Data Fields

Data fields hold private data for internal use by the form. You can consider them as a local or private scratchpad area.

Their values are not returned via parameters unless you specifically arrange for them to be returned. You can do this by using bindings, computations, or by passing them to setValue() API calls on parameters or components. You can use data fields in many ways, such as implementing OK or Cancel behavior for a modal dialog. For example, you may want to roll back the form changes on Cancel, or to commit them on OK by using data fields, events, and API methods.

The Context Menu of a data field allows you to delete, copy, or rename the data field in the data model. Right-clicking on the Data node provides an option to add a new data field.

Tip: Selecting a data field in the tree mode of the Outline view is the only way to access the Properties view for the data field.

Data Fields Summary Table

The data fields summary table provides an overview of the data fields. To see each data field in the current project, select the Data node in the Outline view, followed by the Data Fields tab in the Properties view.

The Data fields summary table has the following columns:

  • Name
    Name of the data field. To edit the name, click anywhere within the Name cell and edit the contents.
  • Label
    Editable label of the data field.
  • Edit
    Displays the text Edit as a hyperlink. When clicked, will navigate to the configuration property screen for that data field.
  • Type
    Displays the primitive type of the data field. When clicked, a drop-down list becomes available, and you can select one of the predefined primitive types, or select External Reference to choose a BOM type from a user-defined business object model.
  • Array
    Check box that sets the array attribute of the data field.
  • External Reference
    Displays the external reference associated with the data field. Clicking the external reference enables the picker button, which displays a list of available user-defined BOM types for that data field.