CardExchange - Shared data folder, usage in practice

The shared Data folder itself hosts all CardExchange application configuration settings as well as all content created within CardExchange including the templates and any configured databases, configured encoding, etc..

This Data folder when shared can only have ONE full read/write access client which is the first client to open and access this Data folder. Once opened a lock file is created within the Data folder locking it to that first machine and any other clients attempting to access the Data folder will be limited to read only mode while the first client is accessing and holding on to the Data folder.

When the first client that locked the Data folder closes the lock file is removed allowing another client to take over read/write permissions however, they must close from their current read only status and reopen to gain access to the Data folder again. As before the first client to gain access gains read/write permissions locking out all secondary clients to a read only state.

Even if you create the user authorizations and login as an admin the client will remain in a read only state if it was second to the shared Data folder. 

This has to do with the Data content integrity not feature/function restrictions specifically the configuration tab that controls the application configuration settings related to card template creation and modification, database setup and modification, enabling/disabling user authorizations and management of those user authorizations and data folder sharing enabling. 

These specific functions are blocked from concurrent access do the data changes and file corruption that can occur with concurrent changes being made to the same template design for example.

The first CardExchange client to open regardless of the credentials in place and allowed by the user are still the first client to access the Data content folder and regardless of credentials and permissions setup the Data content folder is still locked to that client machine preventing ANY other client from gaining full read/write permissions to that Data content folder even if designated an admin until that client closes.

The other clients can still print and use any existing templates already created, apply images, signatures, adding the data to the already designed card template but will not be able to access the configuration tab.

 While the database setup is blocked under the configuration tab as well the management of the database records can be concurrently shared so records input, modification or deletion is still concurrently accessible by each client.

You can designate one machine as the permanent administrative client by enabling Data folder sharing.

This will create a permanent lock file within the Data folder and lock the Data folder to that client only regardless of the order the client’s open in and access to the Data folder.

Regarding the login there is no time limit or setting that would prevent opening and accessing CardExchange and the shared Data content folder unless there is an issue with connectivity to the shared credentials located within the Data folder. If another client had been opened first and left open it would retain a license and the Data content folder read/write permissions until it was closed or the machine was turned off but this would not affect the CardExchange login process.

The user authorizations are stored in the internal database cegateway.sqlite file that resides in the Data content folder and should also be shared between clients in a separate configuration file. 

By default, the clients upon installation look locally for all folders and files. There is a separate configuration file for modifying and connecting to the internal cegateway.sqlite file and would be modified on each client to share the internal database AND any user authorizations created within CardExchange.