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A more pleasant server config/script view structure

Hi,

I've had this thought for some time and I am wondering if there are people who would like to see this feature some day in the future as well...

M-Files configuration can sometimes be a little bit messy and with big vaults it is hard to remember where you set up some scripts, compliance kit automatic properties, or metadata card set values. Of course, our company has certain steps that everybody takes so that we at least have some structure of implementing new functions for our employees, but if I am talking about scripts, it can sometimes be hard to remember what I, or someone before me, programmed into which property, whenever I am trying to change something from a long time ago.

Currently I manage all my scripts in OneNote, where I have some structure and it's great, but it's downsides are that with every single change in M-Files, I have to rewrite that change into OneNote as well. It also doesn't include ALL the scripts, because there is almost a thousand custom properties in our vault and hundreds of workflow states, and I don't really want to go through each of them just to see that maybe 5% has some script that I can write into my OneNote.

This lead me to an idea that it would be amazing to have something like my OneNote structure in M-Files admin. There could be a list of each property that uses some script, or that has it's value calculated by metadata card or compliance kit (and a link to where it is calculated). A list of workflow states that include scripts would also be great.

If this was someday implemented and the following option would be possible, then I would also love to see some reference system, in which each property could also show which other property it is referencing in it's code if the user wants to show it.

Please, let me know your thoughts.

Here is a picture for reference on how my OneNote structure looks like if anyone is interested:

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  • I agree with you and it becomes even harder when using other modules like Compliance Kit, Property Calculator, Extention Kit, Event Handler.. Using them together requires either a deep Knowledge of how they work inside or a lot of trial and error.. An Overview what is calculated where and when would be very nice to keep track of the whole thing..

    But for managing scripts why not use M-Files itself? Create a Script Vault and add them there, that's how I do atm..

  • Hmm, how does that work? You still need to write down the scripts twice, no? Once into admin and second time copy into the script vault. Or is there a way to make it automatic?

  • I always edit scripts in Notepad++ and then use copy-paste to put them into MF Admin. From Notepad++ it is easy to save the scripts into my internal M-Files vault with a few keywords that allows me to easily find relevant scripts and reuse code in the future. That has worked for me for 10 years now.

    Still, I do agree with you that it can be very challenging to keep track of how things are done and by which tool. As the product and the selection of add-ons have grown I find that things we once only could do by scripting now often can be done with Compliance Kit or Extension Kit. So the same type of task may be handled by script if it was configured years ago, by Compliance Kit if it was configured not quite so long ago, and by Extension Kit if it was configured recently. With vaults having grown in size and complexity over many years it really can be difficult to remember or even to document how different processes are handled. Any improvement in that area would be much welcomed.

  • Thanks for your feedback, I will consider using your system.

    But the proposition still stands, we would love something like this natively in M-Files Admin. Is there a way to make it an official feature request?

  • I have created an improvement request with ID 165454.