dbFront.com - Recent questions and answers in Features (Todo)

Remove "On Hover" over your name (Top Right)

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 15:07:19 +0000

When you hover over your name (top right) it drops down a menu showing:

Profile
Login Details
Log Off

This is just a few pixels above the "Search" in the top right, and obscures the search box.

It would be good if this hover was changed to an "On Click", this way it doesnt get in the way if you oveshoot the search box using your mouse.

Answered: Set a SSO Admin per Database connection

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 14:19:04 +0000

Thanks, this would be a helpful feature.

NOTE: Please vote on or consider funding this Feature Request if it interests you.

Answered: Pass advanced search criteria in URL

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 19:24:59 +0000

The plan is that, if the input to the search is a JSON-formatted string, dbFront will assume you are targeting specific fields and use the advanced search. e.g. s={"productType":"Bike"}

NOTE: Please vote on or consider funding this Feature Request if it interests you.

Answered: Separate "Record View" instead of Showing Table

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 19:17:56 +0000

This would be a new layout option that switches between the Row Select and Form View.

NOTE: Please vote on or consider funding this Feature Request if it interests you.

Answered: Preserve Quick Search on refresh

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 19:13:11 +0000

I will have to think if that is a feature or a bug. Should the filter always be retained..

Answered: User Help on table-only fields

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 19:08:16 +0000

I will have to think about how to implement that without cluttering the UI. It would likely need to be optional.

NOTE: Please vote on or consider funding this Feature Request if it interests you.

Answered: Quick Search Across Multiple Tables

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 22:51:28 +0000

This is a cool idea but I am not sure that it needs to be added to the dbFront core.

A good solution is to create that functionality yourself using the ProcedureAPI:

Prompt the user for the search parameters you need,
Search all of the appropriate tables using the stored procedure,
Return one or more result sets to the user.

NOTE: Please vote on or consider funding this Feature Request if you want this as part of the core application.

Answered: Single File Automated Backup

Wed, 20 Nov 2024 00:36:24 +0000

This would be very helpful for all of the reasons specified.

NOTE: Please vote on or consider funding this Feature Request if it interests you.

Answered: Ability to Receive PDF Submit Requests

Wed, 14 Aug 2024 17:26:56 +0000

This would be very cool. It would involve some serious security considerations because I would most likely need to accept and process anonymous requests.

NOTE: Please vote on or consider funding this Feature Request if it interests you.

Deep link to PDF/Binary file

Fri, 31 May 2024 00:47:06 +0000

Is there any way to deep link to a PDF/binary file, directly to the file preview page (or download)?

i.e. the page with the URL formatted like:

.../Data.ashx?action=getAttachment&pa=2&rt=[LongMysteryString]&t=Pdf

For example, we now have a process in dbFront where users can request certain documents which they can't generate themselves, but need to be generated by a manager. Thanks to the new WebRequest functionality, this can now all be done directly in dbFront. The manager generates the requested file(s) which save to a child table, and marks the request as complete, which triggers an email notification to the requester. Currently the email contains a link to the request record in dbFront. It would be nice to include links directly to the files, essentially "attaching" the PDF files to the email, so they can click the link and it opens the PDF viewer page in a browser, or downloads the file.

Answered: Can results be returned in multiple files instead of concatenating to a single file?

Thu, 28 Mar 2024 04:27:49 +0000

Currently when dbFront needs to return multiple resultsets, it returns either:

A multi-segment Report,
A multi-worksheet Excel file,
A populated Excel template with resultsets individually positioned,
Or a single CSV file with multiple sections delimited by a double blank lines.

The ask is to return multiple CSV files. Would a Zip file containing multiple CSV files be acceptable?

NOTE: Please vote on and consider funding this Feature Request if it interests you.

Answered: Android / IOS app for dbFront

Wed, 03 Jan 2024 22:21:57 +0000

This request was originally marked as outside the scope of dbFront. Since then, PWA (Progressive Web App) technology has advanced to the point that we can now build Web Applications that can directly act like installable apps with much of the same functionality.

This means that I can update the dbFront Web client so that it can be installed locally on a desktop or phone with the intention of progressively adding offline functionality.

NOTE: Please vote on the main feature (not this answer) or consider funding this Feature Request if it interests you.

Answered: Transaction Isolation Level

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 18:32:00 +0000

I understand the need for this feature, it is potentially dangerous but it does have its place. I will consider it depending upon time and resources.

NOTE: Please vote on or consider funding this Feature Request if it interests you.

An update thanks to JRevell, you can set the transaction ISOLATION LEVEL at the top of a stored procedure.

SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL READ UNCOMMITTED;

A significant benefit to this approach is that it reverts to the normal ISOLATION LEVEL as soon as the stored procedure is over so there is very little chance of odd side effects.

Answered: Mirror Table Fields to report fields

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 18:18:21 +0000

I understand the need for this feature. This contains elements of an existing popular feature request.

NOTE: Please vote on or consider funding this Feature Request if it interests you.

Answered: 1/2: Upload file to shared folder and save link in database

Mon, 28 Aug 2023 22:44:54 +0000

ReadOnly: For all databases, dbFront now supports FileLinks.

A filelink is a special field subtype where dbFront is told that a field will contain a link to a local file. You can set a base-path and the base-path can be calculated.

For example: The BasePath on the FileLink field could be set to "c:\FileStore{[ProductID]}\" so that each products images are contained in their own folder.

This is a direct answer to this feature request. At the moment is is read-only, but future versions of dbFront will allow for uploads to the specified base-path, file renames and more.

Answered: Prompt user for Zip filename when selecting output option "Zip (PDF+Attachments)"

Mon, 28 Aug 2023 22:15:22 +0000

Thank you for the request. I will see how I can work that into a future version of dbFront. In the meantime the 1.3.0.2797 release of dbFront will generate a filename that includes details from the current record.

Answered: New Version notification isn't going away

Fri, 28 Apr 2023 15:54:59 +0000

Right now dbFront tries to be smart about which versions it will make you aware of. Sometimes that logic is not as smart as it could be. Sometimes there is just to much going on. e.g. New Releases.

For the moment you can close the notification and you won't be notified again until something changes.

That said, I hope to release another version of dbFront this week so you might receive another notification.

I plan to add a feature to dbFront so that you can explicitly specify what versions you want to be notified about: [Stable, Feature, or Beta].

Answered: Add support for defining default database when creating connection

Tue, 25 Apr 2023 23:47:32 +0000

I will consider it depending upon time and resources.

NOTE: Please vote on or consider funding this Feature Request if it interests you.

Answered: Option to not "clean" HTML in Field Values in Table View

Tue, 25 Apr 2023 23:45:52 +0000

I understand the need for this feature. I will consider it depending upon time and resources.

NOTE: Please vote on or consider funding this Feature Request if it interests you.

Answered: Better formatting for dropdown columns

Wed, 12 Apr 2023 20:15:19 +0000

That is an interesting feature. I will consider it depending upon time and resources.

NOTE: Please vote on or consider funding this Feature Request if it interests you.

Answered: 2/3: Add the option to hide the Form & "Details" tab?

Mon, 27 Feb 2023 21:09:56 +0000

As of dbFront 1.2.6.1528, dbFront allows you to select the Layout of TableOnly. This will remove the Form but leave the action buttons. This is designed to work in conjunction with Grid Editing.

This does not completely satisfy this feature request since you will need to disable the insert privilege. This is needed because the Grid Editing functionality does not yet include the ability to insert new records.

A quick way to disable the insert privilege is to add the value "0=1" for the Insert Row Security

Answered: Add support for QR Code fields

Thu, 19 Jan 2023 19:03:14 +0000

I agree, that would be good.

NOTE: Please vote on or consider funding this Feature Request if it interests you.

Answered: Table help when sidebar is disabled

Thu, 19 Jan 2023 19:00:35 +0000

Agreed, that is an issue. I will have to think about that and likely add a help icon above the buttons.

Answered: Conditionally editable field

Mon, 07 Nov 2022 23:41:14 +0000

It is possible to hide the editable version of a field and display a view field instead but that is a poor work-a-round.

I have been meaning to implement this functionality for sometime. I will let you know when it is complete.

Answered: Email Stored Procedure results or PDF Form after completion

Thu, 03 Nov 2022 13:39:46 +0000

You could use SQL to send the email as part of the SP. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/relational-databases/system-stored-procedures/sp-send-dbmail-transact-sql?view=sql-server-ver16

If you need something more advanced, you could write a CLR Assembly in C#
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/relational-databases/clr-integration/common-language-runtime-integration-overview?view=sql-server-ver16

Answered: Ability to remove "dbFront" from the Page Title in the browser tab

Mon, 17 Oct 2022 11:12:54 +0000

Understood, you are not the first person to ask, and I have been holding off because the title bar is my way of letting users know what application they are using. Kind of like how an Office or other application always has its name in the title bar.

I will see about adding that as an Enterprise feature.

Answered: Is there a way to hide the table view?

