the name of the folder containing the database structure file.

The user settings file, in XML format, can be read and modified using integrated 4D XML commands or using an XML editor. This means that you can manage settings by programming, particularly in the context of applications compiled and merged with 4D Volume Desktop. Note that when you modify this file by programming, the changes are only taken into account the next time the database is opened.