Contents of Table
What belongs to the table? What belongs to the form? A simple
enough question, with a simple enough answer!
You may have heard people advocate that you separate table from form design. But
what actually belongs solely to the table? Indeed, what is meant by a DataEase
table? (It's not the same as a SQL table...)
So here is that list, in two sections: the properties that belong to each field
or column, and the overall properties of the table itself.
Field Properties
The following table-only properties are all found on the field definition
dialog:
- field type
- length and format (date style, numeric string format, choice list, etc)
- required
- virtual
- prevent-entry (but click here)
- indexed (including fasttext)
- unique
- view and write security
- derivation and validation
- field help
The lookup option (unfortunately, in my opinion) can only be set at the table
level.
The following options on this part of the field definition dialog are form
properties. In particular, the visual control setting will be the default for
that type of control: editbox for everything except yes/no, which defaults to
check box, and choice, which defaults to list. Changing this at the table level
will not carried through to any forms that use the table, unless you happen to
base your new form on the original form.
- Object name
- Summarize
- Visual Control
(Ive yet to understand what the Tableview name option is about, other than to
tell you which table this field belongs to.)
The display and font dialogs that can be accessed via buttons on the field
definition screen including all those to do with table-view are form-only
settings, and nothing to do with the table.
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