Attribute Types

Every Data Master has a set of attributes or fields which has a specific type. The type of each attribute can be defined and changed through the Data Master edition dialog.

To open the dialog double-click on a existing Data Master or create a new one. There you will be able to choose between the following types for each attribute:

• Text (default type)

  The text type defines a field which displays a plain text. This attribute type can have three different graphical representations: text, text area (multi-line) or password. To select the correct representation, select the attribute field on the 'Data Master Fields' table and click on the "gear" button. A new dialog will appear in order to select between three different styles:

  

  Editing Text records

  To edit a Text record just click on the corresponding cell in the 'Records Table' and type any text you want as a value.

• Date

  The date type defines a field which displays a date using the format MM/DD/YYYY, a date and time using the format MM/DD/YYYY HH:mm or a time using the format HH:mm. This attribute type can have three different graphical representations. To select the correct representation, select the attribute field on the 'Data Master Fields' table and click on the "gear" button. A new dialog will appear in order to select between the different styles:

  

  Editing Date records

  To edit a Date record just click on the corresponding cell in the 'Records Table' and type a date in the format MM/DD/YYYY, MM/DD/YYYY HH:mm, or HH:mm depending on the style you chose. Other formats of text will not be accepted for this field type.

• Category

  The category type defines a field which displays a value from a range of predefined values. This attribute is commonly represented by a single selection widget that can have three different graphical representations. To select the correct representation and the desired range of values, select the attribute field on the 'Data Master Fields' table and click on the "gear" button. A new dialog will appear in order to select between the different styles:

  

  Editing Category records

  To edit a Category record just click on the corresponding cell in the 'Records Table' and type any text matching some of the values in the values' range defined. Other text not matching any category's value will not be accepted. E.g.: You can type 'Red' if you defined the values 'Red','Green','Blue' for the category field.

• True/False

  The true/false type defines a field which displays can only display true or false. It is always represented as a check box widget as it is the only boolean widget.

  Editing True/False records

  To edit a boolean record just click on the corresponding cell in the 'Records Table' and type 'true' or 'false'.

• File upload

  The file upload type defines a field which can display a file path or an image file if the widget used to represent it is an Image widget.

  Editing File records

  To edit a File record just click on the corresponding cell in the 'Records Table'. A browse and delte button will appear. Click on the browse button and select a file (select an image file if you want the file to be displayed).

• Multicategory

  The multicategory type defines a field which displays a set of values from a range of predefined values. This attribute is commonly represented by a multi-selection widget that can have two different graphical representations. To select the correct representation and the desired range of values, select the attribute field on the 'Data Master Fields' table and click on the "gear" button. A new dialog will appear in order to select between the different styles:

  

  Editing Multicategory records

  To edit a Multicategory record just click on the corresponding cell in the 'Records Table' and type any text matching some of the values in the values' range defined. You can type more than one value in the range using comas to separate them. E.g.: You can type 'USB,Firewire' if you defined the values 'USB','Bluetooh','Firewire' for the multicategory field.

Changing attribute's type

To change the type of a Data Master's attribute, click on its type in the 'Data Master Fields' table of the Data Master's dialog. A drop-down showing all the available types will appear. Select the desired type from the drop-down. Press Ok to apply the changes.

Notice that changing the type of a Data Master's attribute will make all the widgets in the prototype associated to this attribute to change according to the new type. Also the records for this attribute will be restored to its default to match the new format.