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Update Global Value – setting global values

The command "Update Global Value" writes new values into global values – installation-wide settings such as a VAT rate or a "maintenance mode" switch, or the personal value of a user for a global value with values per user. This page is for administrators who use global values in their logic.

1. At a glance
Purpose Change one or several global values from an action
Typical use A switch "Shop closed" on an admin dashboard, the last import date, a personal default per user
Where in the editor Toolbar menu "Data" → "Update Global Value"
Needs a user interface No
Needs a current record No (the expressions may read one)
Related Reset Global User Value, Update Variable, Global values

2. Settings

The entries are on the tab "Set Global Values". Like every command, the command also has "Display Name", "Description" and "Execution Condition" on the tab "General" (see Actions).

Each entry ("Value Templates") has:

Part Meaning Default / Required
"Condition" Logical expression; the entry is only written if it is true Empty: always written
"Global Value" The global value to write Required
"Value" Expression for the new value, evaluated against the current record Required

Entries without global value or without value are skipped.

3. Behaviour

The entries are processed in order. For each entry:

  1. The condition is checked; if it is false, the entry is skipped.
  2. The value is computed.
  3. Global value with "User Defined" on: the value is set for the user the action runs for only. With "Persist User Defined Value", it is stored and still applies after the next sign-in. Without it, the value is only kept in the memory of the server: it is gone after a restart, and with several servers it only applies on the server that ran the action. In a run without a user, nothing is written.
  4. Other global values: the value is stored for everybody at once.

Global values are stored as text; expressions that read them convert the value as needed.

4. Examples

Close the shop. A button on an admin dashboard: entry "Shop closed" = true. A second button sets it back to false. Forms and rules that read "Shop closed" get the new value from then on.

Remember the last import. The last command of a scheduled import action: entry "Last import" = now. The next run reads it to import only newer data.

Personal default. "My default region" ("User Defined", "Persist User Defined Value") = the region of the selected customer. Every user keeps their own value.

5. Limitations

  • A global value without "User Defined" is changed for the whole installation, also when the action is started by an ordinary user. Only offer such actions to the right people, for example through the execution condition of the action.
  • The change takes effect at once; it is not collected in an open sketch.