Audit Trail and Scripting (fixing "(M-Files Server)" in the audit logs)

If you need to develop new scripts or edit existing, we recommend that you replace VBScript with Vault Application Framework (VAF) development for future compatibility. For more information see the Vault Application Framework section.

If a server-side script (e.g. event handler, or workflow state action) alters an object during the save process, it can affect the way in which the audit trail records and displays information.

The broken audit trail

This is most often seen as the user for each action being stored as “(M-Files Server)”, rather than the user which altered the object:

This audit trail was caused by the following code on the Execute code workflow state, and an automatic state transition back to Initial:

Option Explicit

' Create a property value for the comment.
Dim objCommentPropertyValue
Set objCommentPropertyValue = CreateObject("MFilesAPI.PropertyValue")
objCommentPropertyValue.PropertyDef = MFBuiltInPropertyDefComment
objCommentPropertyValue.Value.SetValue MFDatatypeMultiLineText, "hello"

' Update the object.
Vault.ObjectPropertyOperations.SetVersionComment ObjVer, objCommentPropertyValue

How to resolve

Using VBScript

To resolve this, the SetLastModificationInfoAdmin method can be called. This updates the last modification information (either the user, or the date, or both), overriding the change caused by the above code:

Option Explicit

' Create a property value for the comment.
Dim objCommentPropertyValue
Set objCommentPropertyValue = CreateObject("MFilesAPI.PropertyValue")
objCommentPropertyValue.PropertyDef = MFBuiltInPropertyDefComment
objCommentPropertyValue.Value.SetValue MFDatatypeMultiLineText, "hello"

' Update the object.
Vault.ObjectPropertyOperations.SetVersionComment ObjVer, objCommentPropertyValue

' Create a typed value for the "last modified by" value.
Dim objLastModifiedByTypedValue
Set objLastModifiedByTypedValue = CreateObject("MFilesAPI.TypedValue")
objLastModifiedByTypedValue.SetValue MFDatatypeLookup, CurrentUserID

' Update the last modification info.
Vault.ObjectPropertyOperations.SetLastModificationInfoAdmin ObjVer, True, objLastModifiedByTypedValue, False, Nothing

In the screenshot above, note that the “Execute code” state now has the correct user against it. The transition back to “Initial” is still executed by the M-Files Server, as this is an automatic state transition.

Helpers in the Vault Application Framework

The ObjVerEx helper object in the Vault Application Framework contains two helper methods: SetCreatedBy and SetModifiedBy. These helper methods can be used as shortcuts to the above approach when using the Vault Application Framework.