Working with Fields

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Monday, August 13, 2012PrintSubscribe
Working with Fields

A field represents a column of a data row. There are physical and virtual fields. Virtual fields are not derived from a physical column of a data table – their values are computed at runtime. Bindings of fields to views are called data fields.

In the Project Explorer, fields are contained under the Fields node of a controller. If an asterisk (*) is present after the name of the field, the field is required. The field type and length are displayed in parentheses. Some fields fields may display “read-only” label.

Fields under the Fields node of a controller in the Project Explorer.

Creating a Field

A field can be created by using the New Field context menu option on the Fields node.

New Field context menu option in the Project Explorer.

Moving Fields

Fields can be moved using drag and drop operations.

Dropping a field node onto another field node will place the field after the target field.

CategoryID field dropped on CategoryName field in the Project Explorer.     CategoryID field moved after CategoryName in the Project Explorer.

Dropping a field node on the right side of another field node will place it after the target field.

CategoryName dropped on the right side of CategoryID field.     CategoryName field moved after CategoryID field in the Project Explorer.

Dropping a field node on the left side of another field node will place it before the target field.

Picture field dropped on the left side of Description field.     Picture field node placed after Description in the Project Explorer.

Fields can be copied to a different controller by dragging onto the controller or Fields node. The original field will not be deleted.

Description field dropped on CategorySalesfor1997 controller node.     Description field placed at the bottom of Fields node of CategorySalesfor1997 controller in the Project Explorer.

Creating Data Fields

When fields are dropped onto a view or category, they will be instantiated as data fields in the target view. When the field is dropped onto a form view, the data fields will be appended to the last category.

Dropping two fields onto a view node.     Two data fields created in view1.

Cloning a Field

A field can be copied by dropping onto the controller or Fields node while holding Ctrl key. The name of the clone will be appended with a number, and the new field will be configured as a calculated field that reflects the physical column in the database. Use context menu option Copy on the field and use Paste on the controller or Fields node to create a clone.

Description field dropped on Categories controller node while holding Ctrl key on the keyboard.     Description field duplicated as 'Description_1' in the Categories controller.

Create Standard Validator and Converter

Validation and conversion business rules can be quickly created using the Add Validator and Add Converter context menu options. Code, SQL, and JavaScript options are available.

Add SQL Validator context menu option for a field in the Project Explorer.

When an option is selected, the field is configured as calculated, and a business rule will be created.

Validator for CategoryName field automatically created in the Project Explorer.

Deleting a Field

Fields can be deleted using the context menu option Delete. This will also remove all data fields, items, and field outputs.

Delete context menu option in the Project Explorer.