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General tab — Completing the Table fields

About Property rules

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Use this topic for Single Value, Value List and Value Group properties with a Table Type other than None.

The fields on the General tab change after you select the Table Type field.

  Basics

Table editing is part of property and page validation. If an input value for a property doesn't match the table edits, the property name and the invalid value remain on the clipboard, but during validation the system adds a message and error text to the clipboard page that contains the property. The presence of the message ordinarily prevents the system from saving the clipboard page (which contains invalid data) into the database. The message does not prevent an activity from reading or using the (invalid) property value.

Table edit comparisons require an exact text match except for case. Use Table edits carefully if the Type of the property is not Identifier or Text. For example, a value of 23.0 does not match a list entry of 23. ERNSG 4/12/05 B-13029

NoteAlthough the value is compared with the table elements a case-insensitive way, the system corrects the case. For example, if the values recorded in a Local List on this tab are all lowercase, a user can enter at runtime the value in uppercase, mixed case, or lowercase letters. The system accepts a matching value but converts it to lowercase. R-5957

  Display-only option

This checkbox appears only when the when the Table Type is Field Value, Class Key Value, Remote List or Prompt List.

Field

Description

Use only for display (not validation)

STEWS 4/16/04 Select to cause the values defined on this tab to be used only for SmartPrompt and output localization, not for validation.

Clear to cause the values defined on this tab to be used for validation and selection input lists, as well as for localization. KAVOJ 12/11/08 verify checkbox location

  Case 1: Entering a Local List

Choose Local List as the Table Type if your property value is permanently limited to a modest number of known values in a single language. (Use a Prompt List, not a Local List, to accomplish a similar localized presentation.)

NoteYou cannot use a Local List if the Type of the property is Password, True or False, Date, or DateTime. R-5870

A Table Values array appears. Complete the array listing each possible value as a literal. Order is not significant.

Field

Description

Table Values  
Table Values

Enter into this array each explicit value to be accepted for this property. Enter one or more literal values (without quotes) that are appropriate input for the Type. R-5667

You need not leave a blank entry to allow the property value to be empty.

TipIf you enter a value in the first row, it appears at runtime as a default value, and may be too easy for users to overlook. To encourage users to make a non-blank selection at runtime, leave the first entry blank. To require users to make an explicit choice, leave the first row entry and mark the corresponding field on a work object form as required. GRIFK 3/27/07

TipTo encourage users to make accurate, fast selections, list the values in a meaningful order, such as alphabetically or in a natural sequence such as S, M, L, XL, XXL.

R-5543 Not working?If, at runtime, a user input or other processing assigns a non-null value to the property that is not on this list, the value is accepted but, when the page is later validated, the system adds an error message to the page.

For properties using this option, a standard HTML Property rule named PromptSelect or RadioButtons PROJ-183 is often used to present a selection list.

  Case 2: Completing Field Value fields

Select Field Value as the Table Type when the set of valid values is not constant or contains more than a few hundred values, and the values are available at runtime within the keys of field value rules. Specify only the first two key parts of the set of field value rules.

Field

Description

Field Value Description  
Class

SmartPromptSelect a class that is the first key part of one or more field value rules, where the third key part defines a possible text value for the property. (This class need not match the Applies To key part of this property rule.) B-19941 affirmed

Field Name

Enter the second key part of one or more field value rules with the Class above as the first key part.

This key part is a property name in that class, but need not match the name of the property you are defining.

For properties using this Table Edit option, the HTML Property rule PromptFieldValue is often used to present a user with a fixed list of selection values to select from.

NoteThe value — the third key part — of a field value rule is limited to 64 characters. STEWS 11/1/05 clinic

Field value examples

For example, the standard property Work-.pyRootCause uses field value rules to define possible root causes for an exception-oriented work object (such as Policy, Conduct, Product, and so on).

The first key part of the field value rules that provides values is Work-; the second key part is the literal pyRootCause. The final key part varies to provide specific values, such as Policy, Conduct, and Product.

The standard property Work-.pyStatusWork also is restricted to values defined by field value rules. (For this property, an activity and a HTML Property rule enforces the restriction, rather than the Table Edit values.)

