Table Format

The Table Format contains complete information about a table. It may exist independently from a Data Table. You can create several Data Tables using the same Table Format. When you add a new (empty) record to such a table, every field in it will initially contain a default value, as specified by the Table Format. If the field is defined as "nullable", the value can also be NULL (i.e, no value).

The Table Format is most commonly used in the following cases:

To define the format for a context variable,
To define the format for the input and output values of context functions,
To define the format for a Data Table associated with an event.

Table format defines the following table properties:

Property	Description
Minimal and Maximal Record Count	The number of records should be within this range, otherwise the table will be treated as invalid.
Fields	Each row in this property defines a field of the data table. See Field Format below to see the available properties.
Reorderable	This flag indicates that records in this table may be swapped (re-ordered) during table processing
Unresizeable	This flag indicates that users cannot add or remove rows when editing the table.
Record Validators	Rules for validating every record in a table. These are used internally and are not user-configurable.
Table Validators	Rules for validating the whole table. These are used internally and are not user-configurable.
Bindings	A list of data bindings that define how the values in the table are changed when other table cells, or environment variables, are changed during table processing.
Encoding	Not configurable by the user. Displays the data table format encoded as a string.
Naming Expression	An Expression that defines how the table is presented to the users in the interface. It must return a string that will be user as the table's description.
	Data Table Naming Expression Resolution Environment:
	Default Context	None.
	Default Data Table	The table whose naming expression is being evaluated.
	Default Row	0
	Environment Variables	Standard variables only.

Field Format

The Table Format consists of several Field Format descriptors describing each field. Most of these descriptors are never configured by the user (or administrator). They're internal settings and are only covered here for reference.

Field properties:

Property	Description
Name	Field name.
Type	Data type of the field. See Field Types for a description of possible options.
Description	Textual field description.
Default	Default value of the field. You can omit this only if the field is nullable (see below).
Read-Only	Indicates that the values in this field are read-only.
Nullable	Flag indicating that field can contain NULL ("Undefined") values.
Non-Replicatable	Flag indicating that field should be skipped during Data Table Smart Copy operation.
Key	Flag indicating that all values in the field must be unique. Key fields force the Data Table Smart Copy operation to employ a special copy algorithm.
Selection Values	List of values that can be selected for the field via a drop-down menu. A description must be defined for each value. Descriptions are shown when displaying the table to a user, and the values are available when the cell is referenced inside Iotellect.
Extendable Selection Values	Flag indicating the field may be set to any value, including ones not listed in Selection Values.
Hidden	The setting hides the field in the UI, but it remains accessible at the data model level.
Inline	This flag has special meaning for different fields: If the Inline flag is set for a Data Block field, the field value will be stored in a dedicated database table. The value will not be initially loaded if the table itself is loaded from the database and sent to a Iotellect Client or external application. The Data Block value will, however, contain a data block ID that can be used to force loading the Data Block data from the server database. This is suitable for large binary values, such as image, sound, and video files. If Inline flag is set for a Color field, field value will be used to highlight records of the table when it's being viewed/edited in a Data Table Editor. It's often feasible to combine Inline flag with a Hidden flag to hide the Color field itself from the table. See the Row Coloring section below for more information. If Inline flag is set for a Data Table field, default value of the field will have same format as format of the table to which the field belongs. This effectively enables creation of tables with unlimited nesting using Data Table Editor.
Encrypted	Enables database-level field value encryption.
Help	Contents of the pop-up which is displayed to the user when hovering over a field.
Editor/Viewer	This parameter defines how the field is shown and modified in the user interface. Allowed editor/viewer codes are listed and described here.
Editor Options	Editor/viewer options that allow fine-tuning rendering of field values in the UI. Syntax of option strings for different editor/renderer types are described here.
Validators	List of validators used to check if value is suitable for the field, as well as validator options. Iotellect Server features several pre-configured validators, internally used by the system to verify user input. See Field Validators section to figure our proper syntax for the validator options.
Group	In the case of devices, this value can be used with a custom expression to distribute the devices among different groups. In another case, the some widely-used objects use the group field to indicate where common operation can be executed. For example, to indicate that all the variables with the same value in the group field should be updated simultaneously.
Advanced	A field marked as Advanced will be initially hidden when viewing/editing a table in a Data Table Editor, except for a case when field value differs from the default. A special toolbar button of the Data Table Editor should be used to reveal advanced fields.
Icon	String ID representing the base filename of an image resource included in an installed plugin. In most cases the icon is selected automatically.

Field Types

There are several predefined field types that may appear in Data Tables:

Field Type	Description
Integer field	Contains a 32-bit signed integer number.
Long field	Contains a 64-bit signed integer number. Long fields are often used to hold time periods expressed in milliseconds.
String field	Contains a string (unlimited length).
Boolean field	A "flag" field with two possible values: TRUE or FALSE.
Float field	Contains a 32-bit floating point number.
Double field	Contains a 64-bit floating point number. In most cases, Double should not be used in favor of Float.
Date field	Contains a millisecond-precision timestamp. It may be treated as date, time, or a timestamp (date + time).
Data Table field	Contains a nested Data Table.
Color field	Contains a color definition (RGBA).
Data Block field	Contains binary data that may be treated as a generic file, image, sound etc.

Row Coloring

You can visually distinguish rows in a Data Table by highlighting them with a color taken from the value of a Color-type field in the row.

To enable row coloring:

Add a Color field: In the Table Format, add a field with the "Color" type.
Mark the Color field as Inline: Enable the "Inline" flag for the Color field.
(Optional) Hide the Color field: Enable the "Hidden" flag for the Color field if you don't want the color selection to be directly visible in the table.

With these settings, the entire row in the Data Table will be highlighted with the color selected in the Color field. If multiple Color fields have the "Inline" property enabled, the color from the last such field will determine the row's background color.

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