Extending application database tables

The user class definition is the highest level at which you can extend an application database table.

See Creating a User Class.

User-defined fields are generic and can be a part of many classes. If the user changes any property of a user-defined field, then all user classes inherit the change.

See Creating User Fields.

The user-extended table (UET) tools look for this association to place the user-defined fields in the form that belongs to the user class.

See Associating User Fields with a User Class.

Users who generate their own reports or browse through the classes can take advantage of using an index. This gives users the ability to define their own sorting process in reports. You do not need to define the index for a class, but if you do not, and you sort these fields in custom reports, then the system performance can slow down.

See Defining an Index for a Class.

The association between a table and a class provides the information that the UET needs to be able to retrieve, arrange, and display the user-defined fields that belong to a user class. To link the table with the class, define a rule that determines if the record accessed has a valid user class associated with it. If valid data is entered in existing fields to make the rule expression true, then the new user-defined field displays.

See Creating a Relationship Between a Database Table and a User Class.

Use the UET Impact Schema form to apply the changes you made in the previous steps to all affected databases. This step also updates the corresponding views over multi-site tables.

See Impacting the Schema.

Draw the user-defined fields on the forms that have extended tables associated with them. When the user-defined fields are placed on the form, they act like any other existing field.

See Drawing UET Fields on Forms.