General Settings

Object Class

The Object Class the property is contained in.

Display Name

The display name for the property.

Type

A property can be defined as a Data or a Function property. Values for properties of type Data are stored in the database in the table column specified as RDBMS Column Name if data binding is One-Way Bound or Two-Way Bound, or in memory if data binding is Unbound. Values for properties of type Function are calculated using a formula or a RDBMS expression. The value for a function property is recalculated whenever data are read or modified.

Data Type

Defines the kind of data the property can hold. For example integer or character. The following data types are supported:

Character or String
Float
16-bit Integer
32-bit Integer
64-bit Integer
Date
Date and Time
Time
Binary Fixed
Binary Variable
Binary Large Object
Textual Large Object

For more information, see Mapping of Property Data Types and RDBMS Data Types.

For Character or String or Textual Large Objects some characters are illegal. See Character String Requirements for more information.

Data Size

Applies to properties with data type Character or String and binary data types.

The data size for binary data types is the maximum number of bytes that can be used to store the data. The data size for a character or string is the maximum number of characters the property can hold. Data size is required if the data type for the property is Character or String or Binary Fixed.

Significant Decimals

Applies to properties with data type Float.

The number of decimals used when comparing floating-point data during concurrency control. Concurrency control is performed when data for an object is updated, to avoid that one user overwrites another user's changes.

Data Interpretation

Defines how to interpret data of a given type. For example, string data can be interpreted as an e-mail address or an Internet URL. Most data types have a default interpretation, that is, data are interpreted based on the data type itself.

Data can be interpreted as a simple type, a complex type or a complex association.

Simple types represents a single piece of information, such as a number or a text. For more information, see the article Simple Data Interpretations for a Property.
A complex type represents an Object Class in your Directory. For example, a numeric property containing the employee id for the manager of a project, should be interpreted as an employee. In the context of relational databases, this represents a foreign key, which is a referential constraint between two tables. Note that only Object Classes which has a primary key which comprises a single property can be used for complex interpretation. In addition, only Object Classes which has a primary key with the same data type and size as the property are available as complex interpretations. A special case exists for the property which represent the primary key for an Object Class. Data interpretation for this property has to be defined as the Object Class itself.
Complex association is used when the property can represent any Object Class within a predefined set of Object Classes. A common use of complex association is an Object Class containing a single outbound reference to a varying number of Object Classes. For example, an Object Class which represents a document can be attached to an employee, a customer, a project or an activity. For more information, see the article Complex Association Data Interpretation for a Property.

Data Encoding

Applies to properties with a binary data type.

Determines how to encode binary data. Supported binary to text encoding schemes are Base64.

Thumbnail Pixel Width

Represents the width in pixels the thumbnail image is resized to, if it is wider. Only applicable for properties with data interpretation as thumbnail data file

Thumbnail Pixel Height

Represents the height in pixels the thumbnail image is resized to, if it is higher. Only applicable for properties with data interpretation as thumbnail data file.

Provider Name

For properties of type Data, with data binding One-Way Bound or Two-Way Bound, the value is required and specifies the name of the column in the table or view where data for the Object Class Property is stored.

For other properties a value is not required, and is only used in certain situations, like when using name binding to/from JSON or XML. For example when using the Import Data effect.

Outbound Reference Constraint

Applies to properties with a complex data interpretation.

An outbound reference constraint is used to establish and enforce a link between data in two Object Classes. The constraint is linked to the primary key in the referenced Object Class. Although the main purpose of an outbound reference constraint is to control the data that can be stored in an Object Class, it also controls changes to data in the referenced Object Class. For example if an object is deleted in the referenced Object Class, the relational integrity between the two Object Classes are broken.

An outbound reference constraint prevents this situation. The contraint enforces referential integrity by guaranteeing that changes cannot be made to objects in the referenced Object Class if those changes invalidate the link to objects in another Object Class.

In some cases you may want to delete linked objects when an object in the referenced Object Class is deleted. To enable this option, click Cascade Delete.

For example, if an Object Class represents a membership in a student union, and a property represents a link to a student, the membership should be deleted whenever a student is deleted. The membership is owned by the student union, that is, it is part of the student union composition. If a student union is deleted, all memberships are automatically deleted. However, the membership is not automatically deleted if a student is deleted unless this option is selected.

Normally the outbound reference constraint should be enabled to enforce referential integerity. However, you are allowed to disable the contstraint. For example, if an Object Class are based on a read only RDBMS view, you do not want that the link between the view and the referenced Object Class prevents users to delete objects in the referenced Object Class.

Data Binding

The data binding defines the connection between the property and the RDBMS column. The data flow can go from the RDBMS column to the property, for example when data are changed by Live Update, and/or from the property to the RDBMS column, for example when the content of a property is changed by a user. Unbound properties are not connected to an RDBMS column, and data must flow from/to the property through other means, like data calculations, rules, tasks etc.

Unbound. There is no connection to an RDBMS column. Data is not retrieved or persisted directly, but the data flow must be defined specifically in each case.
One-Way Bound. Changes in the data only flows from the RDBMS column to the property. This type of binding is appropriate for data which are read-only.
Two-Way Bound. The data flows both ways. This type of binding is appropriate for fully interactive applications.

Read on Demand

Applies to properties with a binary data type and functions calculated using an RDBMS expression.

When reading object data from the database, the value for a property with this option selected, would not be read. For example, if the property represents a calculated measure which only is used for aggregation purposes, you should select this option.

For example, a sales data object contains information about quantity and price. The sales amount is calculated as quantity * price using an RDBMS expression. The sales amount should not be read as part of the object data when accessing a single sales data object. However, when aggregating data, the sales amount should be used to calculate an aggregated value.

Applies to properties with a binary data type and functions calculated using an RDBMS expression.

Description
Documentation of the purpose and content of the property.