Thu, 12 May 2022 05:03:34 +0000

At the moment there is no way to hide a table view. The closest you can get is to reduce the table grid to a single column and change the layout to table-beside-form.

This is an interesting request and would be the logical result if the table contained a single record and the insert privilege was disabled.

NOTE: Please vote on or consider funding this Feature Request if it interests you.

Answered: Show and Edit multiline values in the table grid.

Thu, 31 Mar 2022 14:19:48 +0000

Thank you for this feature request. You are not the first user to ask to be able to view multiline grid values.

In addition, the ability to edit those values would be a natural request.

NOTE: Please vote on or consider funding this Feature Request if it interests you.

Answered: Add Unknown File Types to File Type Options

Tue, 15 Mar 2022 18:23:31 +0000

I have considered this option a few times.

The issue is that dbFront currently takes extra steps to verify that a specific file is in fact what it claims to be. For example, if dbFront allows the upload of a PDF then dbFront will verify that the file contents look like a PDF to ensure that a malicious actor can't upload an executable or other dangerous file type. This is important because files that one user uploads are often immediately available to be downloaded or viewed by a second user.

I definitely would like to implement a solution, but it would involve more than just listing out the valid file extensions.

NOTE: Please vote on or consider funding this Feature Request if it interests you.

Answered: Auto-refresh parent record on child edit

Tue, 14 Dec 2021 09:06:12 +0000

Yes, I think this would be very useful.
Colin

Answered: Multi-select on group connection access

Thu, 02 Dec 2021 20:29:43 +0000

The ability to select multiple AD groups would definitely help with managing the security..

NOTE: Please vote on or consider funding this Feature Request if it interests you.

Answered: 3/4: Have multiple forms per table.

Sat, 06 Nov 2021 21:32:51 +0000

Solution #3: Personal Custom Layouts (DONE)

Power-users can optionally customize table and form layouts to suit their needs and switch back and forth as necessary.

The custom layout is unique to that user and will follow them wherever they login to dbFront.

For more details see: Custom User Layout

Answered: Sorting a money column

Thu, 21 Oct 2021 15:29:29 +0000

The plan for this feature is to have dbFront:

Apply the Format String to all Read-Only grid fields.
Trigger server side sorting for formatted fields.

NOTE: Please vote on or Fund this Feature Request if it interests you.

Answered: Timed Auto-refresh

Thu, 17 Jun 2021 15:42:25 +0000

This is a logical request and if there are no outstanding data changes then it should be quite reasonably to implement this change.

NOTE: Please vote on or Fund this Feature Request if it interests you.

Answered: Action button visibility - change to expression box instead of single Compare Field

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 17:15:20 +0000

Hello Daniel, your request makes sense and I will add it in a future version of dbFront.

One of the reasons for the current simpler version was to enable easier config and monitoring so that the visibility could dynamically update as other form fields changed.

A standard database expression would have to be database only.

The cost to build this feature is estimated at: $650 (USD)

NOTE: Please vote on or fund this Feature Request if it interests you.

Answered: Add tab-delimited txt file (tsv) Import functionality

Thu, 18 Mar 2021 15:59:32 +0000

Thank you for the request.

TSV file notes:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11130120/choosing-between-tsv-and-csv

NOTE: Please vote on this Feature Request if it interests you.

Answered: Ability to generate custom data driven read only layout.

Wed, 17 Mar 2021 20:46:24 +0000

This would mean using dbFront as a templating engine. This is similar to how the quick reports are generated.

I would most likely implement this functionality by allowing public access to predefined reports and exports.

They could then be embedded as either downloads (xlsx, csv, pdf) or imbedded as HTML.

NOTE: Please vote on this Feature Request if it interests you.

Answered: Add "Record Lock Expiry"

Tue, 16 Mar 2021 17:55:14 +0000

Thank you Daniel for the suggestion.

If you can reproduce the scenario where dbFront fails to expire locks on browser close then that information would be very helpful.

A possible Lock Expiry implementation could be...

Setup an inactivity timer on records that have been locked that starts to visibly count down the moment it no longer sees activity on the form.
Tabs with an active record lock would keep their locks alive by pinging the server,
If the tab goes to sleep or is closed then the record lock would start to expire,
Records with expired locks would refresh from the server loosing all changes.
The Lock Expiry setting would be managed as part of the session settings.

NOTE: Please vote on this Feature Request if you also encounter these issues.

Answered: Integrated Windows Authentication (Kerobos)

Mon, 26 Oct 2020 20:39:28 +0000

This would be a helpful feature addition.

