What you need is

Restrict edit time = ...

as written in the manual.

> Is there a way to disable editing of the textarea, but still allow editing 
> of other fields in the entry? (e.g. Fixed Attributes Edit = Text)

I could add that option, but I don't know if it helps you (see below).

> Also, is the data entered in that field accessible through a variable like 
> $author? I tried $text, but that doesn't seem to work.

No, that won't work. Attributes are limite to some 500 characters, while the
text body is limited to 250000 characters. If you add $text to an attribute, it
would overflow or you would have to truncate the text, which I guess is not
good in both cases.

If you still want "Fixed attributes edit = text", please explain me you exact
case and I will consider implementing it.

> > Is there a way to disable editing of the textarea, but still allow editing 
> > of other fields in the entry? (e.g. Fixed Attributes Edit = Text)

I added a flag

Fix text = 0|1

A division in "fix text edit/fix text reply" does not make sense here, since I only
can lock the whole textfield, therefor just the switch.

New version under CVS (see download page).

> > > Is there a way to disable editing of the textarea, but still allow editing 
> > > of other fields in the entry? (e.g. Fixed Attributes Edit = Text)
> 
> I added a flag
> 
> Fix text = 0|1
> 
> A division in "fix text edit/fix text reply" does not make sense here, since I only
> can lock the whole textfield, therefor just the switch.
> 
> New version under CVS (see download page).

Thanks Stefan. Again, my hat is off to you for a great app.

Todd

One possibility is to use the option "Restrict edit time = <hours>". This way
an entry can only be edited let's say 8 hours after it has been created.

Another way is to maintain two logbooks, a "scratch" logbook and an "archive"
logbook. Users would put their entries into the scratch logbook, the staff
would examine it and move them to the archive logbook, where all users only
have read access to. To move entries between logbooks, you have to put the
"Move to" command in the configuration file like:

Menu commands = Back, New, Edit, Delete, Reply, Find, Move to, Config, Help

With

allow <command> = <user list>

deny <command> = <user list>

you can prevent certain users to use certain commands (like delete a message). If you only allow admins to issue the "edit" command, that would in principle do it, but then normal users cannot edit their entries any more. Unfortunately this command cannot be restricted to certain attributes, like the thread "status". So I guess what you want is not exactly possible with the current implementation. 

 Thanks for the reply.  I was looking for a way to stop replies to a runaway thread.  Was wondering why the elog system has a "Locked by" attribute, but no way to set it.

That's a different meaning. The "Locked by" flag gets set when one user edits an entry. During the editing the entry gets "locked", which means that no one else can change it during that time. This should prevent one person to overwrite the edits of another if they are editing the same entry at the same time. Your "locking" means the locking of threads, which elog doe not "understand", it's just your definition of an attribute in your logbook.