How to Prompt a User for Their Name Once and Store It

The goal of this script is to:

• Prompt a user to enter their name the first time they run the application.
• Store the name in a persistent global variable.
• Display the name on an HTML page.

Steps #

We will name our global variable TheUserName.

Step 1: Write the Script #

Go to the Script Manager, double-click on UserMain, and paste this script into the OnPubLoaded function event:

function OnPubLoaded: Boolean;
var
  S: String;
begin
  // Check if the user was already prompted.
  // If the `TheUserName` global variable already has a value, do not prompt the user again.
  if GetGlobalVar("TheUserName", "") <> "" then exit;

  // Prompt the user.
  S := InputBox("Welcome!"#13#10"Please enter your name:", "What is your name?", "");

  // If the user does not provide a name, set it to "Mysterious User".
  if S = "" then
    S := "Mysterious User"
  else
  begin
    // Store the result only if the user has provided a name.
    // This way, they will be prompted again next time if they leave it blank.
    SetGlobalVar("TheUserName", S, True);
    // `True` means the global variable is persistent.
  end;

  // This event occurs when the application is starting, before the homepage is displayed.
  // Set `Result` to `True` to exit immediately without any warning.
  Result := False;
end;

Step 2: Display the Name in an HTML Page #

Use this JavaScript code:

document.write(window.external.GetGlobalVariable('TheUserName', ''));

Notes #

You can, of course, customize this example. Instead of using a dialog box, you could display an HTML page at startup.

Introduction to Scripting

Using the Script Manager

Script Function Reference