Re: Getting User details after environment mods by administrator

Rick, I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "the user names that environment creates for new sessions". Is the "Setup File" from which I quoted originally, which has the line "USERNAME=XXXXX" creating the new sessions according to your definition? If this is so, isn't this a sure fire way for companies to overcome the developer's attempts to check how many users are working with their software? The company feeds any number of its users in, gives them a single generic user name via a Setup File, and the developer thinks there is just a single user working with it. I'm looking for some environment variable that is carried over from the original user logging into their system that will identify them.

A bit more background to this company's operation: their users log on to the company's 2003 Terminal Server running Citrix MetaframeXP. This Server is located in a local workgroup with no active directory services. Their users are logging into the system as anonymous or local named users with no active directory services accounts and credentials and do not require passwords to logon. They are provided with any necessary data via Citrix ICA files automatically to logon, such as username and password if required. Then they use my software in an environment with constant Sys(0).

But isn't it possible that the user names that environment creates for new sessions is indeed XXXX? It may not be a static name but a generic username that doesn't have a bunch of rights so as to sandbox the install.

I just can't see a reason why GetUserName() in Windows would return anything but the actual user name that is logged on.

+++ Rick ---

Hi Rick

That's a very interesting response. In fact the company concerned is a large international one, large enough for the left hand not to know what the right hand is doing. The legal side of the company suddenly got very jumpy when I suggested they had many users accessing my app and asked if they could get a license for unlimited user access, and told IT to reveal all. I presumed the process was common knowledge, using the "setup file" from which I quoted, but maybe I'm mistaken. I can say for sure that the end result is that a poll of Sys(0) and GetUserName from the Windows api returns only the XXXXX. Other details are that their users are logging on using Citrix ICA files automatically and every user source installed on their server is configured for seamless sessions. Their users cannot launch applications manually and the Citrix solutions calls my application automatically depending on the ICA file the user is opening. It is routed through the setup file that assigns the XXXXX username, amongst other parameters.

Does this mean that I am stymied on this one?

Thanks for your help,
Andrew Hall

Hi Andrew,

Hmmm... Sys(0) or Win32 GetUsername should always return the actual username that Windows sees - if you're seeing XXXX there then I think the username is in fact that? These APIs are at the core of Windows and if they return that value then that's what Windows thinks the user is.

+++ Rick ---

I have an application in VFP that users install on a computer that may be part of a workgroup or domain. When the app is run I need to get the User Name to check if they are a licensed user. I have been doing this using Sys(0) or the Getusername function.

I recently disocvered that a company has installed the app in a Workgroup running Citrix MetaframeXP in a localised directory with my company name and a setup file that includes the lines

SESSIONNAME=XXX-Tcp#114
USERNAME=XXXXX
USERPROFILE=(app directory)

consequently calls to Sys(0) or the Getusername function return the constant value (workgroup name) # XXXXX.

Is there any user ID that cannot be changed by such a setup file that would identify individual users logging into a server set up this way, or a function that could retrieve such information?

Thanks and regards,

Andrew Hall

---