Administering Base Fields

When creating or modifying entities, table definitions often make use of similar fields. For example, any entity which stores address information includes fields to store ZIP Code, State, and phone number. These types of fields are most likely defined the same everywhere they appear.

In Aptify, base fields provide a method to create generic fields which are commonly used in multiple entities. Base field records define these generic fields by setting all the field characteristics and options. When defining new fields in an entity, the use of a base field defaults the new field to the characteristics of the generic field definition, providing a means for consistency across entities. Also, when you update a Base Fields record, all of the fields derived from that base field are also updated automatically.

Aptify provides a standard set of sample base fields that an organization can use as necessary. The sample base fields include the following:

• Typical address fields: Many of the address fields have multiple Base Fields records. Each of these records has a different set of default options, as described in the Base Field's Name field. For example, City-NoCategory-DefaultInView and City-NoCategory both define a City field but one has the DefaultInView option checked and the other does not.
• DateCreated: This non-updateable field stores the date on which a record was created.
• DateUpdated: This non-updateable field stores the date on which a record was last updated.
• WhoCreated: This non-updateable field stores the name of the user who created a record.

• WhoUpdated: This non-updateable field stores the name of the user who last updated a record.

  Since the DateCreated, DateUpdated, WhoCreated, WhoUpdated fields are non-updateable, they do not appear on system-generated forms. However, you can display these fields in a view. (Note that these Base Fields have the DefaultInView option cleared so they do not display in views by default.)

This topic covers the following sub-topics:

• Defining Base Fields
• Using Base Fields
• About Base Fields