Viewing audit histories

In SQL Server databases, you might be able to view the history of the changes made to records in the database provided your database is set up to use Audit History. How far back the history goes depends on how frequently your system administrator archives this data.

You can access the audit history of a record from:

Audit Viewer

To display the audit history of a record, double-click on an audit log entry with a Record Modified action.

iBase User

To view the history of a record:

  • From a list of records, right-click and select Show History.

  • With a record open directly (not using a datasheet), select History.

Analyst's Notebook

With an item selected on the chart surface, in the Data Sources task pane, select Show > History.

With the Audit History open, you can now filter the records that are displayed by user, entity and link type, and by time, or you can extend the selection to include other records of interest.

Note: In a database set to audit level 5, the number of times the records have been viewed, but not edited, is displayed in the Views column.

Selecting records of interest

To select further records of interest, click Select in the top right of the Audit History.

To display all records touched by a specific user:

  • In the Records to display area, select All records used by and select the user name from the list. The selected user name will be displayed as a reminder in the top left of the Audit History.

To filter by entity and link types:

  • In the Types to display area, turn off or on the entity or link type checkboxes of the entities and link types.

    Note: Only types with records in your selection are listed, and the records for a selected type are displayed only when the appropriate checkbox is turned on.

To filter by time:

  • In the Time period to display area, select a time period.

Changing what's shown in the edit history area

The entries in the edit history area can be displayed in a variety of ways:

  1. Make sure that by all users is selected in Show Edits.

  2. Turn on or off the following options:

    • Show Headers to hide or show the shaded line that displays either the date/time/user name or the field name. You cannot expand and collapse when this option is turned off.

    • Expand to show the complete history.

    • Collapse the complete history to just display the headers.

    • Audit groups the entries by the name of the user who worked on the record and when they were created, updated or deleted.

    • Field groups the entries by the data that has been added, updated or deleted. Click again to sort in ascending or descending order by date edited.

    • Edits displays a history of the changes to the record (only available if the database is set to audit level 5)

    • Views displays a history of who viewed the record and when (only available if the database is set to audit level 5)

In the edit history area, you can filter the edits to those made by a specific user --- filtering by user makes the other display options unavailable:

  • Select Show Edits > user_name The users on this list are selected by clicking Select in the top right of the Audit History dialog.

Copying the edit history

Click Copy to copy all the information shown in the History of edits area to the Windows clipboard.

Note: You cannot copy image and document fields.

Description of the columns in the history of edits area

The history of edits area shows information on the changes made to the selected record:

Information shown

Description

Field Name

The old and current values.

Edited by

The logon name of the user who made the change.

Date Edited

The date and time of the change.

Reason

If required by the database, the reason given by the user for making the change.

OS User

The Windows name of the user made the change.

Machine Name

The machine that the user was working on.

Location

The location as entered in the User Information dialog.

iBase Change

When this checkbox is turned off, the update was made outside iBase (and Audit Viewer may be unable to determine the machine name).

Extra Detail

You may see an additional Extra Detail column that displays additional information for the current record. (For information on how an administrator can set up the audit log to record extra detail, see Adding extra details for auditing)

Additional historical data

Additional data may be shown for each record. This may include:

  • the name of the icon if an alternate icon is assigned to the record

  • the icon color (which will be blank if the standard icon color is used)

  • the record status (applicable only if Soft Delete is used). The record status may be Soft Deleted, Normal (because the record has been soft deleted or restored), and Purged.

  • Security Classification, the old and new SC code (if this feature is used and if you have authority to view this information)

Some information might be displayed that you do not usually see, such as the date the record was created and the record ID.