Every attribute has a data type. The data type specifies what type of data will be stored in that field and how the attribute's value should be interpreted. An attribute's data type is established when EnterWorks is configured. Some data types have configurable characteristics. For example, if an attribute is declared as VARCHAR data type, the maximum length of the attribute's character string must also be specified.
When the editor displays an attribute value for the user to edit, the format it uses is defined by the attribute's data type, as is the format of the value the user will enter. For example, an attribute of the type DATE might display a calendar for the user to select from as well as a place for the user to type the date in directly, whereas an attribute of the type CURRENCY may display a value in the form of "$xxx.xx".
When a user edits a record and saves it, the editor will assign validation errors to any attribute values that do not match the attribute's data type, such as characters entered into decimal fields.
Code Sets
A code set is a special data type that consists of a list of predefined value pairs, "Code" and "Description", that contain all possible values for the attribute. When the attribute is displayed for editing by the user, the user will be presented with the list of paired values to choose from. If the Code and Description values are the same, only the Code will be displayed. If the Code and Description are different, they will be displayed as "<Code Value> -- <Description Value>".
|
Code |
Description |
|---|---|
|
ARG |
Argentina |
|
DEU |
Germany |
|
IND |
India |
|
USA |
USA |
The image below demonstrates how the user would select a value for a code set when using the Inline Editor.
Association Groups
An association group is a set of attributes that coordinate with each other, in that each attribute field consists of a list of values, where the first value in the list of one attribute relates to the first value in the list of the other attributes in the association group.
For example, the association group could have the attributes "Country", "Tariff", "Currency", and "Measurement". The attribute values for a record might be:
Country = Argentina | Germany | India | United States
Tariff = 0.02 | 0.04 | 0.06 | 0.08
Currency = peso | euro | rupee | dollar
Measurement = metric | metric | metric | USCS
Where for the Country "Argentina", the Tariff is "0.02", Currency is "peso", and the Measurement system is "metric".
Another way to visualize a record's associated attributes would to envision the record having a sub-table, such as shown below.
|
Country |
Tariff |
Currency |
Measurement |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Argentina |
2% |
peso |
metric |
|
Germany |
4% |
euro |
metric |
|
India |
6% |
rupee |
metric |
|
United States |
8% |
dollar |
USCS |
Any attribute that is going to be in an association group must be a repeating, or multi-value attribute. Association groups cannot contain multi-language attributes.
Association Groups are not specific to a Profile so they must have a unique name across all other Association Groups in the system. Association groups can be used by more than one profile.
Calculated Attribute
A calculated field is an attribute whose value is determined by the values of other attributes or system variables. For example, the value of the attribute "Area of Rug" might be calculated by multiplying the value of the attribute "Rug Length" by the value of the attribute "Rug Width".
A calculated field is not a special type of attribute. It is an attribute that a rule has been defined for that specifies the calculation to be performed to generate the value of the attribute.
The values of calculated fields are not determined until the record is saved, both in the case of a new record being added and when an existing record is being edited. If a user edits a value in a calculated field, depending upon system configuration it may be overwritten with the system-derived value when the record is saved.