AX1576

Product data sets

Product data sets can be used to define a set of table columns that belong to a particular product. The data set can then be referenced by column editing utilities that focus on a particular product.

Product data sets are typically created by product developers and then delivered to clients using a product package. For clients, your system may or may not have existing product data sets, depending on whether packaged products have been installed.

Product data sets are defined as part of table management activities. Within the Edit Table dialog, you can assign columns to existing product data sets, and you can create new data sets. When you create a product data set, you define a name to describe the collection of columns and you specify which columns belong to that data set. Typically the data set name is a version of the product name, such as Budget or CapPlan.

Only the following users can create, edit, and delete product data sets:

  • Administrators
  • Users with the Administer Tables security permission
  • Users with the Allow changing table structure security permission for a table

If a column is already assigned to one or more product data sets, you can see those data sets listed in the Product Data Sets property on the Columns tab of the Edit Table dialog.

To report on which columns belong to certain data sets, you can create an Axiom query to the system table Axiom.ProductColumns.

NOTE: If a column applies to all products, then you can leave it unassigned rather than assigning it to all product data sets. When querying the Axiom.ProductColumns table, you can choose to query unassigned columns as well as assigned columns.

Adding a product data set

You can create as many product data sets as you need. Data sets can be created from scratch, or you can clone an existing data set.

To create a new product data set:

  1. On the Axiom tab, in the Administration group, click Tables > Table Administration > Manage Tables.

    The Axiom Explorer dialog opens, with the focus on the Table Library.

  2. In the Table Library folder, right-click any table and then click Edit table structure.

  3. On the Columns tab, click Assign Column to Data Sets.

  4. In the Data Set Assignment dialog, click Launch Data Set Manager.

  5. In the Data Set Manager dialog, click New .

  6. At the top of the Data Set Editor dialog, define the following:

    • Name: The data set name should relate to a defined Axiom product. For example, the name might be CapPlan for the Capital Planning product. These names will be used when filtering queries to the Axiom.ProductColumns system table.

    • Description: The description is for data set managers only, to explain the purpose of the data set. The description does not display to end users.

  7. At the bottom of the Data Set Editor dialog, select the columns to include in the data set.

    You can select all of the columns in a particular table by selecting the check box next to the table name, or you can expand the table name and select individual columns in that table.

    To make it easier to find specific columns that you want to select, you can filter the list of tables by using the table classification check boxes at the top of the list, or by typing filter text into the box above the list.

  8. Click OK to save.

To clone an existing product data set:

  1. Follow steps 1-4 of the previous task to access the Data Set Manager dialog.

  2. In the Data Set Manager dialog, select the data set that you want to copy, and then click Clone .

    The Data Set Editor dialog opens, populated with the settings from the cloned data set. The name of the data set is incremented by a number to prevent duplicate data set names.

  3. Edit the data set properties as desired.

  4. Click OK to save.

Editing a product data set

To edit a product data set:

  1. On the Axiom tab, in the Administration group, click Tables > Table Administration > Manage Tables.

    The Axiom Explorer dialog opens, with the focus on the Table Library.

  2. In the Table Library folder, right-click any table and then click Edit table structure.

  3. On the Columns tab, click Assign Column to Data Sets.

  4. In the Data Set Assignment dialog, click Launch Data Set Manager.

  5. In the Data Set Manager dialog, select the data set that you want to edit, and then click Edit.
  6. In the Data Set Editor dialog, edit the data set properties as desired.
  7. Click OK to save.

Deleting a product data set

If a product data set was delivered with a packaged product, then clients should not delete that data set unless they are instructed to do so by Axiom Support.

To delete a product data set:

  1. On the Axiom tab, in the Administration group, click Tables > Table Administration > Manage Tables.

    The Axiom Explorer dialog opens, with the focus on the Table Library.

  2. In the Table Library folder, right-click any table and then click Edit table structure.

  3. On the Columns tab, click Assign Column to Data Sets.

  4. In the Data Set Assignment dialog, click Launch Data Set Manager.

  5. In the Data Set Manager dialog, select the data set that you want to delete, and then click Delete.

    You are prompted to confirm that you want to delete the data set.

  6. Click OK to delete.

Assigning columns to a product data set

There are two different ways that columns can be assigned to a product data set:

  • You can assign a column to a data set when creating or editing the data set, as described in the previous sections.
  • After the data set has been created, you can assign a specific column to it by using the Data Set Assignment dialog.

To assign a column to an existing data set:

  1. On the Axiom tab, in the Administration group, click Tables > Table Administration > Manage Tables.

    The Axiom Explorer dialog opens, with the focus on the Table Library.

  2. In the Table Library folder, right-click any table and then click Edit table structure.

  3. On the Columns tab, select the column that you want to assign to one or more data sets. Then, click Assign Column to Data Sets.

  4. In the Data Set Assignment dialog, select the check boxes for the data sets that you want this column to belong to.

    The name of the column that you are currently configuring displays at the top of the dialog. You can select any product data set to include the column in that data set.

    TIP: If the data set that you want the column to belong to has not yet been created, you can click the Launch Data Set Manager button to create a new data set and assign columns to it.

  5. Click OK to save.