Attribute Dictionary

The Attribute Dictionary consists of a simple set of attributes. The definitions are matched only by column name, and a particular definition can be shared amongst several columns by creating synonyms.

Table Dictionary

In the Table Dictionary, the defaults are defined by table and column combinations. The Table Dictionary is more specific than the Attribute Dictionary, because more properties can be defined in this one. When processed during the use of a creation wizard for a region or item, an entry in the Table Dictionary takes priority over an entry in the Attribute Dictionary. On table level, we can define some region defaults. It's also possible to migrate the Table Dictionary to the more generic Attribute Dictionary. When migrating, you lose some default properties that don't exist in the Attribute Dictionary (for instance the list of values information).

Another functionality of the Table Dictionary is the use of Column Groups. Related columns within a table can be grouped together. In forms, these groups appear as separate regions and in the single row view of interactive reports.

Creating User Interface Defaults

User Interface Defaults can be defined at the workspace level. Follow these steps to get there:

On this screen, you'll see the Dashboard tab of the User Interface Defaults. You can also see the tabs for Table Dictionary and Attribute Dictionary.

The simplest way to start using User Interface Defaults is to synchronize the database tables with the Table Dictionary. New tables and columns from the database are added to the Data Dictionary that doesn't exist yet, as well as table and columns that don't exist in the database anymore as they are removed from the Table Dictionary.

After selecting a table entry, we see the following screen:

On this screen, you can select a column to define the default properties or select Edit Table Defaults to define the region titles for this table. You will also see a list of tasks that you can perform. After selecting a column, we see the following screen. This is where the actual work will be done. You can see, for instance, the different sections for Form Defaults and Report and Tabular Form Defaults.

A disadvantage of the defined list of values information is the fact that they are defined at workspace level and not at application level, so they cannot be shared like the defined list of values in the shared components.

After filling in all the defaults for all the tables and columns in the Table Dictionary, we can define the Attribute Dictionary by migrating some Table Dictionary entries or defining new ones. In the following screen, you can see the properties that you can define in the Attribute Dictionary:

Besides the property screen for the Attribute Dictionary, we can also use a grid edit to define the defaults easily.