PACK 180

Sooner District

Last Frontier Council

Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma

Aileen Bowen
Chairperson

Rob Alaniz
Cubmaster

Darren Strauss
Asst Cubmaster

PackMaster Help Doco:

PackMaster DotNet is an add-on feature that enables you to maintain a centralized database on your pack’s FTP site. This allows multiple pack and den leaders to access and update the database without having to rely on operational controls and without the restrictions imposed by downloading and uploading dens (DotNet was designed as an alternative to downloading and uploading dens). The DotNet add-on feature must be purchased separately. To use it, you must already have an FTP site on which you have file upload/download privileges.

The DotNet interface is handled through a dialog on the “File” menu. Use this dialog to
configure PackMaster so that your pack database will be centralized on your FTP site. When you initialize your web database, PackMaster will compress the active data files on your hard drive into a single file (PMWebData.bak) and post that to your FTP site. Thereafter, whenever you open the program, PackMaster will automatically download the database backup, de-compress the files, and save them to the “Data” folder on your local hard drive. While you are working in PackMaster, you will be working with this local copy of your data files so you will not experience any Internet delays in program response times. In fact, you can even disconnect from the Internet if you like. When you exit PackMaster, the data files will again be compressed and then uploaded to your FTP site, so the next person to log on will be able to see all of your changes. If you did disconnect from the Internet after you started PackMaster, you must of course re-connect before exiting the program.

Security. Anyone who has the DotNet update password will be able to download and
update any area of the unit database. Once someone with the password has logged onto
the database, the database is locked and all other pack/den leaders will be prevented from
logging on to make changes.
If someone with an update password tries to access the files while they are locked, s/he
will see a message stating that the database is locked. The message will include the name
of the leader using the files and the time that this leader logged on. At that point, the
leader attempting to access the files will have the choice of either exiting the program or
logging on in “read only” mode. If the leader chooses the “read only” option, s/he can
view any of the dialogs and reports but will not be allowed to make any changes.
There is a small time delay in sending the “locked” signal to your FTP site. Although
extremely unlikely, it is not completely impossible for two leaders to be logged on for update at the same time. However, PackMaster rechecks the locked status when you exit the program. If someone else is logged on or was logged on and has since logged off, the
problem will be brought to your attention at that time. If you do not give one of your adults the update password, s/he can still log onto the unit database but only in “read only” mode. That means that anyone who has the FTP site password will potentially have “read only” access to your entire unit database. Logging on in “read-only” mode does not lock the web database for other users and when a “read only” user exits PackMaster, those data files are not uploaded to the web site. In addition to the FTP password and DotNet update password protection, the database backup file is compressed and can only be decompressed by another copy of PackMaster. This in itself provides a small measure of data security because the compressed database would be extremely difficult to decipher.

Archive. The web database does not include your pack archive. We recommend that only one leader be authorized to delete scouts or adult leaders from the database because if the scout/adult is archived, he will be placed in the local archive files on the hard drive of the leader doing the archiving. The only way that other leaders can view the current archive is for that leader to give them an archive backup or to email the archive files to them. The database administrator will handle backing up the files. Leaders do not need to run the Archive procedure when exiting the program.