Reviewing field value rules for the property

After you save the Property form, you can review a list of existing field value rules that match the key of this property:

  1. Open the Advanced tab. Click the Explore button at the bottom of the tab to start the Property Explorer in a new window
  2. On the Property Explorer, click the Field Values tab.

  Case 3: Completing Class Key Value fields

Select Class Key Value when a concrete class has either

The system uses that concrete class rather than field value rules as the source of allowable values for the property.

When you select Class Key Value, Table Description fields appear. Complete them to identify a range of keys in another class.

Field

Description

Table Description  
Validation Class

SmartPromptSelect a concrete class with two key parts that meets these conditions:

  • The first key part acts to group values for a second key part.
  • The second key part that corresponds to an allowable value of the property you are editing.

You can use a concrete class with three key parts here, if the first key part is a class (property pyClassName) and the middle and third key parts meet the above restrictions.BUG-12565

Subset Name (when appropriate)

SmartPromptOptional. Enter the value of the key part in the Validation Class that represents the subset that contains the list of acceptable values.

If you leave this field blank, the system uses the Property Name (the second key part of this property rule) as a default.

If the class contains only one key part, you don't need to enter a Subset Name.

For example, assume that the class Data-CustomerTerritory class has key parts for state code and county name. Enter Data-CustomerTerritory as the Validation Class and "NY" as the Subset Name, to restrict the property to the county names in New York state.

The Class Key Value facility is a generalization of the Field Value case. For example, fifty-one standard field value rules have Data-Party as the first key part and pyState as the second key part (the Field Name key part). Values for the third key part range from AK (for Alaska) to WY (for Wyoming), identifying codes for 50 states and the District of Columbia. Two standard properties, Data-Party.pyHomeState and Data-Party.pyWorkState, use these field values through the Class Key Values. They use:

At runtime, if your system contains other field value rules in this key range (in an application RuleSet) such as PR for Puerto Rico, they also are acceptable values for pyHomeState and pyWorkState.

  Case 4: Completing Remote List fields

Choose Remote List when the set of valid values is not constant or not short, but is available at runtime as the keys of a certain known class.

Complete the fields that appear:

Field

Description

Table Identification  
Class of Instance

SmartPromptSelect the class of the instance. After entering the class, you can skip to the Keys of Instance fields and then return to the Reference To List or Group field.

Reference To List or Group

Identify a property that is either a list or a group.

Reference in Each to Scalar property

COLEA 11/7/02 Optional. Enter either an index value, a reference to one element of an aggregate property, or the Use-Group-Name keyword.

Your choices depend on the property mode of the property in the Reference to List or Group field.

Mode

Choices

Page List or Page Group

Identify a property that contains a value that is an index that identifies the specific page that contains the list.

Value List

Leave blank.

Value Group

Leave this field blank to edit against each value in the Value Group, or enter the keyword Use-Group-Name to indicate that the index values of the Value Group are the allowed values. COLEA 11/7/02

Reference to Localized Value

Leave blank. NOT IMPLEMENTED 04-01 STEWS 4/2004

Keys of Instance

This array identifies the instance that contains the property value that contains the set of values. Identify keys in the correct order, matching the class definition.

Key Field

Enter the name of a property that is a key part of the class.

Value

Enter the value for this key part for the instance.

  Case 5: Completing Prompt List fields

Select Prompt List and complete this array to provide a mapping between a list of text values used in the property value internally and corresponding text values presented on input or output. Typically, Prompt List table edits are useful when this property rule belongs to a language-specific RuleSet and the original base property contains a Local List of text values.

  1. Enter a language-specific text value in the Prompt Value column, for each Standard Value in the Local List.
  2. On the General tab, choose GetStandardValue as the Edit Input Value rule. Choose GetLocalizedValue as the Display Property value.

Together, these allow users to see information from the Prompt Value column on both input and display, but the system maintains the corresponding value from the Standard Value column internally.

For example, if the base version of the property uses a Local List with values Blue, Green, Red, and Yellow, an Italian version can contain four rows mapping Azzuro, Verde, Rosso, and Giallo to these values. When a user with an Italian locale selects a property value from a selection list, the Italian color names appear (sorted alphabetically). Internally, the system retains the base (English) values. STEWS MSS 1/04

Field

Description

Prompt Values
Standard Value

Enter a value defined on the base property Local List.

Prompt Value

Enter a language-specific alternative.

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