This form is used to configure an individual field within a Database Table Structure.
Table Field - General
Field Name
Enter the unique field name.
Field Type
From the drop-down list choose the required type.
Units
Depending on the field type you may need to choose the appropriate units from the drop-down list.
Max Length
Again, depending on the field type you may need to choose a maximum length (such as maximum number of characters for a Character field).
Prompt
Enter the prompt string that will appear on the form when the table is displayed. This prompt will also be displayed when you switch on Friendly Field Prompts for a drop-down list of field names.
Translatable Prompts
Clicking the dictionary button opens the Translate string form, where you can enter alternative prompts in a variety of languages. Once you've entered an alternative prompt you need to switch on the Translate settings option on the Environment > Language form.
Table Field - Options
Field is indexed
Switch this option on if this field is to be used as an index field.
Ascending
Choose whether the data should be in ascending or descending order.
Unique
Switch this option on if the index must be unique.
Case sensitive
Choose whether or not the case of the index field is significant.
Can be empty in database entry windows
If this option is switched off then you will not be allowed to create a table entry with this field empty.
Do not enforce when updating databases
If you've changed the previous option, it will not be automatically reset at the next database upgrade if this option is switched on. For example, if you'd configured ONE_UP.LENGTH to be required (i.e. not empty) then, when updating Impact, this would be forced back to not required if this option is switched off.
This is configured in the DBS file that is being used to update the database rather than configured in the destination database. This is so that no configuration changes are required to any destination database.
Hidden from users
Switch this option on to hide this field from users. If this option is set then the field will be hidden from non support licence users in Database Administration.
Protected from change/deletion
Switch this option on to make this field read-only.
A protected field will be given a default value at creation, but after that, it cannot be changed. Also, non support licence users cannot change the name, type, index options etc., but they can change the length in the case of a string field.
It is highly recommended that this option is switched on for the Primary Key column.
Stores translations
This option is only available if the field is a Memo type.
Switch this option on if the field is used to store translations of relevant fields, such as D_NAME or D_DESCRIPT in the DRAWINGS table.