This page is for data modellers and application designers who need to work with data in tables.

Overview

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

the repository. Attributes are listed under their table.
the Table properties → Attributes section
other attribute lists.

Property Pane Toolbar

For information about the toolbar options, see the Common Properties page, Toolbars and Controls section.

Properties Tab

Parent Details

If this item is within or belongs to another, it's parent name is shown here. See the Common Properties page, Parent Details section for more details.

Basic Settings

Field	Description
Name	Enter the name of the attribute. 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 type of data this attribute contains; see Understanding Data Types. 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 Figures	This field is available when Type is Decimal. Enter the maximum number of total digits for decimal numbers. By default decimals have 10 significant figures.	Example 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	Untick to keep both stream data and any result of using it in a calculation. Tick if you need to use the attribute in a stream calculation, but you do not need to keep the result.
Indexed	Untick to prevent this attribute being indexed in the PhixFlow database. Tick to index this attribute in the PhixFlow database. To improve performance, index an attribute when the stream has a large data set and an output pipe from the stream uses this attribute to: filter the stream data sort or group the stream data.
Primary Key	Tick indicates this attribute is a primary key. This means it contains a unique identifier for every record in the table.
Foreign Key	Tick indicates this attribute is a foreign key. This means and ERD links this attribute to a primary key attribute in an other table; see Understanding ERDs.
Display Name	Tick indicates the name of this attribute is used as the label rather than the primary key attribute name.
Order	The order of the attributes in the stream. 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.
Expression	The expression used to generate the attribute value. This is written as and expression; see Expressions and PhixScripts. It must evaluate to a single value, of the type specified in the Type field.

Advanced

Field	Description
Filter conditions are case-independent by default	Available when Basic Settings → Type is String or Bigstring. Untick to use filters that are case-sensitive. Tick 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. 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	Untick for in-memory stream, to specify that this field is not a key value. Tick for in-memory stream, to specify that this field will be used as a key value.
Translate Values	Available when Basic Settings → Type is String or Bigstring. Untick to ignore this attribute when translating text in PhixFlow (the default). Tick to include this attribute when translating text that appears in PhixFlow. To be translated, the attribute text must be included in a translation stream; see Translating an Application Interface and Translation Table.
Cache Key	Enter an expression to be evaluated for each stream-item (record) in the stream. The expression can: either use the value of this attribute or calculate a different value Once calculated, the cache key value persists throughout subsequent stream calculation, rather than being created from scratch for each stream-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.

Description

We recommend that you always enter a description to explain the purpose of this item.

Security Tab

Access Permissions

See the Common Properties page, Access Permissions section.

Audit Tab

Audit Summary

See the Common Properties page, Audit Summary section.

Sections on this page

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Terminology changes in progress

As part of the redesign of PhixFlow, we are changing the following terms:

dashboard → screen
stream → table
stream attributes → attributes
stream item → record
stream set → recordset
stream view → view
stream item action → record-action
stream action → table-action
driver class → database driver

Attribute