Converter Fields

1. In the Explorer Tree, locate the field that you wish to modify.

• Expand the Template Information object, locate the desired template and expand it.  Locate the block on which the field exists and expand it.  Select the field that you wish to modify and display the Property Sheet for it.

• Expand the Group Information object and any sub-groups until you can select the desired converter entity and expand it.  Locate the block on which the field exists and expand it.  Select the field that you wish to modify and display the Property Sheet for it.

2. Modify the field properties.  These will either be displayed in Alphabetical or Logically, depending on the setting of the [Sort Alphabetically/Logically] button.  The following instructions are assuming that the properties are sorted logically.

3. In the Name property, the name assigned to the field when it was created will be displayed.  It can be changed, if desired.

4. In the Description property, enter a user-defined description for this field.

5. In the Type property,  select the desired field type.  Choices are:

• Currency

• Date: Date fields must have a format mask entered.

• Date and Time: Date and Time fields must have a format mask entered.

• Numeric

• Text

6. In the From Database pop-list, select true if the field value will be taken from the database.  Select false if the field value will not be user-defined.  

• When set to true, the Size, Key Field, From Query, From Column, and Default Value properties will be displayed.  All fields with this pop-list set to true obtain their values from the column defined in the From Column property and the query for the block defined in the From Query property.

• When set to false, the Contents property will be displayed.

6. In the Size property, enter the database character size for this field.  Only database fields will have this property.

7. In the Key Field pop-list, select true if this field is a primary key for the table/view.  Select false if the field is not a primary key for the table/view. Only database fields will have this property.  Key fields are marked with a key icon in the Explorer Tree.

8. In the Format Mask property, select the format mask for this field from the list of pre-defined format masks.  
   
   Date fields must have a format mask entered.  Format masks can only be applied to date, date/time, and numeric fields.  
   Xephr expects dates returned from the datasource to be in the format defined in the datasource.  The format mask is then applied to the date returned from the datasource.
   
   For more information, see the Format Masks section.

9. In the From Query pop-list, verify that the correct query block is displayed in this field.  This is the block in which the query includes the column from which the data for this field will be obtained.  It is used in conjunction with the From Column pop-list.  Only database fields have this property.

10. In the From Column pop-list, verify that the correct column is displayed in this field.  This is the column in the query defined in the From Query property from which the data for this field will be obtained.  The value in this field can be changed to another column from the same query.  Only database fields have this property.

• When the query for the field is defined as Simple Query, this property is displayed as a pop-list with values based off of the table or view assigned to the query block.

• When the query for the field is defined as a Complex Query, this property is displayed as a pop-list with values based off of the columns defined in the pre-where property for the query.  In order to add columns to this pop-list, you must add columns to the pre-where clause for the field's query block.

11. In the Is Formula pop-list, select true if the field contains a formula.  Select false if the field does not contain a formula.  Only non-database fields have this property.  
    
    When set to true, the Formula property will be displayed and the Contents property will be removed.
    
    You must enter a formula in the Formula property if you set the Is Formula pop-list to true.

12. In the Formula property, enter the formula for this field.  This field is only displayed and must be entered when the Is Formula pop-list is set to true.

13. In the Contents property, if this field will display a value by default, enter the value here.  Only non-database non-formula fields have this property.  
    
    If you wish to have the currently set global variable for this field displayed here, you can enter it.  For example, you could enter $$CUST_NO$$ in this property and the current value for the CUST_NO global variable will be displayed in the field when the field is generated.  

14. In the Z Order property, enter the order in which the field will be generated in comparison with the other fields on the block.

15. In the Created on field, the date and time on which the field was created is displayed, and cannot be changed.

16. In the Modified on field, the date and time on which the field was last changed is displayed, and cannot be modified.

17. Press the [Save] button to save the changes.

Xephr is a registered trademark of NDS Systems, LC.

Copyright © 2007 NDS Systems LC.