Structures

Structures are used when you have a common group of fields that you want displayed on multiple formats. For example, Incident Management has the following three structures defined in the problem database dictionary record:

• Header
• Middle
• Action

The fields defined in the header and action structures are designed for use in every problem format, regardless of the category. Instead of using the same input fields for each category format, specific formats are created and then invoked as a subformat on each category dialog. The fields defined on a given subformat may be of different type definitions.

Note: On the primary format, the input field defined as a structure is associated with the subformat containing some or all of the fields defined within that structure. Fields defined on the given subformat must be defined within the associated structure, but not all fields defined within the associated structure need to be contained on the given subformat.

Create a file called employee with many formats attached to the file (many different views depending on the user profile). A common group of these fields is displayed on all associated formats. To avoid redundant typing of the same fields on all formats, define a structure in your database dictionary record and create a separate format to contain this common group of fields.

Related topics

Structures
Fields within structures
Arrays
Arrayed structures
Alias fields
Adding a key
Methods for updating database dictionary records
Modifying a key
Methods for deleting database dictionary records
Deleting a key

Add a structure to the database dictionary
Add fields to a structure
Create an active database dictionary record