General Template Fields Tables
Template Field catalog
When a Global or Subledger Template is saved, STEPforward stores the list of fields used by the Template in the system catalog table named SF_SYSMasterTemplateFields of the following structure:
Column | Generalized data type | Use |
TemplateName | VARCHAR(8) | Name of the base Template |
CloneName | VARCHAR(8) | Name of the Template clone |
Type | CHAR(1) | Template type (Base or Clone) |
IdNumber | SMALLINT | Id number of the field |
UserName | VARCHAR(30) | User name of the field |
Action | TINYINT | Run-time action of the field |
AuditControl | LOGICAL | Flag to control use of the field at TX data entry time |
SubledgerNumber | LOGICAL | Flag to track fields of Subledger Number type |
SubDataType | TINYINT | Type of data accepted by Subledger Number field |
LinkNo | SMALLINT | Number of the link for linked fields |
Location | VARCHAR(8) | Name of the source Template for link |
Mandatory | LOGICAL | Flag to track mandatory data input in the field |
DataPrecision | TINYINT | Number of decimal places for numeric field |
ValueList | SMALLINT | Id number of the Value List attached to the field |
SF_TimeStamp | SMALLINT | Version of the row (incremented with each update) |
Notes:
The table contains one row for each Field/Template pair used by STEPforward. If the Template has clones, each clone provides its own set of rows, listing all fields used in it.
Type is a one-character code that marks the Template as being of the base (B) or clone (C) type.
IdNumber is the id number of the field that is unique for each Template Domain. That is, the same id number can be used for the Transaction field and the Global or Subledger field; however, within each template category the id numbers are unique.
UserName is the displayed name of the field (in contrast to the system name that is used to form the name of the table column). When a field with the given id number is used in a number of different Templates or their clones, all basic characteristics of the field are preserved (such as the field system name and data type), but the user name of the field can vary from one Template to another.
Action is a numeric code that determines the run-time behavior of the field in the given Template/clone. The following codes are used by STEPforward for the field actions:
Code | Action |
0 | Empty the field on new record entry and accept the I-beam when it tabs into the field |
1 | Preserve old contents when primed up for the new record entry and accept I-beam when it tabs into the field |
2 | Preserve old contents when primed up for the new record entry and move I-beam to the next connected field when it tabs into the field |
3 | Skip to the next connected field when the I-beam tabs into the field |
4 | Lock the field (make it non-editable) |
254 | Show a display-only field as a button |
255 | Show a display-only field as a non-editable text field |
LinkNo is a non-zero number assigned to all linked fields in the Template/clone that belong to the same train (i.e. originate from the same source Template). Fields that are not linked have LinkNo set to 0.
Location is the name of the Source Template for the linked fields. Fields that are not linked have Location set to an empty string.
Mandatory column determines whether the field can be empty for the record to be saved.
DataPrecision carries the number of decimal places displayed by the fields of FLOAT or MONEY data type. Note that the internal representation of data in the database table is not dependent on this parameter; rather, the human-readable form of the field's contents is formatted with the prescribed number of decimal places when the field is set to a specific value. The DataPrecision value is ignored for the fields of other data types.
ValueList is the id number of the Value List (as recorded in SF_SYSStandardValues table) that is attached to the field. If no Value List is attached (i.e. the field's contents is editable rather than selectable from the list), the ValueList is set to -1.
The following three columns are used only with the fields that belong to Subledger Templates:
AuditControl is a flag that determines whether or not the field will contribute its contents to the process of formatting the audit control text during the transaction data entry.
SubledgerNumber is a flag that marks the field as the one that holds the subledger number.
