Unpacking Entities

Unpacking entities imports packed entities to another Aptify system. Note that Aptify recommends backing up the destination server before starting the unpacking process.
Follow these steps to pack an entity:

1. Launch the Entity Unpacker from the Entities service.
   • The Install Entities... icon appears in the service toolbar or view toolbar for the Entities service.
   1. • Non-admin users cannot run the Install Entities wizard.
        
        
2. On the first page of the Aptify Install wizard, select APTIFY from the Select the Entity Definitions Database list. Click Next.
3. Select the appropriate database from the Select the Base Database for the Entities list. Typically, this is APTIFY. However, you can enter a custom database as necessary (depending on the design of your Aptify installation). Click Next.
4. Browse to the directory where the entity pack(s) are located. Click Next.
   
   
   
   
5. Select the entity or entities that you want to unpack, and then click Next.
   • Select the Un-Pack column for each entity that you want to unpack. Clear the option from any entity that you do not want to unpack.
   • By default, all entities in the selected folder are selected.
   • Click Check All to select all of the entities for packing.
   • Click Uncheck All to clear the check mark from all selected entities.
     
     
     
     
6. By default, the Aptify Install wizard determines if any of the existing entities match one of the entities you are attempting to unpack. If an entity already exists, the wizard updates the entity using the information in the entity pack. If you do not want to update an existing entity to the version in the entity pack, clear the Upgrade Existing Entities option.
   • Note that when Upgrade Existing Entities is selected, the Aptify Install wizard does not completely overwrite an existing entity; it compares the existing entity and the packed entity and does not overwrite typical client configurations made to the existing entity. For example, the wizard will add a new field to an entity but it will not change the Display Name of an existing field, even if the entity pack contains a different Display Name.
   1. • Specifically, the unpacking process will not modify the following data for fields in an existing entity: Description, DisplayName, DefaultValue, and SQLFieldSize.
        
        
        
        
7. Click Finish. A message is displayed when the entities have unpacked successfully.
   • The Aptify Install wizard unpacks the selected entities and all of the associated objects, form templates, and event handler data stored within the entity pack.
     
     
8. Confirm that the unpacked entities appear as records in the Entities service. Also, confirm that any associated form templates, event handlers, and process flows were successfully added to their respective services.

Note Concerning Updating Existing Entities When a Field's SQL Size or Type Has Been Modified

Aptify uses the following criteria when a field's type or SQL field size no longer matches the field for the existing entity on the destination server:

• If the SQL field size of the field in the packed entity is greater than the existing field's size, the existing field's size will be updated.
• If the SQL field size of the field in the packed entity is less than the existing field's size, the existing field's size will not be updated.
• The field type of the field in the existing entity will not be updated, only the size of the field. For example, if the field in the packed entity is of field type and size nchar(15) and the same field in the existing entity is of field type and size nvarchar(10), the field in the existing entity will be updated to nvarchar(15).
• If a field in the existing entity is deleted before unpacking an entity that includes the field, the deleted field will be added back to the existing entity.
• If a field in the packed entity does not exist in the existing entity, the unpacking process will add the field to the entity. The unpacking process will not modify the following data for fields in an existing entity: Description, Display Name, or Default Value.