Understanding the Virtual Entity Data Requirements

The data that you want to display within Aptify as a virtual entity must meet the following requirements:

• Integer-type Primary Key Required: External data needs a unique integer-type field that can be aliased as an ID.
• External Data Not on Local Server Needs a Linked Server Relationship: If the external data is not physically stored on the local SQL server where Aptify is installed, then you need to create a Linked Server relationship.
• External Data Not on Local Server Must Map to a View in a Database on the Local Server: If the external data is not physically stored on the local SQL server where Aptify is installed, then you must also create a view in a local database that points to the virtual entity's data source.

Integer-type Primary Key Required

Data displayed in Aptify must have a unique integer-type field (int, smallint, bigint) that can be used as the ID value for the record. Aptify requires that primary keys use an integer type for ID values.

Note that the external data does NOT need to refer to the primary key as ID. The primary key can use any name, but when mapped into a virtual entity, Aptify automatically aliases the primary key field as ID, if ID is not already the field's name.

Note that this requirement is already met if mapping Aptify sub-type data to a virtual entity since sub-type entities already have an ID field.

External Data Not on Local Server Needs a Linked Server Relationship

A virtual entity can display external data that is not stored physically in the local SQL Server. However, to display this data in Aptify, the external data source must have a Linked Server relationship with the SQL Server that hosts Aptify.

Therefore, the external data must be in a format and location that is supported by SQL Server's Linked Server functionality. Examples of supported data sources include other SQL Server machines, OLE DB or ODBC data source as well as Jet/MS Access. Oracle, DB2, and other relational databases can be connected via OLE DB or ODBC.

See Creating a Linked Server Relationship for a Virtual Entity for more information about establishing this relationship.

External Data Not on Local Server Must Map to a View in a Database on the Local Server

A virtual entity in Aptify obtains data from a view that is stored in a database on the local SQL server, either in the APTIFY database or another local database. Therefore, if you are creating a virtual entity for external data that is not on the local server or if you creating a virtual entity of Aptify data (such as a sub-type entity), then you need to create a view in a local database from which Aptify can pull the virtual data.

Creating a virtual entity to retrieve data in this way requires first that a linked server relationship be in place. See Creating a Linked Server Relationship for a Virtual Entity for more information about establishing this relationship. With that relationship established, the view needs to be created in the local database, as described in Creating a View in a Local Database to Point to a Virtual Entity Data Source.