Searching the Help
To search for information in the Help, type a word or phrase in the Search box. When you enter a group of words, OR is inferred. You can use Boolean operators to refine your search.
Results returned are case insensitive. However, results ranking takes case into account and assigns higher scores to case matches. Therefore, a search for "cats" followed by a search for "Cats" would return the same number of Help topics, but the order in which the topics are listed would be different.
Words and Phrases
| Search for | Example | Results |
|---|---|---|
| A single word | cat
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Topics that contain the word "cat". You will also find its grammatical variations, such as "cats". |
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A phrase. You can specify that the search results contain a specific phrase. |
"cat food" (quotation marks) |
Topics that contain the literal phrase "cat food" and all its grammatical variations. Without the quotation marks, the query is equivalent to specifying an OR operator, which finds topics with one of the individual words instead of the phrase. |
Using Boolean Operators
| Search for | Operator | Example |
|---|---|---|
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Two or more words in the same topic |
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| Either word in a topic |
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| Topics that do not contain a specific word or phrase |
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| Topics that contain one string and do not contain another | ^ (caret) |
cat ^ mouse
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| A combination of search types | ( ) parentheses |
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Fields and Keys tab
The Fields and Keys tab describes the properties of all fields and keys in a Service Manager table. For administrators, this tab gathers field-related tasks into a central point of access.
The Fields and Keys tab contains the following sections and links. Some sections or links may not appear unless they relate to the selected field.
| Section or link | Description | Button or property | Button functionality | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fields section | View, add, delete, or edit a field or array. A question mark decorator on the field icon indicates that there is a default help record for the field. | New field | Create a field in the tree. | Each field must a have Service Manager data type. To create a new array use the New Array option first and then add fields to the array. |
| Delete | Remove a field. | Unavailable if the table contains records or the field is a key. | ||
| New array | Create an array and a child node (inner field) that has the same name and an unspecified data type. | You must choose a type for the child node after you save the array. | ||
| Search field | Search for a field or alias that contains a specified string value. | Look for the field by name, partial name, index value, alias, or Web Services API name. | ||
| Section or link | Description | Button or property | Button functionality | Comments |
| Keys section | View, add, delete, or edit keys. | New | Create a new empty key. | You must choose a key type after you save it. |
| Delete | Remove a key. | |||
| Up | Move the key position up. | Not available for the first key. | ||
| Down | Move the key position down. | Not available for the last key. | ||
| Section or link | Description | Button or property | Button functionality | Comments |
| General properties section (fields and arrays) |
View or edit the Service Manager definition of fields and arrays. The System Definition utility displays these properties when you select a field. | Name | Unique field name. | |
| Type | Specify the Service Manager data type of the field. | The Service Manager data types are abstractions of the RDBMS data types. | ||
| Index | Identifies the order field within the Service Manager definition. | The index of an unsaved field is -1 until you save the field. | ||
| Caption | Specify an optional default label for this field. | Forms Designer uses this value to create default column labels and chart titles. If you omit this information, Forms Designer creates a caption from the field name. | ||
| Unique in domain | Appears only for a field in a structured array. | |||
| Rename the field | Click to change the field name. Proceed with caution. Renaming a field can invalidate existing queries. | If Service Manager has add permissions on the back-end RDBMS, it automatically creates the new field. Alternatively, the Service Manager administrator can provide the RDBMS administrators with DDL for field name change. | ||
| Create/Edit default help on this field | Click to open the field Help Editor where you can view, add, delete, or edit field Help content. Service Manager accesses this help record whenever the field appears in a form. | |||
| Search for specific help on this field in forms. | Link to the field Help Editor where you can click Search to view a list of other help records that will override the default help record for the field. The best practice is to create only one help record for each field. If you customize the same definition for each form where the field appears, field help maintenance increases dramatically. | |||
| Section or link | Description | Button or property | Button functionality | Comments |
| General properties section (keys) |
View or edit the Service Manager definition of keys. The System Definition utility displays these properties when you select a key. | Type | Specify the data type of the key. | Be sure to understand the data in the field before you change the Service Manager field type so that you can select a compatible data type. Hewlett-Packard recommends that you do not change the data type for any unique keys in out–of–box tables. |
| Add | Add a field to the key from a list of valid fields. | If Service Manager has add permissions on the back-end RDBMS, it automatically creates a new index based on the key. Alternatively, the Service Manager administrator can provide the RDBMS administrators with DDL for the new index. | ||
