Targets

Target

This mandatory field is to be entered first, during the definition of a new target. The user is invited to enter a code from an X3 table defined in the development dictionary. The user is aided in this by an associated selection list.

Following the entry of a table code, the system carries out different controls.

• Firstly it checks if the primary key description for the table enables a correct syntaxic analysis. If this is not the case, the following message is displayed: "This table contains an inappropriate key structure. Entry refused".. The table cannot as a consequence be used as a target.
• Then, the system verifies if the primary key for the table contains a single component. If this is not the case, the following message is displayed: "This table does not contain a primary key containing a single component. Entry refused".
• Then the system verifies if the primary key is of the alphanumerical type. If this is not the case, the following message is displayed: "This table does not contain an alphanumeric primary key. Entry refused".
• Finally, the system verifies if the field length used as the key does not exceed thirty characters. If this is not the case, the following message is displayed: "The primary key field of the target has a length greater than thirty characters. Entry refused".

When the table code entered is accepted as a target, the system proceeds to analyse the different types of use of this table within the software in order to automatically assign the maximum of information.

For example, for a table used through an X3 object, all the information characterising the target will be assigned with the exception of optional additional elements such as the text description more detailed than of the target and the linked tables extending the amount of viewable information.

The object of each of these fields is to study the different lines that follow.

Denomination required

When the standard name for the target table is not satisfactory and not very intuitive, this field is used to enter a more appropriate denomination for the context of the target usage. Unlike the table title, this denomination can contain up to fifty characters.

This field is automatically assigned during the entry of a new target table code in the "Target" field. The denomination assigned by the system is the one defined in the target criteria dictionary. When the table is not present in this dictionary, the standard title of the table is proposed.

Description

This optional field is used to enter a summary text informing the user either on the nature of the target itself or on the different benefits found on using the target.

Default presentation support

When a sample of records is generated, it is necessary to be able comprehend its contents. For this, a minimum of amount information must be viewable in order to understand the nature of each element. A presentation support is used to define a list of the target characteristics to be presented to the user and in this way to sort them.

Each target contains a default presentation support. This is used when the user has not defined the default personal support for the current target or when this user has not requested the use of another presentation support on a target.

NB: A presentation support named "DEF+Target code" is automatically created and associated with the target at its creation. This is used so that there is always a useable support available for each target.

This field is used to select the presentation support used by default for each new target. This support can be selected either via the associated list or by a tunnel to the presentation support management object.

The "Inquiry" tab is used to modify the characteristics of the selected support directly within the "Targets" object. In fact, it is possible to modify the presentation supports from two different management functions in X3. The "Presentation supports" object is used to create and modify all the chosen supports whilst the Targets object is used to modify the characteristics of the single default support for a target.

The characteristics of this tab are as follows :

Grid of displayed fields

This field is used to define the information displayed by the presentation support. The table can be selected from the target and the list of its linked tables. Once the table is chosen, it is possible to specify the information to be displayed. Then, a order number can be assigned to each field.

NB: Even if it is possible to enter a large number of fields in the grid, only the first fifteen are taken into account by the support during the display of the sample.

Sort field

Amongst the displayed fields, it is possible to select the information that will be used to sort the sample. The field specified here MUST be present amongst the first fifteen columns of the presentation support. This same field will also be used as a criterion to examine the sample during its graphical representation.

Sort table

This field is accessible when the sort field name is present several times amongst the first fifteen columns comprising the presentation. It is used in this case to specify the table containing the sort field.

For example, this field is useful in the case of the Country field. The user can define a selection support displaying both the Country field of the BP table and the Country field of the Address table. These two fields share an identical code. If the user wishes to sort by country, it is therefore indispensable to specify which of the two countries should be used : that of the BP table or that of the Address table.

Sort direction

This field is used to specify the direction of the sort either ascending or descending.

Standard Rerouting Action

Unique primary key for the target

This field is in general automatically assigned by the system. In fact, if the table has been accepted as a target, this signifies that the system has been able to determine the primary key field of the table. The field specified here is notably used by the contextual "Detail" menu in the sample inquiry window in order to access a displayed record by tunnel.

Corresponding management object

Certain target tables can be used through several management objects. During the creation of the target, the system carries out its own preferences relative to the accessed object in the case of tunnelling toward the target. This field is used to modify the default choice from a list of different objects associated with the target.

Linked table

By default, the displayable fields in a presentation support come from the target table. However, the information characterizing an element is often physically dispersed across several tables. Thus, this grid is used to associate the additional tables with the target in order to refine the presentation.

For example, to identify the different functions carried out by each contact in a sample : the Function field is not available in the Contact table, but is available in the Entity relationships/Contacts table. Thus, to display this information, it is necessary to add the Contacts table to the list of linked tables. If a link via the selection support is already defined for this table, the Link key and Link expression fields are then automatically entered.

NB: The Linked table contains an associated contextual menu named "Linked tables by support". This menu displays the list of tables already linked to the target through the different first level selection supports. The use of this list greatly simplifies the setup of a linked table. In fact, in this case, the link key and the link expression are automatically assigned.

Link key

The joins between the target table and the linked tables are carried out using indexed fields. The Link key field is used as a consequence to specify the index to be used to establish a relationship between each target table record and each linked table record.

Using the Contacts example : each record in the CONTACT table points to a record in the CONTACTCRM table thanks to the contents of the CCNCRM field. If the selection list associated with the field is displayed, it can be seen that the CCNCRM field is present as a unique component in the "CNT2" index, which implies that is is perfectly adapted to be used to associate these two tables.

Link expression

This field is used to provide the values to be allocated to each link key component selected above. The number of components in the link expression must correspond to the number of components in the key. It is not possible to only use the first or second part of a key. All the specified key components must have a corresponding value in the link expression.

In the current example, the value looked for in the CCNCRM field to establish the link with the target is the contents of the CONTACTCRM primary key: [F:CCN]CNTNUM.

Syntax rules:

• Each key component must be separated by a semi-colon.
• Each alphanumeric value must be between inverted commas.
• Although not mandatory, but in order to avoid all risk of conflict in variable names, it is strongly advised that each field name be preceded by its standard class abbreviation. For the fields in the tables, the class abbreviation is formulated as follows:

[F: followed by the table abbreviation code (three letters) in the X3 dictionary].

For example, for the BPADDRESS table : [F :BPA]

Detail

This menu is used to access the table dictionary, then the target dictionary, in order to find a table and the fields that it contains.