Properties of fields: Default values
Contents
On the Default values tab, which is present when you have selected a new or existing data dictionary field in a database, you determine what text (if any) should be placed by default in an entry field associated with this data dictionary field, in a new record or in any new occurrence of an existing record (the latter supported from Collections 1.11.1) in a running application. The current interface language (not the data language) before opening the new record or inserting the new occurrence, will determine which translation of the default value will be used.
Note that the user can change any default value when editing the record.
Further, default values are only filled in if a field or a new field occurrence is empty - they will not overwrite an existing value.
And you should only set a default value when you know that users will find it handy or helpful.
Click here for information on how to edit properties in general. On the current tab you'll find the following settings:
Choose the type of default value you want for this field. If you choose the Current date (date of record input: the system date), the Current time (time of input: the system time), or the User name (the Windows login name of the user filling in a record with this field in the running application), then you cannot fill in any translations underneath Text.
If you want to provide a specific text, you should set the Type to Value, and then specify (translations of) the default texts underneath Text in each language you want the application interface to be available in. The functionality is independent of whether the field is multilingual or not, it is only dependent on the interface language.
Choose the Type None, if you do not want to define a default value for this field.
If you have set the Type of the default value to Value, then specify the default texts in each language you want the application to be available in. This works as follows:
| • | If you only specify an English Text, this will be the default value for all interface languages. |
| • | If you specify an English Text and, let's say, a Dutch Text, then when the interface language is e.g. French or German when you open a new record, the English default Text will be entered. If the interface language is Dutch, the Dutch Text will be entered and for English the English translation will be entered. |
| • | If you only specify a single non-English Text, e.g. Dutch, then this translation will only be entered when that interface language (e.g. Dutch) has been selected. In all other languages, no default value will be entered. |
| • | A field may be enumerative and have default values as well; then the default values must be valid neutral values for the enumerative field. An enumerative field definition already contains translations, but the so-called neutral value is the value that is actually stored in the record: users do not get to see this value, only its translations. So if you want to set an item from an enumerative list as the default value for all interface languages, you must specify its neutral value as the English Text only. |