The electronic signature is designed to identify the person that appends the signature and to indicate his/her agreement to the content of a document in the same way as a handwritten signature. Therefore electronic signature is used when security on executing certain operation is much higher and must be approved by a user by signing themselves. This way the misuse of an application is prevented. Electronic signature is a must be feature in modern software and is also included in many official regulations.
Electronic signature can be implemented on individual writable statement. This provides the developer with option to control the execution of every operation or activity. The configuration of electronic signature takes place in design time and in runtime. In design time developer defines entity, primary key and data to be displayed in electronic signature viewer. Same as with other security policies in applications, created with MX-Developer, security for electronic signature is also specified in runtime. This means that with a few simple clicks advanced and complex feature such as electronic signature is implemented.
Audit Trail Viewer
The result of electronic signature implementation can be viewed in Audit Trail viewer. User, with appropriate credentials, can access the viewer by right clicking on the grid in the desired row and selecting Audit Trail... option. The grid must contain data from the data source where electronic signature is implemented. A window appears containing all entities for the data source. In the list Supported Entities check the entity for which you wish to view data. The viewer provides following data:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Entity | A short description of the entity. |
| Timestamp | Date and time when the change occurred. |
| User | First and last name of the user that changed the value. |
| Field | String defined in design time with property Caption. Column should contain information about the parameter or the field that is protected. |
| Value | The new value for the field in the selected record in a grid. |
| Workstation | Workstation name or the name of the computer where the change was made. |
| Client | The application in which the change was made. |
Signature can be defined for a field or for a parameter. To create signature items several commands are available
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| Add | Adds the desired type of signature item for the selected statement. Created item is added to the list in section Existing Items. |
| Remove | Removes signature item selected in Existing Items list. |
| Clear | Removes all signature items in Existing Items list. |
Two types of signature items are available, field and parameter signature. Field signature protects a field in the schema from being modified. Parameter signature protects a parameter for the statement. The main difference between these two signature items is that parameter signature item is protected directly. This is useful in cases when it is not necessary that a field will change the value of a parameter. The value of a parameter can also be changed by other means such as work flow. For this case parameter signature item was introduced.
The appearance, bindings and data is defined with properties.
Parameter Signature Item
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Caption | Defines the value of the column Field in Audit Trail viewer. Value of this property should provide information about the parameter. |
| EntityCode | Defines a unique value by which it is possible to define security policy. |
| KeyParameter | Defines the parameter that serves as a primary key for a data source. |
| ParameterName | Defines the parameter whose value will be displayed in Audit Trial viewer in order to see the new value. |
Field Signature Item
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Caption | Defines the value of the column Field in Audit Trail viewer. Value of this property should provide information about the field. |
| EntityCode | Defines a unique value by which it is possible to define security policy |
| DisplayMember | Defines the field whose value will be displayed in the Audit Trail viewer. |
| KeyMember | Defines the field which represents primary key in a schema of a data source. |
| ValueMember | Defines the field whose value will be used to create the change. |