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Use the attributes properties tab to specify the characteristics of the  data in a table column.  You can open attribute properties from:

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FieldDescription
Name

Enter the name of the attribute.

Tip

PhixFlow recognises the attribute name UID as a unique identifier for a record. As records are added, PhixFlow automatically increments the UID value.


Type

Select the attribute type for the data.

  • String
  • Bigstring
  • Integer
  • Float
  • Decimal
  • Date
  • Datetime
  • Graphic
  • TrueFalse

Length

This field is available when Type is String. By default strings are 50 characters long. Optionally specify a different string length of between 1 and 4000.

For strings longer than 4000 characters, set a Type of Bigstring

Precision

This field is available when Type is Integer. Enter the maximum number of digits allowed in whole numbers. By default, integers are 10 digits long. Optionally specify a different integer precision of between 1 digit and 38 digits.

Significant FiguresThis field is available when Type is Decimal. Enter the maximum number of total digits for decimal numbers.  By default decimals have 10 significant figures.


Panel
borderColor#01cff1
borderWidth4
titleBGColor#01cff1
titleExample

To specify numbers must have two digits before and after the decimal point, such as 12.34, enter:

Significant Figures  4

Decimal Places  2



Decimal Places

This field is available when Type is Decimal. Enter the maximum number of digits allowed after the decimal point. By default, decimals have 2 decimal places.

This must be less than the number of significant figures.

Local

 

Insert excerpt
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nopaneltrue
 to keep both table data and any result of using it in a calculation. 

Insert excerpt
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nopaneltrue
 if you need to use the attribute in a table calculation, but you do not need to keep the result.

Order

The order of the attributes in the table. Table attribute expressions are evaluated in this order. 

This is important when you need to use the results of a calculation in another attribute:

  • either in its expression
  • or in a $ variable.

In the attribute list, the attribute that calculates the result must come before the attribute that requires the result.

ExpressionThe expression used to generate the attribute value. This is written as a PhixFlow Expression. It must evaluate to a single value, of the type specified in the Type field.

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FieldDescription
Indexed

Insert excerpt
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nopaneltrue
 to prevent this attribute being indexed in the PhixFlow database.

Insert excerpt
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nopaneltrue
 to index this attribute in the PhixFlow database.

To improve performance, index an attribute when the table has a large data set and an output pipe from the table uses this attribute to:

  • filter the table data
  • sort or group the table data.
Filter conditions are
case-independent by default

Insert excerpt
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nopaneltrue
 to use filters that are case-sensitive.

Insert excerpt
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nopaneltrue
 to set new filter conditions on this attribute to be case-insensitive by default. The filter window → Ignore Case check box inherits this setting; see Filters on Data Views. For case-insensitive filters, there is no difference if the attribute is also indexed. 

Note
This option affects the behaviour of filters for PhixFlow instances running on Oracle or MariaDB (MySQL) databases.
For PhixFlow instances running on a SQL Server database, filters are always case-independent.


Key

Insert excerpt
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nopaneltrue
 for in-memory tables, to specify that this field is not a key value.

Insert excerpt
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nopaneltrue
 for in-memory tables, to specify that this field will be used as a key value. 

Translate Values 
Anchor
translate
translate

Insert excerpt
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nopaneltrue
 to ignore this attribute when translating text in PhixFlow (the default).

Insert excerpt
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nopaneltrue
 to include this attribute when translating text that appears in PhixFlow. To be translated, the attribute text must be included in a translation table; see Translating an Application Interface and Translation Table.

Cache Key

Enter an expression to be evaluated for each table item (data record) in the table. The expression can:

  • either use the value of this attribute
  •  or calculate a different value

Once calculated, the cache key value persists throughout subsequent table calculation, rather than being created from scratch for each table item as normal. This allows you to keep track of the calculation as it progresses.

This means you can use a "persistent" attribute value in other expressions. 

Access Permissions

For details about how to control access to an attribute, see Common Properties → Access Permissions.

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attributes
attributes
Attribute Types

All attributes have a data type. When loading data from a source, such as a file or database, PhixFlow applies the data type from the source. If there is no data type specified, PhixFlow applies the default type of string.

You can change the type of an attribute before the data has been loaded into the table.

Once the table contains records, you may be able to change the attribute's data type, depending on the database on which PhixFlow runs. PhixFlow reports an error if you are not permitted to change the data type. In this case you can rollback all record-sets so that the table no longer contains records; see Rollback.

String

Apply a string type to sequences of characters, such as letters, numerals, symbols and punctuation marks. By default string attribute types have a default length of 50. Specify a different string length in Basic Settings → Length.

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Bigstring
Bigstring
Bigstring

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The PhixFlow administrator can configure the length of a bigstring using System Configuration → System Tuning → Maximum Bigstring Size.

Integer

Apply an integer type to whole numbers (not a fractions or decimals) that can be positive, negative, or zero. By default integers have a precision of 10 digits. Specify a different integer length in the Basic Settings → Precision.

 If you store a number with decimal places as an integer it will be truncated.

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