Data Tables Properties and Actions
The most essential property of a data table is its set of fields. These can be defined at the time the data table is created, but can also be edited at any later time. The fields of a data table represent the attributes of that data table and its records. For example, a Person data table might have a Name field, an Email field, and a Responsibility field. These fields would then represent the attributes of Person records of the Person data table. See Fields for a complete description.
In addition to configuring its fields, you can also configure a data table in the following ways:
•Create filters for the display of the data table's records and use of the data table's fields. See Filters.
•Create forms that will be used for the entry of data table data, for the generation of reports, and for exporting data to other formats. See Forms.
•Validate individual fields and/or entire records. See Validation of Fields and Records.
•Rename the data table. See Data Table Operations.
•Add a parent data table and/or children data tables. See Data Table Operations.
•Duplicate the data table. See Data Table Operations.
•Remove the data table. See Data Table Operations.
•Change the type of link to the parent data table (between a parent–child link and a loose link). See data table Operations.
•Import data from external XML files. See Data Table Operations.
Define the components of a data table as described in the subsections of this section.
Data table icons
All data tables have the following icons.
 | Data Table Settings |
 | Move Up/Down |
Data Table Settings
The data table settings form enables you to specify whether the data table should contain one record only or multiple records. By default the option is set to multiple records. The record of a single-record data table must be explicitly added by a system user. Once added, this record can be edited, but not deleted.
Move Up/Down: Changing the order of sibling data tables
If a data table has sibling data tables (that is, there are other data tables at the same level), then the Move Up/Down icon on the right is enabled. On clicking it, a screen appears that displays the sibling data tables in a flat list. Drag a data table to move it up or down in the list.
Validation rules for records of the data table
You can specify one or more validation rules for records of the data table. This will ensure that every record must fulfill certain requirements. For example, the record of a person or company can be validated to ensure that at least a telephone number or an email address is entered in the record before it is saved. If validation fails, then either an error or a warning—according to what you decide—is triggered with an appropriate message. In the case of an error, the record is not saved till the error is fixed and validation is successful.
See Validation of Fields and Records for information about validation.