ARCHIBUS Fields table

Purpose

Stores the name of the table to which the fields belong. .

Stores the name of the fields in the tables as they appear within the ARCHIBUS database server. .

Specifies the maximum data storage width of the data in fields used for Char and Numeric field types; all other field types have a fixed storage size.

The program also uses this value for:

• Formatting all numeric fields.
• Determining the initial width of character fields.
• Specifying the maximum number of characters in a memo field.

Specifies the number of decimal places. Numeric fields use this to determine the data storage size of the field. While other numeric types have a fixed data storage size, they still use this value to determine how to format numeric values for display.

Indicates whether the program should allow Null values in the field. Select "Yes" for any data that must always be entered, such as the "Interior" versus "Exterior" distinction for gross areas.

Specifies whether the field is part of the primary key for the table. Enter non-zero if the field is part of the primary key, and a number to indicate which part of the key.

Changing the PKey fields for an existing table is not typical nor should be done lightly. You should only change PKey fields to be existing fields that already have unique data in them.

Presents the name of the table in which to find a valid value. For example, to validate the bl_id field, you must specify the Buildings table (bl) as the validating table.

Specifies the foreign key fields within the table you are currently defining into a single part or multipart key. It is this key that will be validated against the primary key of the validating table. If omitted, the program uses the fields in the current table whose field names match the field names of the primary key fields of the validating table.

Presents the multi-line heading used in table-format edit forms and reports.

Associates a domain with the field. If more than one domain uses the field, complete with "All." Note that it is not necessary that the domain specified for the field match the domain associated with the owning table. Sometimes a table is primarily associated with one domain but some fields are used by others. Restrict on this field if you need to locate all the fields used by a particular domain.

You use the following types to specify the field's special use in ARCHIBUS. For information on this field and data types, see ARCHIBUS AfmType vs Database Data Types.

• None Indicates no special use in ARCHIBUS
• Block Fields of this type are found in standards tables and hold the block for representing items of each standard. The Drawing Block field of the Equipment Standards table is an example.
• Currency: Fields of this type store the specific Currency value used for monetary amounts. This field is required if you have a field or fields in the same table that store amounts in the Payment Currency. The typical convention is to have two fields with the afm_flds.afm_type='Currency' per table containing costs, one designating currency_budget and one designating currency_payment.
• Dwgname Fields of this type are found in asset tables and store the name of the drawing holding the record's linked asset symbol. Fields of this type usually have the title, Drawing Name.
• Ehandle Fields of this type hold are found in asset tables the entity handle of the record's linked asset symbol.
• Std Fields of this type hold the key of the standards table. For example, the Room Standards field of the Rooms table is of this type.
• Layr Fields of this type are found in asset tables and display the drawing-driven name of the layer on which the record's asset symbol resides. Such fields are typically named, Drawing Layer.
• Area Fields of this type are found in asset tables and hold the drawing-driven area of polyline asset symbols.
• Len Fields of this type are found in asset tables and hold the drawing-driven length of polyline asset symbols. The Cable Length field of the Cables table is an example.
• Desc Fields of this type are used as the descriptive fields in the Select Values dialog, and are also displayed in legends generated with the Overlay's Highlight by Owner dialog box.
• StdArea Fields of this type are found in standards tables and hold the area to be used for parametric insertion.
• XDim Fields of this type hold the X scale factor for parametric insertion. For example, the Standard Length field of the Room Standards table is of this type.
• YDim Fields of this type hold the Y scale factor for parametric insertion. For example, the Standard Width field of the Room Standards table is of this type.
• ZDim Fields of this type hold the Z scale factor for parametric insertion. For example, the Standard Height field of the Equipment Standards table is of this type.
• HPattern In ARCHIBUS Client/Server versions prior to V16, fields of this type hold highlight patterns that the ARCHIBUS Drawing Editor (available with versions prior to v16) used to hatch or solid fill sets of asset symbols. Beginning with v16, views no longer display this field. When creating new fields, do not set to this type; instead, use HPattern Acad field.
• HPattern Acad Fields of this type hold AutoCAD highlight patterns that the ARCHIBUS Client/Server Overlay and DWG Editor use to hatch or solid fill sets of asset symbols.
• HPattern Acad Ext -- Fields of this type hold AutoCAD highlight patterns that the ARCHIBUS Smart Client AutoCAD Extension and DWG Editor use to hatch or solid fill sets of asset symbols.
• Graphic Fields of this type hold a DWG, PCX, TIF, BMP, or JPG file or document fields to be displayed using the Client/Server Show Document command.
• Document Fields of this typehold named links of documents that can be associated with the record, such as a lease agreement document associated with a lease record. The document can be checked in, checked out, archived, and so forth using the ARCHIBUS document management system. After setting a field type of Document, you can complete the Field Attributes field to control how the document field works.
  
