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- the repository. Attributes are listed under their table
- the Table properties → Attributes table
- other attribute lists.
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Basic Settings
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Enter the name of the attribute.
| Tip |
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PhixFlow recognises the attribute name |
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Select the attribute type for the data.
- String
- Bigstring
- Integer
- Float
- Decimal
- Date
- Datetime
- Graphic
- TrueFalse
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Length
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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.
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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.
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| Panel | ||||||||
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To specify numbers must have two digits before and after the decimal point, such as 12.34, enter: Significant Figures Decimal Places |
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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.
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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.
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Advanced
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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.
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| Note |
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| 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. |
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| Insert excerpt | ||||||||
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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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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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Apply a bigstring type to text strings over 4000 characters long. Bigstring is a different data type to string. For PhixFlow instances that use an Oracle database, bigstrings:
- cannot be sorted or aggregated
- can only be filtered with the conditions:
(not) containsis (not) null(not) starts with(not) ends with.
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.
Float
Apply a float type to non-integer numbers with an undefined level of precision.
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Apply a decimal type to non-integer numbers with a set level of precision. Decimals have a specific number of:
- significant figures: the total number of digits stored,
- decimal places: the number of digits after the decimal place.
The maximum number of integer digits is therefore the significant figure minus the decimal places. By default, decimals have 10 significant figures and 2 decimal places, and therefore 8 integer digits.
If the number of integer digits present in a decimal field exceeds the specified format, running analysis will fail and PhixFlow will report an error.
If the number of decimal digits present in a decimal field exceeds the specified format, PhixFlow will round to the required precision. For example, if a data record includes the number 12.3456, but the decimal type can have 4 significant figures and 2 decimal places, PhixFlow records 12.35.
| Note |
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Ensure your decimal type has the number of decimal places you need for your data. Once the data is loaded into PhixFlow, you will not be able to recover excess decimal places. |
The PhixFlow administrator can configure the default number of decimal places is set in System Configuration → General Settings → Decimal places.
Date
Apply a date type to representations of a calendar day. Word formats, such as Tuesday the fourteenth of February are not recognised. However, three letter month abbreviations are recognised, for example: 14 Feb 2019.
The following date formats, have:
- y represents year digits
- M represents month digits or MMM represents three letters
- d represents day digits
- separators can be forward slash / hyphen - or a space.
The default number of date format is set in System Configuration → General Settings → Default Date Format.
If the System Configuration or Number Format option to Suppress Trailing Zeroes is set, PhixFlow will display decimals and floating point numbers without trailing zeroes.
Recognised Date Formats
- the international standard format has not separators and is yyyyMMdd, for example 20190214.
- the following variations (examples shown with space separators).
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Datetime
Apply a datetime type to representations of a day and a time. It cannot be used to represent a time alone.
Datetimes can have any of the above date formats followed by a space separator and HH:mm:ss. for example MM/dd/yy HH:mm:ss represents a datetime such as 02/14/19 15:35:06.
- H represents hour digits (24 hour)
- m represents minute digits
- s represents second digits
- time separators are colons :
The international datetime uses a full stop/period as a separator between the date and time, yyyyMMdd.HHmmss, for example 20190214.15:35:06.
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The default number of date format is set in System Configuration → General Settings → Default Date/Time Format.
Graphic
Apply a graphic type to fields that contain image files.
True or False Values
Apply the Basic Settings → Type of TrueFalse to fields that can have the values that represent true or false.
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