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1. Open a new Fields record in the entity.
   
   
2. Enter a name in the Name field.
   • Aptify creates a column in the database table with the specified name. Therefore, a field's Name cannot contain spaces or dashes.
   • Two fields within the same Entity cannot have the same field Name.
     
     
3. The Display Name field populates automatically when you click off of the Name field. Modify this value as necessary.
   • The system uses the Display Name as the label for the field on a generated form. In other words, this is the name that users will see.
   • The Description field on the Info tab also populates automatically with the value you specified in the Name field.
     
     
4. Assign the field to one of the entity's tables, by selecting a table from the Base Table drop-down list.
   
   • If you only have one table, then that table appears in the Base Table field and the field is grayed out.
   • See Creating Multiple Base Tables for  for information on setting up multiple base tables.

   

5. If you are using localization, specify the culture string that corresponds to this field's name in the Display Culture String field. This field is optional; see 14947189008 Localization in the Admin Guide for more information.
   
   
6. Configure the Linked Entity and Linked Entity Field fields, if necessary.
   • If you are creating a Link Box or Data Combo Drop-down List, you can specify link information in the Linked Entity and Linked Entity Field fields. Also, set Link Type to Standard.
   • If you are creating an Embedded field, specify link information in the Linked Entity and Linked Entity Field fields and set Link Type to Embedded. See Creating Embedded Objects for  for details.
     
     
7. Configure the Field's General tab. See General Tab for field information.
   • If a Base Field exists for the field you are creating, select the Base Field from the drop-down list. See Using Base Fields for  for more information.
   • Configure the field's SQL Server settings, including SQLData Type, SQLField Size, and Allow Null. See About the Supported SQL Data Types for  for information on the supported data types.
     
     
8. If you are creating a Standard Combo Drop-down List or Data Combo Drop-down List, configure the Field's Values tab. Refer to these two field types or Values Tab for more information.
   
   
9. Configure the Field's Options. See Options Tab for more information.
   • To create a virtual field (such as a joined, calculated, or computed virtual field), clear the In Table option to display the Virtual Field tab. See Joined Virtual Field, Calculated and Computed Virtual Fields , and in Virtual Field Tab for more information.
   • Note that a non-updateable field (that is, a field with the Updateable option unchecked), will not appear on a form that is automatically generated by the - system.
   • If you select the Is Name Field option specify that the field is the entity's Name field, the system automatically clears the from the Allow Null option on the General tab and selects the Is Required option on the Validation tab.
     
     
10. Configure the Field's Validation options. See Validation Tab for more information.
11. Configure the Field's Security options. See Security Tab for more information.
12. Configure the Field's Info options. See Info Tab for more information.
13. Click OK to save and close the Fields record.

Supported SQL Data Types

Aptify supports the following SQL data types:

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SQL Data Types

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Description

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A field of this data type can store an integer value from -2^63 (-9223372036854775808) through 2^63-1 (9223372036854775807). The SQL Field Size for a field of this type is 8 bytes.

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A char field stores character strings consisting of letters, numbers or symbols. Char fields are fixed width and do not support the unicode character set. Char fields support a single character set that is specified during SQL Server setup. The maximum field size for a char field is 8000 characters (or 8000 bytes, 1 byte per character). However, since this is a fixed width field type, you should configure the field to use the smallest field size necessary given the type of information you intend to store in this field. Compare this data type with nchar and varchar. For fields that require more characters, use nvarchar(max) or varchar(max).

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An nchar field stores unicode character strings consisting of letters, numbers or symbols. Nchar fields are fixed width and can support a maximum of 4000 characters. (Unicode characters require 2 bytes per character.) However, since this is a fixed width field type, you should configure the field to use the smallest field size necessary given the type of information you intend to store in this field. Compare this data type with char and nvarchar. For fields that require more characters, use nvarchar(max) or varchar(max). 

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An ntext field stores large unicode character strings. Prior to SQL Server 2005, this data type was typically used for fields that required more than 4000 unicode characters or if a table needed to store multiple large fields. Beginning with SQL Server 2005, Microsoft has introduced nvarchar(max), which eliminates the need to use ntext fields (Microsoft has indicated that ntext will be removed from a future release of Microsoft SQL Server). See the Microsoft SQL Server Books Online for more information.

While Aptify continues to support ntext for backwards compatibility, all of the large fields in Aptify 4.x and 5.x use either nvarchar(max) or varchar(max). For existing entities, you should migrate all ntext fields to nvarchar(max) whenever feasible, and for all new entities, you should use nvarchar(max) rather than ntext.

Note that SQL Server and Aptify do not support sorting view results by an ntext field, so ntext fields do not appear in the Sort by drop-down list on a view's Sorting tab. Also, a user cannot filter records based on an ntext field. Therefore, ntext fields do not appear in the Field drop-down list when creating view filters or using the Find dialog.

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An nvarchar field stores unicode character strings consisting of letters, numbers or symbols. The actual size of an nvarchar field varies depending on the amount of data entered in the field. The SQL Field Size you specify sets the maximum number of characters that can be entered for a field of this type. In any case, an nvarchar field cannot exceed 4000 characters (unicode characters require 2 bytes per character). Compare this data type with nchar and varchar. For fields that require more characters, use nvarchar(max) or varchar(max). Note that nvarchar is the default SQL Data Type when you open a new Fields record.

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A field of this type stores a valid date and time combination. A smalldatetime field requires 4 bytes and supports a date range from 1/1/1900 to 6/6/2079. 

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A text field stores large character strings. Prior to SQL Server 2005, this data type was typically used for fields that required more than 8000 characters or if a table needed to store multiple large fields. Beginning with SQL Server 2005, Microsoft has introduced varchar(max), which eliminates the need to use text fields (Microsoft has indicated that text will be removed from a future release of Microsoft SQL Server). See the Microsoft SQL Server Books Online for more information.

While Aptify continues to support text for backwards compatibility, all of the large fields in Aptify 4.x and 5.x use either nvarchar(max) or varchar(max). For existing entities, you should migrate all text fields to varchar(max) whenever feasible, and for all new entities, you should use varchar(max) rather than text.

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A sample GUID is shown in the figure below.

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When adding a uniqueidentifier field to an Entities record, an administrator can enter NEWID as the field's Default Value . With this default value, Aptify automatically generates a GUID and populates this field for any record that does not already have a GUID.

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Unless a GUID has been automatically generated (by setting the field's Default Value to NEWID), a user must specify one of the following values for a uniqueidentifier field when creating a record:

• Blank: When a unique identifier field is left blank, Aptify automatically stores a Null value in the database for that field (assuming that the field is not required).
• A valid GUID: Any non-blank value specified by the user must be a GUID in the appropriate hexadecimal format. Note that you can optionally use brackets ({ }) to enclose the GUI (for example, {C31A15DA-D5BA-4560-8A36-D11CA601EFE1}).

See Microsoft SQL Server Books Online for more information on the -uniqueindentifier data type and the NEWID function.

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A varbinary(max) field is a special case of the varbinary data type that stores a large amount of binary digits. See the Microsoft SQL Server Books Online for more information on this data type.

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A varchar field stores character strings consisting of letters, numbers or symbols. The actual size of a varchar field varies depending on the amount of data entered in the field. The SQL Field Size you specify sets the maximum possible size of the field. Varchar fields support a single character set that is specified during SQL Server setup; they do not support the unicode character set. The maximum field size for a varchar field is 8000 characters (or 8000 bytes, 1 byte per character). Compare this data type with char and nvarchar. For fields that require more characters, use varchar(max).

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