  Note that you should not use this type for a primary key field because the Document Management check-in feature requires a record to already exist in the database before a document can be checked in. If the document field is the primary key,  then the record can not be created until the doc is checked in
• Doc Stg -- This  type, Document Storage, is only for tables that ARCHIBUS, Inc. has specifically defined to be used for storing BLOB (binary large object) data. This field type can only be used for the Contents field of the ARCHIBUS Documents Versions table and the ARCHIBUS Document Versions Archives table (the afm_docvers.file_contents and afm_docversarch.file_contents fields). This type should not be used by those customizing the database.
• Questionnaire -- Fields of this type hold questionnaire responses from users. For example,the Questionnaire field in the Activity Projects table (activtiy_log.act_quest) is of this type and holds the user's response to a questionnaire.
• Barcode Identifies the field as holding a bar code label value. If the view is set to show bar codes, the program displays fields of this type using a bar code font.
• Calc-Bar Code Same as Barcode above, except that users cannot edit the field.
• Calc Identifies the field as holding a calculated result, as from a field formula or operation. You cannot edit fields of this type.
• Tc Level For Client/Server, identifies the field as holding a telecom hierarchy level. The Client/Server Telecom domain's Trace function examines fields of this type to determine how to trace the paths of voice and network communication and connect telecom devices. Fields of this type are found in telecom inventory and standards tables and typically have the field titles: Std Hierarchy Level and Hierarchy Level.
• Tc Container  For Client/Server, identifies a field as holding the key of a container element. For instance, the Faceplate Code field in the Jacks table has an ARCHIBUS type of Tc Container. The Trace function uses this information when tracing the paths of voice and data communication.
• Tc Multiplexing For Client/Server, identifies the field as holding a multiplexing status. Fields of this type are found in telecom standards tables and telecom inventory tables and typically have the field titles: Is Multiplexing? or Std is Multiplexing? Fields with this ARCHIBUS type are used by the Trace function.
• Tc Contained Tables For Client/Server, fields with this ARCHIBUS type are found in telecom standards tables, such as the Patch Panel Standards and Network Device Standards tables. This ARCHIBUS type identifies a field as specifying the tables that devices of each standard can contain. Fields with this ARCHIBUS type typically have the field title, Telecom Contained Tables. In addition to telecom standards tables, the Employee Standards and Room Standards tables include fields of this ARCHIBUS type.
• Tc nPositions For ARCHIBUS Client/Server, fields with this ARCHIBUS type are found in telecom standards tables, such as the Patch Panel Standards and Network Device Standards tables. This ARCHIBUS type identifies a field as specifying the maximum number of positions that devices of each standard can contain. Fields with this ARCHIBUS type typically have the field title, Number of Contained Positions.
• Tc Ca Std Max Length/Layer/Width/Color
  These ARCHIBUS types identify fields as holding information required by the Client/Server Overlay's Cable command. With the default schema, only fields in the Cable Standards table have ARCHIBUS types of these values.
• Hierarchical/ Hierarchical Concat/Hierarchical Trace -- These types of fields are used to establish hierarchical relationships using a Hierarchical Validating Table.

Provides general comments or notes about the fields.

Presents the heading used in record-format edit forms, record-format reports, and in displaying the field title in list boxes with field names (e.g. the Select Fields dialog). If omitted, the multi-line heading is used for these purposes.

For the Single-Line Heading field, the program adds ":" to the end of the field if it does not end in "?". For example, "Dept. Area" appears as "Dept. Area:" while "Is Open?" appears as "Is Open?".

If you leave the Single-Line Heading field blank, the program obtains a value from the multi-line heading whenever it needs a single-line heading. Generally, you only need to specify a single-line heading when you want to use an abbreviation.

Each field you create is of a particular data type as understood by the SQL server program and ARCHIBUS. The possible data types are:

• Char A fixed width character data, often used for the "Code" fields. See also "Size."
• Integer A signed integer, often used for counts and primary key fields of auto-numbered tables.
• Smallint A signed small integer, often used to store enumeration value selections.
• Numeric An exact precision decimal number with "Size" total digits and "Decimals" number of digits after the decimal points.
• Real A single-precision floating point value.
• Double or Float A double-precision floating point value.
• Date A calendar date having a year, month, and date (ranging from the year 0001 to the year 9999).
• Time A time of day with hour, minute, second, and fractional seconds.
• Varchar A variable character field, often used for Description, Name, and Memo fields. (The program can map this to different data types of the server, depending on the maximum size of the field. Under some servers, shorter fields will map to Varchar, longer fields to Long Varchar.)
• LongVarchar A variable character field used for long memo text.