A potential work-around is Active Directory Federated Services

NOTE: Please vote on this Feature Request and consider Funding it if this interests you.

Answered: Allow 1:1 details to be represented on the parent form

Fri, 16 Oct 2020 21:39:31 +0000

That is an interesting request and makes lots of sense.

NOTE: Please vote on this Feature Request if it interests you.

Answered: MySQL 1:1 Relationships showing up as 1:M

Fri, 16 Oct 2020 21:33:13 +0000

Currently dbFront recognizes 1:1 relationships when the PK (Primary Key) of the child table is joined to the PK on the parent table.

Answered: Have form auto-scroll with window

Wed, 14 Oct 2020 21:31:41 +0000

That is an interesting request and would be very workable.

NOTE: Please vote on this Feature Request if it interests you.

Answered: Implement FIPS validated cryptographic algorithms.

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 23:16:22 +0000

This feature is often required by Government and other High Security sites. This issue is definitely on our radar and some preliminary work has been done.

dbFront uses secure and compliant encryption algorithms as required but dbFront also uses non-compliant hashing algorithms to manage and track configuration changes, often in an effort to avoid exposing the underlying database structure.

We need to reimplement the encryption algorithms and deal with compatability issues between dbFront versions as users upgrade.

At the moment, a quick solution is to merge the following setting into the dbFrontService.exe.config file that is located in the folder [c:\program files (x86)\dbFront\]

<configuration>
  <runtime>    
    <enforceFIPSPolicy enabled="false"/>    
  </runtime>
</configuration>

This setting will disable the .Net FIPS compliance check and allow dbFront to use its current encryption methods.

NOTE: Please vote on, or fund, this Feature Request if you need FIPS compliance.

Answered: Field multi-selection with mouse ctrl key

Fri, 14 Aug 2020 13:44:59 +0000

Thank you for the suggestion. That is definitely something we will consider.

NOTE: Please vote on this Feature Request if it interests you.

Answered: RTF, Rich Text Format Fields

Fri, 14 Aug 2020 13:34:02 +0000

dbFront supports HTML formatted fields but it has no direct support for RTF fields.

One work-around is to convert the field type to VarBinary or Blob. dbFront treats VarBinary or Blob fields as attachments and allows users to download the contents for viewing. When combined with an RTF viewer browser extension, this allows users to view the RTF contents directly in their browser.

dbFront 1.1.0.1790 or better is required to enable the RTF file type.
Chrome: RTF Viewer Extension

NOTE: Please vote on this Feature Request if you want dbFront to include an integrated RTF viewer.

Answered: Show Advanced Search to admins, hide for everyone else

Wed, 12 Aug 2020 18:50:29 +0000

It is currently not possible to limit the Advanced Search to a specific group of people.

You can remove the Advanced Search for all users by simply unselecting all search fields.

NOTE: Please vote on this Feature Request if it interests you.

Answered: Show a (1 - M) view without an existing relationship

Tue, 11 Aug 2020 20:12:29 +0000

By design dbFront uses existing database structure to generate its UI. The expectation is that the DBA will have the required access to make the appropriate changes.

At the same time I fully understand your specific use-case and have encounter similar situations with ERP or Financial software packages.

At the moment the solution is to use a table alias or other means to make specific tables available in another schema where changes can be made. This is not ideal.

The proper solution would be to allow users like yourself to add the missing structure information.

NOTE: Please vote on this Feature Request if it interests you.

Answered: IFTTT Integration with dbFront

Fri, 19 Jun 2020 05:02:35 +0000

This suggestion is similar to the Zapier integration except that IFTTT does not have any built-in database integrations.

NOTE: Please vote on this Feature Request if it is important to you along with a comment describing a use-case.

Answered: Provide more space around the search box

Tue, 26 May 2020 22:47:52 +0000

There are two ways to add more space above the search box.

1) Add a description to your table in SQL Server. dbFront will see the description and display it just above the table. This is an aid to your users and it also pushes the table down a bit.

2) You can add some custom CSS as follows

#contentFull {
    margin-top: 32px;
}

Answered: Adding a specific Wizard Interface

Thu, 09 Apr 2020 16:31:58 +0000

Adding enhanced Wizard functionality to dbFront has long been on our todo list.

It is possible to create a data-entry Wizard in dbFront but it requires extra steps and is not as functional as desired.

The biggest missing item is support for child tables.

For instructions on creating a data-entry wizard see: How to create a Wizard for Data-Entry

NOTE: Please vote on this Feature Request if it interests you. Please also add comments indicating what specific wizard-like functionality you find is missing.