Refreshing a design

Use the Refresh Design command to distribute design changes manually from a template to any databases linked to it. Manually refresh the design of a database when:

• The database is stored locally; therefore, the nightly Designer server task doesn't update the design.
• You want to receive design updates before the scheduled update.
• You don't have Designer access to the database.

The following are not changed during an automatic or manual refresh procedure:

• The database icon (unless you enabled "Allow design refresh or replace to modify the database icon" in Icon Properties)

• The database title and category
• The database ACL and encrypt database settings

  Note that the ACL roles are updated (File - Application - Access Control - Roles).

• The "Using Database" and "About Database" documents (unless you have disabled the "Prohibit design refresh or replace to modify" box in the Design Properties box)
• Individual elements whose design is protected from updates (that is, if "Prohibit design refresh or replace to modify" is selected in the Design Properties box for the element)
• A component whose template, specified in the "Inherit from the design template" box in the Design Properties box, is unavailable

• The "List as advanced template in 'New Database' dialog" option on the Design tab of the File - Database Properties box
• All options on the Advanced tab of the File - Database Properties box, except "Document table bitmap optimization" and "Don't support specialized response hierarchy"

The following components are changed during an automatic or manual refresh procedure if the design element changes in the template:

• Forms, fields, form actions, and event scripts
• Views, folders, and view actions
• Agents
• Pages
• Framesets
• Navigators
• Shared fields
• All Database Properties box options, except "List as advanced template in 'New Database' dialog" on the Design tab
• The options "Document table bitmap optimization" and "Don't support specialized response hierarchy" on the Advanced tab of the File - Database Properties box

To set whether a particular design element is subject to design refresh, do not open the design element for editing. Instead, select the design element in the Designer navigator, and look at the Properties view, Design tab.

If "Prohibit design refresh or replace to modify" is checked, the design element will not be affected when you replace or refresh the design.

If working in a template, you might (rarely) also want to check "Propagate this prohibition of design change." This makes the design element in another database, which you refresh from this template, have the "Prohibit" flag checked. This design element is inherited only once, during the initial creation or on the first design refresh/replace after this option is added. This is appropriate for design elements that you expect people to customize in the inheriting database; for instance, it might be a view whose selection formula is customized by the database manager using a configuration UI.