This is a way to allow system users and operators to log events manually. A button, available by security level on all screens, will open a windowed, on-top, popup screen. The reason for choosing a popup is the availability of scripting and making use of built-in functionality. IWS allows actions to be performed when the screen is first opened, continuously while a screen is open, and when a screen is closed. When the popup screen is opened a script checks for the existence of the logfile. If the logfile exists it's opened for appending. Otherwise the logfile is created in a specific location and a heading with date and time is written to the file. While the popup is opened there is a text box for entering comments using a popup keypad into a string tag. When the operator presses enter, current date and time is appended to the comment before it is written to the file. Additionally the operator tag could be written to the file as well. To open and display the text file a one column grid object is used on the screen. The grid object allows for printing of the logfile as well as creation of a pdf of the logfile. A button can be added to view the pdf but not the text file. If the operator doesn't add a comment the string tag is set to nothing so a blank line is not added to the file. There is a button to close the popup. The button displays 'close' if nothing was written to the logfile. The button displays 'save comment and close' otherwise. When the screen is closed the logfile is closed and variable housekeeping done. WIth more coding the logfiles could be converted to pdf on a monthly basis and the text version deleted or moved to an archive location. The procedure used did not allow anyone to get access or change the logfile.
