About process defaults

Process defaults are settings that system administrators can make to control various aspects of how the system responds to user commands and actions. In some cases, process defaults are used to supply default data values, such as what server is used for objects metadata, for processes that require input data.

Process defaults are global settings; that is, they operate whenever and wherever in the system that the condition for their operation exists. This means, among other things that a process default setting applies to all sites in a database.

Many process defaults act as on/off switches, either enabling or disabling certain system features or behaviors. These process defaults typically use the numbers 1 and 0 to enable or disable the process. One of the possible values is always considered the default value, which means that it represents system operations without the process default being set. Generally, if you want to use the default value, there is no need to set it on the Process Defaults form. Use the Process Defaults form only to set the process default to a non-default behavior.

The Process Default Names form can be used to view the complete list of process defaults available on the system, including those that are not currently active. This form is also used to set validation value types for process defaults; that is, to define what kinds of values can be used for each process default.

Note: Without validation values, it is possible for administrators to inadvertently use invalid values when activating process defaults on the Process Defaults form. Among other things, validation values are useful in preventing login failures in cases where an invalid value has been set to activate a process default on the system.

The Process Defaults form is used to actually activate process defaults and set their values (normally to a valid non-default value). You can also use this form to determine what process defaults are currently active on the system.