| Remove | Remove a field from the key. | If Service Manager has add and drop permissions on the back-end RDBMS, it automatically removes the existing index corresponding to the key and creates a new index. Alternatively, the Service Manager administrator can provide the RDBMS administrators with DDL for the new index after the key has been removed. | ||
| Up | Move the field up one level within the key. | If Service Manager has add and drop permissions on the back-end RDBMS, it automatically removes the existing index corresponding to the key and creates a new index. Alternatively, the Service Manager administrator can provide the RDBMS administrators with DDL for the updated index. | ||
| Down | Move the field down one level within the key. | If Service Manager has add and drop permissions on the back-end RDBMS, it automatically removes the existing index corresponding to the key and creates a new index. Alternatively, the Service Manager administrator can provide the RDBMS administrators with DDL for the updated index. | ||
| Section or link | Description | Button or property | Button functionality | Comments |
| Aliases section | View, add, delete, or rename an alias for a field. | New | Creates a separate name (alias) that Service Manager applications can use to find the field. | Field aliases must be unique within a table. |
| Delete | Removes the selected field alias. | Deleting an alias does not delete the original field. | ||
| Rename | Renames the selected field alias | Field aliases must be unique within a table. | ||
| Section or link | Description | Button or property | Button functionality | Comments |
| SQL Mapping section | View or edit the SQL mapping of Service Manager fields in a back-end RDBMS. | SQL table alias | Type the 3 character name that Service Manager uses to identify what type of back-end RDBMS table the field definition relates to. For example, m1 refers to the first main table and a1 to the first alias table. | Service Manager uses this name to look up the actual table name from the RDBMS. |
| SQL field name | Type the name of the column in the back-end RDBMS you want to map to this field. | Make sure that the you do not use any special characters or reserved words that your RDBMS excludes. | ||
| SQL data type | Type the RDBMS data type you want to use for this field. You can leave this value blank for new fields and Service Manager will assign a default data type. | Do not include the length as part of the data type. Use the SQL data length field for this information. | ||
| SQL data length | Type the number characters you want this field to use. You can leave this value blank for new fields and Service Manager will assign a default data length. | Do not include the RDBMS data type as part of the field length. Use the SQL data type field for this information. | ||
| Section or link | Description | Button or property | Button functionality | Comments |
| Data policy section | View or edit data policy rules for a field. | Default value | Specify a default value for the field. | Not valid for a field in a structured array. Enter an expression by preceding it with a carat (^). For example, ^operator() specifies that the field contains the current user log-on name. |
| Data encrypted | Encrypt the data in the field. | Not valid for a field in a structured array. | ||
| Match table | Specify the name of a table that has a key relationship with the new field. | Not valid for a field in a structured array. | ||
| Match field | Specify the name of the field within the match table that has a key relationship. | Not valid for a field in a structured array. | ||
| Section or link | Description | Button or property | Button functionality | Comments |
| Editing rules section | Describes the rules for viewing or editing a field. Specify true, false, or a Boolean expression. | Mandatory | The field must appear if the value is true. | Not valid for a field in a structured array. |
| Validation rule | Specify the Boolean expression that must be true for the field to appear. | Not valid for a field in a structured array. | ||
| Read-only | The field cannot change if the value is true. | Not valid for a field in a structured array. | ||
| Invisible | The field must not appear if the value is true. | Not valid for a field in a structured array. | ||
| Available in lists | The field must appear in a list if the value is true. | Not valid for a field in a structured array. | ||
| Section or link | Description | Button or property | Button functionality | Comments |
| Structured array properties | Create a separate table that you can access independently. For example, the computer table contains structured arrays that you can access directly through System Definition > Table Editor. | Separate table | Check to create a table that you can access through the Table Definition section of the System Navigator. | Valid only for a field in a structured array. |
| Unique table | The name of the separated table. This name is parent_table_name+structured_array_name+uniq. For example: computerdriversuniq. | Valid only for a field in a structured array. | ||
| Attribute table | The name of the attribute table. This name is parent_table_name+structured_array_name+attr. For example: computerdriversattr. | Valid only for a field in a structured array. | ||
| Section or link | Description | Button or property | Button functionality | Comments |
| IR properties | View or edit information retrieval rules for the table. This section appears only when you select the IR key definition for the table. |
Condition | Specify a Boolean expression that must be true if a table is searchable. | |
| Detail form | Specify the form that displays any record in the list generated by a query. | |||
| List form | Specify the form that displays the record list generated by a query. | |||
| Return field | Specify the name of the field to be written back to the data source. |
If you make any changes to fields or keys, click Save.
Related concepts
Related tasks
Add a field to a table
Edit a field in a table
Edit a record key
