Creating a User Entity description

In this tab, you complete the fields of the User Entity whose structure is defined in the Meta Entity it is related to.

About this task

There are several possibilities to complete the fields of the User Entity. You can either add all the fields in a Data Element description or add the fields one by one. You can also enter the required fields only with a cardinality 1-1.

Procedure

  1. Open the Description tab of a User Entity.
  2. When you open a new User Entity, the structure table is empty. You must then carry out one of the following actions:
    • Insert all the fields at once. Click Add all Fields to duplicate the structure that is defined in the Meta Entity. The root Data Aggregate is then displayed at the top level of a tree structure. The other Data Aggregates are displayed at lower levels with all their Data Element descriptions.
    • Insert the fields one by one as follows:
      1. Click Add Field to display the root Data Aggregate.
      2. Click Add Field again. It opens a selection box in which you can select the child Data Element Aggregate of your choice.
      3. Click Add value. Then, click either Add all Fields to add all the fields that are defined in the Meta Entity for this Data Aggregate description, or click Add Field to select one field in the selection box. If mandatory fields are defined in your Meta Entity, click Add Required Fields to display them in your Data Element Aggregate. Otherwise, an error is notified.
        Note: You can duplicate a Data Aggregate and the fields it contains by using Copy and Paste in the menu.
  3. Enter values that fit the description of the Meta Entity to prevent errors. To do so, click the field and then the value column, and enter a value.
    • The lines that contain unique, sort, or identifier fields, or whose type is string, byte, or reference in the Meta Entity, include a button that is displayed when you click their value column cell. It is used to enter a series of values or to select an entity for a field that is identified as a reference.

      Two other buttons are displayed on the byte type lines. Click the first one to export the field to a file in your browser. Click the second one to import a file from the browser to the field.

      For the reference fields, the Add an undefined instance button is also displayed. You use it to set the reference to an undefined instance in the current network. If you click the button, a creation wizard opens. This wizard contains the following fields:
      • Entity type. You must select the type of entity whose instance you want to create. Only the entity types that are selected in the Meta Entity can be selected.
      • Package. The package is optional.
      • Meta Entity. You enter this field if you select Pac User Entity in the Entity type field. You must then enter the name of its Meta Entity.
      • Name. Enter the name of the undefined instance that constitutes the target of the relation.
      Click OK. The undefined instance is displayed in the Value column. An error message or a warning is displayed on the line, according to whether the relation was declared constrained or not in the Composition tab of the Meta Entity.
    • For a Data Aggregate, the Value column automatically shows the mandatory fields and their values.
    • If you want to display a selection of fields in the User Entity content, enter their names followed by a space in Field Path Filter. Select Show field name to see the labels and names of the fields that are displayed in the User Entity.
  4. A table is displayed in the Description detail section for each Data Aggregate Description that contains multiple values. Simple fields only are displayed (integer, decimal, date, string, float, byte, timestamp, reference with a maximum cardinality to 1) in the Data Aggregate Description. Each column corresponds to a description. If you click a column cell, the default value that is indicated in the Meta Entity is displayed. However, it can be modified by entering directly another value or by opening a dialog box for longer values. Click + to add other lines in the table or − to delete them.

Results

Figure 1. Example of Description Detail table with multiple values for simple fields in a Data Aggregate Description Table used to enter/modify the values in the simple fields of a Data Aggregate Description with multiple values

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