Data source properties
Contents
On the Data source properties tab, which is present when you have selected a new or existing data source in an application in the Application browser, you determine the general properties of this data source.
Click here for information on how to edit properties in general. And click here to read about how to manage objects in the tree view in the Application browser. On the current tab you'll find the following settings:
The current data source will appear in the Select data source window after clicking Search or New in a running Collections application. For Collections, only Normal database can be selected, the other options have no function anymore.
For a Normal database as the Data source type, this property contains the full or relative path to the database you want to link to, without the name of the file. You don't have to fill in this property manually: just select a database in the next option, and the relative path to that folder is automatically entered here. Usually, you keep your databases in one folder, and the relative path you'll often encounter here is: ../data.
For a Normal database as the Data source type, the Database and Dataset options are present.
First, enter or search for the name of the existing database (an .inf file) that you want to link to. Do not enter the extension of the file. Examples of database names are DOCUMENT, COPIES, and Collect.
Important: when you work in a copy of your live application, then make sure you search the right folder (in the copy) for the proper file: otherwise the relative path will be incorrect when you place back this copy as your live application later on.
If the database that you select has datasets defined for it, these datasets will be listed in the Dataset drop-down list. (Some databases may not have datasets.) Typically, you select a dataset if for this link you only want to retrieve data from that specific dataset, and if you want new linked records to be created in that dataset automatically.
Selecting a dataset (if available) is mandatory if you want the user to be able to write records to it. If all you need is read-access, you can also link to an entire database by not selecting a dataset; you need not set the Access rights for this data source to Read, because you should just never define a Create new record method for such a data source. (In some existing applications, in the database setup for such a database a "dataset" is defined that covers the entire database or a range of smaller datasets, the purpose being to exclude one or more datasets at the end of the database from being searched by means of access points, and these excluded datasets then also won't appear in the Select data source list. This construction is rarely put to use though.)
The hierarchy you see in the Select data source list in a running application, is created automatically: data sources which fall within a larger data source (in range of record numbers) are indented with respect to the larger data source. (You do have to place the data sources in the desired order in the tree view in the Application browser.)
This option is not applicable in Collections and will be ignored.
This option is not applicable in Collections and will be ignored.
This option is not applicable in Collections and will be ignored.
Here, you must provide the name of the data source in one or as many languages as you wish to make available to users. This name will be visible to Collections users in the Select data source window and in the top toolbar above the Result set view.
Enter the key under which the Help text for this data source can be found in the .adh Help files for this application. Collections will use this key (in the Help file preceded by two exclamation marks: !!) to locate the Help text. When the user moves the mouse cursor over the current data source name in the Select data source window, the relevant contextual Help text will display in a tooltip.
Example: DS_FULLCATALOGUE.