Specifies a security group to which a user must belong in order to see the field in a view.

Specifies a security group to which a user must belong in order to edit the field.

Refines the Char type to dictate what type of characters you can enter in the field.

• AnyChar Any character in any case.
• Upper Any character in uppercase for code fields. See also Case-Sensitivity in ARCHIBUS
  

• UpperAlpha Alpha characters in uppercase for code fields.
• UpperAlphaNum Alphanumeric characters in uppercase for code fields.
• Numbers Means only numbers.
• MultiLine Indicates a comment field, which is edited in-place in the grid and formatted in the same group band as the rest of the record data within report.
• Mask Indicates a Masked field. If you choose this option, you must specify an Edit Mask, described below. If you do not specify an Edit Mask, the field will function as if it is of type AnyChar.
• Memo Indicates a memo field, which is edited in a pop-up Memo Editor in the grid and often formatted in its own group band within reports.

Defines a format for editing strings, such as "NNN-NNN-NNNN" for phone numbers. Used only if the String Format is "Mask."

Edit masks can be composed of a series of numbers and letters, or mixes of letters and numbers, separated by non-numeric separators, such as hyphens, semi-colons, and parentheses. "(999)999-9999" and "AA-NN" and "(aaa)999-bbb" are all valid edit masks.

Specifies the smallest possible value, used only for DATE, TIME, FLOAT, and INT data types. Enter "CURRENT" for date and time if you want to use the system's date and time. You must specify dates in ISO CCYY-MM-DD format and times in ISO HH:MM:SS format.

Specifies the largest possible value, used only for DATE, TIME, FLOAT, and INT data types. Enter "CURRENT" for date and time if you want to use the system's date and time.

Specifies the default value to enter in the field when starting a new record. Fields with default values receive an initial value even if they do not appear in the grid or are not normally updated by the drawing. Enter "CURRENT" for date and time if you want to use the system's date and time. Use "AUTOINCREMENT" to define a single part primary key field for auto-numbered tables.

Specifies the format for the Numeric type of data.

• Default Displays the number in the default format.
• BudgetCurrency Specifies the number should be displayed in the currency form using the Budget Currency.
• NoSeparator  For auto-numbered fields like Work Request Number (wr_id), displays the number without punctuation, such as omitting the comma in 10,000.
• Area Specifies that the number should be displayed as area.
• Length Specifies the number should be displayed as length.
• PaymentCurrency Specifies the number should be displayed in the currency form using the Payment Currency.

Provides a restricted list of values to indicate that an Integer or Char field is a list box. The field holds pairs of data values and display values, separated with a ";".

The data value is the actual value stored in the table, a unique abbreviation within the list. The data value can be Integer or Char depending on the "Data Type" of the field.

The display values are the values shown to the user in pick lists and the values with which users complete the field. The order in which the field lists the possible values is the order in which they appear to users.

If you set a field to ARCHIBUS Type "document", use this field to control if the field supports multiple versions of a document, the maximum size of documents, how locks are cleared, and so forth. This field holds XML. For information, see How to Add a Document Field.

This is not currently implemented in  ARCHIBUS. It may be used in future releases.

Specifies whether to display the field data as asset text with any asset symbols connected to this table. If the field value is non-zero, the specified number determines the order in which drawings display the fields as asset text.

When set to No, permits a field to not be validated, yet still present the Select Values dialog. This is known as pick-list style validation. For example, if a Contact field has this value set to No, the user can select a value from the validating Employees table using the Select Values dialog. However, they can also type in any name in the field,  even if it does not exist in the Employees table.

For Client/Server, dictates whether the field should appear on dialogs and reports that trace voice and data communication, and the order in which fields describing the same device should be listed. A value of 0 means that the field should not appear on trace results; a non-zero value tells the program to include the field. If you want the trace results to include a device's primary key along with supplementary information describing the device, you can set the device's primary key field to 1 and assign each supplementary field a number that indicates it position on detailed traces. For example, set Cable Code to 1 and Cable Standard Code to 2 to have the Cable Standard value follow the Cable Code value on a detailed trace.