This chapter describes creating the schema for a Runtime Connection table.
This is similar to creating a template form for the user input, or defining a schema for the hosted table.

Creating a new Runtime Connection

Select a folder and click the Create Runtime Connection icon :

ARC create click

The Create Runtime Connection dialog appears, and lets you configure the name, schema and options of the table.
See below for the detailed properties

Name and Description

The Name (compulsory) will be used to identify this Runtime Connection.
The Description allows you to optionally add some complementary information.

ARC Schema name description

Behavior when adding data

Data push mode

ARC schema mode

The Data push mode defines how new data will be added to the table :

  • Append : each a new entry will be appended to the existing table. The first (oldest) entries will be removed if they exceed the Max rows count parameter.
  • Replace : each a new entry will completely replace the previous data in the table : all previous rows are removed.

Note : With the Replace mode, you can add multiple rows at the same time if you push data using the web API.

Max rows count

ARC schema rows count

This defines a limit to the table size.

Auto fields

ARC schema autofields

Some fields can optionally be included in the data and filled automatically by Alpana :

  • Last Edition Date : will always contain the date/time when the row was last created or edited
  • Last Editor Username : will contain the username of the last User who created or edited the row
  • Input Dashboard : if the row was created from a Dashboard directly, this will contain the Dashboard name

Adding/Removing fields to the schema

Adding a field

ARC schema add field

To add a new field to the schema, click the Add Field button, and select the desired field type in the dropdown menu (see below for details on each field type) :

  • String
  • Number
  • Boolean
  • Date/Time
  • List of choices

Editing a field

After adding a field, a new foldable section is created accordingly.
You can click on the arrow icon to fold/unfold the section :

ARC schema field fold

The section will contain properties detailed below.

Field name

Each field must have a name.

Removing a field

To remove a field, click the trash icon in the section header :

ARC schema field remove

Field configuration properties

Each field can be configured with some properties listed below.
These properties and their meaning depend on the field type.

String

A String field will contain a free-form text value.

Allow null

ARC schema allow null configure

When a field is configured to Allow null values, then the user can omit filling-in the field in the form, and the data row will contain a NULL value for this field.
If this is configured to be false, then the field is compulsory, and the user must input a value.

Default value

A Default value can pre-filled when opening the input form :

ARC schema default string configure

Max length

The limit on the length of the input string can be configured :

ARC schema maxlen configure

Number

A Number field will contain a real or integer number.

Allow null

ARC schema allow null configure

When a field is configured to Allow null values, then the user can omit filling-in the field in the form, and the data row will contain a NULL value for this field.
If this is configured to be false, then the field is compulsory, and the user must input a value.

Default value

A Default value can pre-filled when opening the input form :

ARC schema default number configure

Min value / Max value

A minimum and/or maximum value can be enforced for the number input :

ARC schema minmax number configure

Boolean

A Boolean field will contain a true/false value.

Allow null

ARC schema allow null configure

When a field is configured to Allow null values, then the user can omit filling-in the field in the form, and the data row will contain a NULL value for this field.
If this is configured to be false, then the field is compulsory, and the user must input a value.

Default value

A Default value can pre-filled when opening the input form :

ARC schema default bool configure

Date/Time

A Date/Time field will contain a timestamp composed of a date and a time.

Allow null

ARC schema allow null configure

When a field is configured to Allow null values, then the user can omit filling-in the field in the form, and the data row will contain a NULL value for this field.
If this is configured to be false, then the field is compulsory, and the user must input a value.

Default value

A Default value can pre-filled when opening the input form, and configured by selecting from a calendar :

ARC schema default datetime configure

Min date / Max date

A minimum and/or maximum date can be enforced for the input.
This means that the user will not be able to input dates before or after these limits :

ARC schema minmax date configure

Allow future

This parameter decides if it is allowed to select dates from the future or not :

ARC schema allow future configure

List of choices

A List of choices field will contain a list of possible values from which the user can select.
The list of values can be entered in free-form during the configuration, or use a published Data Source to point to data from a database.

Use datasource : getting the list from a Data Source

When this is true, the list of possible values proposed to the user during input will be collected from the field of a published Data Source.

You must select a Datasource from the published Data Sources :

ARC schema datasource select configure

Then select a field from that Data Source, which will be use to retrieve the list of proposed values for input :

ARC schema datasource field configure

Finally, you can view the current list of Values that would be proposed to the user :

ARC schema values from data source

Don’t Use datasource : using a custom list

When the Use datasource option is set to false, the list of choices proposed to the user can be configured using the multi-line text input called Values :

ARC schema list values configure

Each separate line of text defines a separate choice proposed for entry.

Default value

A Default value can pre-filled when opening the input form, and selected from the available choices :

ARC schema default choice configure

Allow null

ARC schema allow null configure

When a field is configured to Allow null values, then the user can omit filling-in the field in the form, and the data row will contain a NULL value for this field.
If this is configured to be false, then the field is compulsory, and the user must input a value.

Last modified: Apr 18, 2023

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