How group settings affect user settings

The following rules describe how the setting for a database option in a group affects the setting for the same database option in a user who is a member of the group.

1. Creating a new group

   When you create a new group, Host On-Demand creates for the group a database option profile that contains the initial settings for all the database options.

2. Creating a new user as a member of one group

   When you create a new user, you must add the user to at least one group. When you create a new user as a member of one group, the user inherits the current settings for the database options in that group. That is, Host On-Demand sets the database options in the new user's profile to the same values as are currently set in the profile of the group to which the new user is added. For example, if you create User2 as a member of GroupA, and GroupA has the database option Show all table types on the Tables tab selected, then Host On-Demand selects this same option in User2's database option profile.

   Thus, before you create users, it is a good idea to create and configure a default group that contains the settings for database options that you want the majority your users to have. Then, when you create a user, you can add the user to that default group. The user's profile then contains the same database options as the group.

3. Modifying a database option for a group

   When you modify a database option setting for a group that already contains users, then Host On-Demand changes the corresponding database option setting to the same value in all the database option profiles of all the users belonging to the group. (But see the next two rules for exceptions to this rule.)

   Host On-Demand does not make this change until you click OK in the Database On-Demand Group Options window.

   For example, if you change GroupA's database option Show all table types on the Tables tab to unselected, and User2 belongs to GroupA, then Host On-Demand automatically changes the setting for this option to unselected in the profile of User2 and in the profiles of all other members of GroupA (subject to the exceptions in Rule 4 and Rule 5 below).

4. User override

   This rule states an exception to Rule 3. (The Table of database options below indicates the database options to which this rule applies.) When you modify the setting of a database option for a particular user in the Database On-Demand User Options window, Host On-Demand protects that particular option from inheriting or from being modified by a group setting. Here is an example scenario:

   1. User2 belongs to GroupA.
   2. User2 has inherited the following setting from GroupA:
      • Show all table types
        • Not selected in GroupA.
        • Not selected in User2 (inherited from GroupA).
   3. You open the database options window for User2 and select the same option:
      • Show all table types
        • Not selected in GroupA.
        • Selected in User2 (by modifying User2's profile).
   Because the user setting overrides the group setting, this option is selected for User2, even though this same option is not selected for GroupA, to which User2 belongs.

   Moreover, a database option that you modify in a user profile is protected from any further modification by any group. To continue with the example scenario above, suppose that now:

   1. In the database options window for GroupA, you select the same option (by opening the window, selecting the checkbox, and clicking OK):
      • Show all table types
        • Selected in GroupA (by modifying GroupA's profile).
        • Selected in User2 (protected).
   2. Next, again in the database options window for GroupA, you unselect the same option (by opening the window, clearing the checkbox, and clicking OK):
      • Show all table types
        • Not selected in GroupA (by modifying GroupA's profile).
        • Selected in User2 (protected).
   Because the user setting is protected from further modification by any group, the option remains selected in User2, even though the option was selected and then unselected in GroupA.

   This user override protection remains in effect for the life of the user profile. That is, when you modify a database option setting for a user, that option remains protected from inheriting or being modified by a group setting, no matter what you subsequently do with that user profile (such as remove it from GroupA, add it to GroupB, and so on).

5. More permissive option

   This rule states another exception to Rule 3. (The Table of database options below indicates the database options to which this rule applies.) If a user belongs to two or more groups, and the groups have different settings for a particular database option, and you change the setting in one of the groups, and the setting is not protected by Rule 4, then Host On-Demand modifies the user profile to contain the more permissive of the settings among the groups for that database option.

   In plainer language, if a user belongs to two or more groups, and you modify a particular setting in one of the groups, so that one or more groups have the option selected, while one or more other groups have the very same option not selected, and the option is not protected by Rule 4, then Host On-Demand selects the option in the user profile.

   For example, suppose that User1 belongs to GroupA and GroupB, and that the database option Show all tables types on the Tables tab is:

   • Selected in GroupA
   • Selected in GroupB
   • Selected in User1 (inherited from GroupA and GroupB).
   Suppose also that this database option is not protected in User1 by Rule 4.

   Now suppose if you will that you unselect the option in GroupA. Host On-Demand:

   1. Determines that User1 belongs to both GroupA and GroupB.
   2. Sees that the same option is unselected in GroupA but selected in GroupB.
   3. Assigns the more permissive setting (selected) to the option in User1.
   Host On-Demand uses this rule, when it is applicable, in the following situations:
   • When you create a new user as a member of more than one group.
   • When you add an existing user to another group.
   • When you change a database option in a group, and a user in the group also belongs to another group (this is the situation covered by the example above).

Table of database options

The table below shows which database options are subject to Rules 4 and 5. If an option is not listed, then it is not subject to either Rule 4 or Rule 5.

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