REBOL/IOS Sharing Manager

Document Version 1.0
IOS Version 1.0

Contents:

1. Purpose
2. Installing and Running
3. User Interface
      3.1 Private Folders vs. All Filesets
      3.2 Viewing Users and Groups
      3.3 Adding Users
      3.4 Removing Users
      3.5 Changing Nested Folders
      3.6 Adding and Removing Groups
      3.7 Making a Fileset Public
      3.8 Making a Fileset Private
      3.9 How the Change Happens
4. Permissions
      4.1 Who Sees What Filesets
      4.2 Who Gets to Change Filesets

1. Purpose

The IOS Sharing Manager allows IOS administrators and power users to view and control what users share private folders and filesets on their IOS system.

The Sharing Manager gives users an easy way to view a list of who is sharing private folders (filesets) as well as add and remove sharing for users or groups.

The Sharing Manager application is much easier and less error prone than making sharing changes with the IOS RegEdit administrative application.

As with most IOS applications, the Sharing Manager is very small (5KB) and is easy to install and operate.

2. Installing and Running

The Sharing Manager is easy to download and install.

• To download the application, click (or right click, depending on your browser) on this link http://www.reboltech.com/express/apps/share.r and save the file to your disk.
• To install the application, just publish the file downloaded above to the folder where you want it to appear (just as you would any other file). You can publish it in the Admin arena, or you can publish it for all users to see in a Utilities arena (or anywhere else that best satisfies your needs.)
• To run the program, simply click on its icon.

3. User Interface

The IOS Sharing Manager displays a window similar to that shown below:

The area on the left shows a list of fileset names. These are the filesets for private folders (the default) or for all the filesets that you can view from your account (private and public).

Clicking a fileset name on the left will display on the right users and groups who are currently sharing it. If no names or groups appear, then the fileset is public to all users.

Note

In this version of the Sharing Manager, the list on the left always shows folders by their fileset names (not by their folder path names). However, the fileset names should be recognizable if you know that each ! character represents a / character in the path. The extra numbers that appear for some filesets are used to make private folder filesets unique in the system. That is, user "Fred" might have a folder called "fred!12345". Most of the time, you can just ignore the numbers and look at the words.

3.1 Private Folders vs. All Filesets

The option buttons at the bottom left control what filesets you will see.

Selecting "Show private folders" will show you just the filesets that are associated with folders that are private. Public folders will not appear nor will other filesets.

Selecting "Show all filesets" will show you all filesets, both public and private. This mode even includes filesets that are associated with applications and the IOS system.

About Permissions

Just because a user of the Sharing Manager can see specific filesets does not indicate that the user can modify the sharing of that fileset. See the Permissions section below for more detail.

3.2 Viewing Users and Groups

To see the users and user groups that share a fileset, click on the fileset name in the left panel. On the right, you will see the lists update with the names of users and groups who are sharing the fileset.

The Users or Groups list may be empty (indicating that there are either no users or groups). However, if both lists are empty, then the fileset is public, and is viewable to all users.

3.3 Adding Users

To add a new user to a fileset, simply click on the user's name in the "All Users" list. You will see the name appear in the User list above it, indicating that the user now shares the fileset.

When you are finished adding users, click on the Change button to submit the change back to the IOS server.

Double Check Your Changes!

Be absolutely sure that you have selected the correct users and groups before you press the Change button. Once you've added sharing for new users, those new users will receive local copies of all folders and files that you are sharing. Even if you remove a user from sharing, their local copies of folders and files will remain accessible to them on their hard drive. See the "How Changes Happen" section below for more information.

3.4 Removing Users

To remove a user from a fileset, click on the user's name in the "Users" list. The name will be removed from the list.

When you are finished with changes, click on the Change button to submit the change back to the IOS server.

3.5 Changing Nested Folders

Under the current version, if you change the sharing of a fileset that contains a higher level folder, you must also change the sharing of all the filesets for any folders that it contains. For example, if you change the fileset:

business!!payments!!sales

but it contains the fileset:

business!!payments!!sales!!international

You must change the sharing of that fileset too.

Future versions of the Sharing Manager will properly deal with this problem. But for now, you must modify each fileset yourself.

3.6 Adding and Removing Groups

A Group is a collection of users. Groups are created and controlled by the User Admin application. Sharing filesets with specific groups is done in a similar manner to that of users as described above. Click on a group name in the All Groups list to add a group to a fileset, or click on a group name in the Groups list to remove it.

Groups are created by the User Admin application found in the IOS Desktop Admin folder (which can be seen only by admin users). A user can be associated with one or more groups by adding the group name to the user's account information. Note that only admin users can create new groups by adding them to user accounts.

About Group Names

Group names must be valid REBOL language words. They must not begin with a numeric digit, and should not contain spaces or other punctuation. They can include dashes.

3.7 Making a Fileset Public

You can make a private fileset public (shared by all users) by simply removing all of its users and groups from the sharing lists. (Just click on the names that appear in the Users and Groups lists until no more names are shown.)

When you click the Change button, the program will ask you to confirm that you want to make the fileset public.

3.8 Making a Fileset Private

Similar to above, you can make a public fileset private by adding either users or groups (or both) to the sharing lists. Click on the "All Users" and "All Groups" lists to add who you want sharing the fileset.

When you click the Change button, the program will ask you to confirm that you want to make the fileset private.

3.9 How the Change Happens

Users who are online will see sharing changes within 3-10 seconds after you click the Change button. (Although it make take them a few minutes to download and synchronize on all the newly shared files). Users who are not online will see the changes the next time they logon.

If you've added new users to filesets (or converted them from private to public), those users will begin to see (and sync) the new folders and files that you have shared.

If you've removed users from a fileset (or converted it from public to private), the respective users will see those folders and files disappear from their desktops.

Important Note

Keep in mind that IOS never deletes files from a user's local hard disk. That is: if a user once shared specific folders and files, those folders and files remain on their hard disk. However, the user will no longer see updates to the files, nor can the user publish the files back to the same fileset. For example, if user Fred once shared the Sales folder, but was removed from sharing on 10-Jan-2003, Fred's hard disk will still contain the Sales files up to that date. Those files can only be removed by Fred himself.

4. Permissions

4.1 Who Sees What Filesets

Within the Sharing Manager, users only see the filesets that they share (private or public). For example, user Fred may see 50 filesets, but user John may see just 10.

Users only see the filesets (and folders) that are shared with them. If the fileset is not shared with them, they have no idea that the fileset even exists.

4.2 Who Gets to Change Filesets

In order to change the sharing of a fileset, a user must have the necessary fileset permission to do so. However, because IOS is designed a collaborative system (favoring open work groups rather than restrictive, closed operation), most users have the ability to change the sharing of filesets.

Note, however, that just because you can view a fileset does not necessarily mean that you can modify its sharing. A fileset may be shared with all users, but changes may only be allowed by a specific user or group of users. That is controlled by the Access Permissions of a fileset. (See the Fileset Design Documentation for more detail.)

IOS fileset access permissions operate independently from the sharing controls and cannot be modified with this application at this time.