About the Entities Form
The Entities form consists of many sections. The main section (the top panel of the Entity form) handles the identification, the database location, and the base view assignment of an entity.
Top Panel
Name (Required)
The name of the entity is required.
Display Name (Required)
The display name is the name that is displayed within the Aptify graphical user interface.
Display Culture String
If you want to localize this entity name on a user-by-user basis (based on a user's assigned Culture), specify a Culture Strings record in this field. See Using Localization Administration for details.
BaseDSN (Required)
The base DSN is used to access the database server components of the entity.
Base Database (Required)
The base database is the name of the SQL Server database that houses the entity.
Base Table (Required)
The base table is the name of the SQL Server table that stores entity records. To add, edit, or delete additional base tables, click the plus sign or check mark icon to the right of this field.
Base View
The base view is the default view used to view entity records. Note that for new entities, this field is a text box. It becomes a link box that links to a corresponding Database Objects record after you save the Entities record.
In Aptify, multiple base views can be created for an entity. See Using Multiple Base Views for more information.
Generate Table
This option indicates that the Aptify automatically generates the SQL table, views, and stored procedures upon the initial creation of an entity. This option greatly reduces the amount of manual work that must be done when creating or modifying entity field information. This option should be cleared for virtual entities.
Is Installed
Selecting this option specifies that the entity is considered installed and available for use to those who have sufficient permissions.
Is Virtual Entity
This option indicates that the entity is a virtual entity. See Using Virtual Entity Wizard for more information on virtual entities.
When the Virtual Entity wizard is used to create a virtual entity record, this option is automatically selected.
Applications Tab
The Applications tab determines under which Application headings the entity appears. In the following example, the Dashboards entity is a service under the Aptify Framework Administration application heading.
To add an entity to an application, select the option to the left of the application name. An entity can appear under more than one Application heading.
Note that this tab is not available for sub-types.
Attachments Tab
The Attachments tab lists any files relevant to the Entities record. The tab becomes available when the record is initially saved.
Configuration Tab
The Configuration tab handles most of the intricate technical details about an Aptify entity. From this area of the Entities service, an administrator can configure an entity's operating behavior, assign entity dependency, and assign entity-dependent Aptify wizards. The Configuration tab contains the following sub-tabs: Actions, Attributes, Filter Relations, Full Text Index Filters, General, Required Entities, and Required Objects.
Note that not all options on the Configuration tab are available for sub-types.
Actions Sub-Tab
The Actions sub-tab lists all associated Entity Actions sub-type records for the entity. An action corresponds to a wizard. See About the Entity Actions Form.
Attributes Sub-Tab
The Attributes sub-tab lists all Entity Attributes sub-type records for the entity. Administrators can use attributes to enable additional functionality in an entity. See About the Entity Attributes Form.
Filter Relationships Sub-Tab
The Filter Relationships sub-tab on the Configuration tab stores all associations between this entity and other entities that are set up for viewing purposes. These relationships allow a view on the current entity to be filtered using data in another entity. See About the Filter Relationships Form.
General Sub-Tab
The General sub-tab on the Configuration tab provides an interface for configuring entity behavior, such as whether Record History, Require Comments for each Save, and Recordset Query Limitation are enabled or disabled.
File Group
This field specifies the filegroup for the entity's base table. See Creating Multiple Filegroups for more information about using multiple file groups.
Text/Image File Group
This field specifies the filegroup in which the entity's large text and image are managed. If the entity contains a field or fields with the SQL Data Type of ncharvar(max), varchar(max), ntext, or text, this field is enabled and a filegroup can be selected to manage text and image fields. See Creating Multiple Filegroups for more information about using additional filegroups.
Default View Type
This field specifies the type of view that loads by default when creating new views in this entity. This setting does not prevent a user from selecting a different view type within the Create View dialog. The list of available View Types is based on the records in the View Types entity. With Aptify , there are six View Types available: List, Chart, Calendar, Pivot Table, Map, and Gantt. If this field is blank, the system uses the List view type as the default.
See Using the Viewing System for information on how to create views.
Default Preview Pane
This field links to the Form Template service and identifies the form template that appears as the preview pane for list views of this entity's records. See Specifying a Default List View Preview Pane for information on this feature.
Order By
If the entity is a sub-type entity, this field specifies the order in which records are sorted within a sub-type grid. Note that this field is not visible for top-level entities. See Defining the Sort Order for Sub-Type Listings for more details.
Track Versions
If this option is selected, record history for this entity's records is enabled. See Enabling and Disabling Record History for details.
Require Comments for Each Save
If this option is selected, users are required to enter comments for each record in this entity before allowing the record to be saved. See Requiring Comments on Save for details.
Enable Recordset Query Limitation
If this option is selected, Aptify limits the number of records that can appear in a view based on the user's permissions. See Managing the Recordset Query Limitation for details.
Allow Record History Restore
If this option is selected, users are allowed to restore previous versions of a record. Note that the Allow Record History Restore option is not applicable when the Track Versions option is clear. See Enabling and Disabling Record History for details.
Enable Viewer
This functionality is not currently implemented. If this option is selected, the viewer form is displayed to the user.
Include in Setup Checklist
This option indicates that the current entity is to be included for build installations and is used for Aptify internal build development only.
Enable Most Recently Used
When selected, this entity's records can appear in the Most Recently Used record list within a dashboard. See Configuring the Most Recently Used Records Component for information on the Most Recently Used feature.
Customize Required Field Font Name and Color
When selected, additional fields displ