Data Description Editor overview

Data Description Editor (DDE) is a tool that enables you to create and edit user-defined descriptions and labels for data items.

These descriptions and labels are then displayed as captions on forms, in place of the original system text or data dictionary text.

This is useful if you need to amend all captions on all forms where a particular data item is used. The change can be made once using Data Description Editor (DDE) and is reflected on all forms using the associated data item when they are recompiled. Undertaking such a task in Form Designer would necessitate the amendment of individual forms using the data item.

The default shortcut for Data Description Editor is DDE.

The order of precedence for the display of captions, when the text type in Form Designer is set to System Text or Data Dictionary Text, is:

  1. User defined label - displayed as New Label in Data Description Editor (DDE)
  2. User defined description - displayed as New Description in Data Description Editor (DDE)
  3. Label
  4. Description.

Data Description Editor (DDE) cannot be used to create or edit text used for:

  • Forms that are not associated with particular business units
  • Form titles
  • Selections available within combo boxes
  • Selections available within action menus