Event Handlers

With Event handlers you can define different operations that are performed when editing objects. The operations are specified using variables, generic features of VBScript, and M-Files API.

You can create and edit event handlers in M-Files Admin: Activate the document vault that you want to define event handlers for. You can then find the event handlers in the Action menu or by right-clicking the vault. You can add several different operations to the same event handler by naming them separately.

Examples of event handler use

Object permissions can be set to change automatically when the object properties (metadata) are changed.
When adding a new project, add certain basic documents to it via a pre-defined project model.
Save certain Word documents always as PDFs, so that when a Word file is checked in, it is always saved in PDF format as well in the server.
Data related to photos, such as date and image size, can be automatically added to the metadata of the photo document.
If the user adds a new value to the value list, the event handler can be used to check that the added value is entered correctly.
Login to M-Files can be prevented outside working hours, for instance during night time and weekends.
Downloading of certain files can be monitored, downloading of large numbers of files can be prevented, or an alarm of suspicious downloads can be sent to the administrator.

Note: Creating event handlers requires a high level of programming skill and is intended for advanced administrators only. The administrator must be familiar with VBScript programming language. Instructions for writing the VBScript code is not included in M-Files or M-Files API documentation.

The documentation for the M-Files API is installed in the folder Start > Programs > M-Files > Documentation > M-Files API. For more information about VBScript code and M-Files API, contact [email protected]. Instructions on writing VBScript code and working with the M-Files API are available from the M-Files technical support staff for a separate fee.

Example

When creating a new object, the event handler can be used to check, for example, whether the document vault already contains an object with that title. If it does, the user receives an error message. In this case, the VBScript code follows the following format (the example only in English):

' The ID of the title property.

Dim titleProperty

titleProperty = MFBuiltInPropertyDefNameOrTitle

' Find the title property of the current object.

Dim currentTitleProp

currentTitleProp = PropertyValues.SearchForProperty(titleProperty)

' Get the title of the object.

Dim currentTitle

currentTitle = currentTitleProp.Value

' Search for objects on the basis of title.

Dim titleSearch

Set titleSearch = CreateObject("MFilesAPI.SearchCondition")

Dim titleExpression

Set titleExpression = CreateObject("MFilesAPI.Expression")

titleExpression.SetTypedValueExpression MFDatatypeText, -1, MFParentChildBehaviorNone, Nothing

Dim titleTypedValue

Set titleTypedValue = CreateObject("MFilesAPI.TypedValue")

titleTypedValue.SetValue MFDatatypeText, currentTitle

titleSearch.Set titleExpression, MFConditionTypeEqual, titleTypedValue

Dim SearchResults

Set SearchResults = Vault.ObjectSearchOperations.SearchForObjectsByCondition(titleSearch, false)

' If an existing object with the same title was found, raise an error.

If SearchResults.Count > 1 Then

Err.Raise MFScriptCancel, _

"The document vault already contains an object with the same title."

End if