SubDataType is used only with the fields that are marked as SubledgerNumber types. It determines the type of characters that can be entered in the field and may have the following values:
Type | Contents |
1 | Any alphanumeric character |
2 | Numeric characters (digits from 0 to 9) only |
The following is a partial sample of contents of SF_SYSMasterTemplateFields table:
TemplateName CloneName Type IdNumber UserName SubledgerNumber LinkNo Location
------------ --------- ---- -------- -------------------- --------------- ------ --------
Allocate 205 Allocation Prefix 0 0
Allocate 206 Allocation GL 0 0
Area 68 Area 0 0
Area 69 Area Description 0 0
BankRec 208 Payee / Description 0 0
BankRec 209 Source Name 0 0
BankRec 210 Issued Amount 0 0
BankRec 211 Issue Date 0 0
BankRec 212 Reference 0 0
BankRec 213 Date Cleared 0 0
BankRec 214 Days To Clear 0 0
BankRec 217 loadBankData 0 0
CardFile 1 Customer 1 1 Names
CardFile 8 Product Code 0 3 PCodes
CardFile 12 Product Description 0 3 PCodes
CardFile 16 Name 0 1 Names
CardFile 60 Route 0 4 Route
CardFile 61 Driver's Name 0 4 Route
CardFile 68 Area 0 2 Area
CardFile 69 Area Description 0 2 Area
General Field catalog
Every data field used in the Global and Subledger Templates is recorded in the system catalog table named SF_SYSMasterInputFields of the following structure:
Column | Generalized data type | Use |
SystemName | VARCHAR(30) | System name of the field |
UserName | VARCHAR(30) | User name of the field |
SF_DataType | TINYINT | Type of data the field stores |
Width | SMALLINT | Size of the field (max number of characters) |
IdNumber | SMALLINT | Id number of the field |
SF_TimeStamp | SMALLINT | Version of the row (incremented with each update) |
Notes:
The table contains one row for each Global and Subledger data field used by STEPforward.
SystemName is the name of the field that conforms to the syntactic requirements of the column naming convention of the RDBMS. SystemName is assigned to the column in the Template table when the Template is saved.
UserName is the name of the field that appears in the field title when the Template is displayed at the data entry time. While more than one user name may be associated with the given field (identified by its system name and id number), only the first saved occurrence of the user name is recorded in SF_SYSMasterInputFields table.
SF_DataType is the code of the data type carried by the field. The following is the list of all data types supported by STEPforward in the generalized, RDBMS-independent form:
Data type | Value | Use |
DATE | 0 | Calendar date type |
TEXT | 1 | Character string type |
INTEGER | ![]() | ![]() |
FLOAT | 3 | Floating point (8-byte double) type |
MONEY | 4 | Money type |
LOGICAL | 6 | Logical flag type |
ACCPERIOD | 7 | Accounting Period type |
GLPREFIX | 9 | GL Prefix type |
GLNUMBER | 10 | GL Number type |
TIME | 11 | Time type |
SHORT | 12 | 2-byte integer type |
TINY | 13 | 1-byte integer type |
NOTE | 18 | Large text type (BLOB) |
IMAGE | 19 | Image type (BLOB) |
SLNUMBER | 20 | Subledger Number type |
Width is the number of characters (alpha or numeric) that can be entered into the field.
IdNumber is a unique id number assigned to the field.
The following is a partial sample of contents of SF_SYSMasterInputFields table:
SystemName UserName SF_DataType Width IdNumber
-------------------- -------------------- ----------- ----- --------
Card_Effective_Date Effective Date 0 20 81
Invoice_Date Invoice Date 0 40 146
state_short St 1 2 13
Alt_St Alt St 1 2 53
Product_Group_Code PGC 1 2 119
Package_Content Package Content 1 255 193
Invoice_Number Invoice Number 2 40 145
discount_rate Discount Rate 3 20 26
Unit_Price_Modifier Unit Price Modifier 3 40 124
Credit_Limit Credit Limit 4 40 121
Unit_Price Unit Price 4 40 128
Price Price 4 40 176
Issued_Amount Issued Amount 4 40 210
use_tax Tax Charged? 6 20 33
ten_ninety_nine 1099 Required? 6 20 34
Quantity Quantity 12 20 76
Units_per_Package Units / Package 12 40 194
Qty_Garments Qty Garments 12 40 201
Expected_Turns Expected Turns 12 40 216
net_days Net Days 13 20 24
discount_days Discount Days 13 20 25
Route Route 13 20 60
Day_of_Week Day of Week 13 20 70
vendor_notes Vendor Note Field 18 20 31
AR_Remarks_1 Remarks 1 18 20 65
SP_Remarks SP Remarks 18 20 67
Other_Employee_Data Other Employee Data 18 20 111
SF_SubledgerNumber Type 20 20 1
Indexing
The following index is created on SF_SYSMasterInputFields table (the exact syntax of the CREATE INDEX command varies from one RDBMS to another; the following example shows the command formatted for Sybase):
create uniqu index SF_FieldName on SF_SYSMasterInputFields (SystemName)