Properties define what is stored about each object in a dataset.

Understanding properties #

A property is one piece of information: Account name, Country, Annual revenue, Customer status. Every object in a dataset has the same properties, even when some of them are empty.

Each property has three things that matter:

• a name, which users see as a column heading or a field label;
• a data type, which decides what kind of value it can hold;
• a set of settings, which decide whether a value is mandatory, what it defaults to, and what values are allowed.

Properties are managed in the dataset dialog. Open Application settings, open Datasets, select the three-dot menu on a dataset, select Edit, and move to the Properties step.

Add a property #

To add a property:

1. Open the dataset for editing.
2. Move to the Properties step.
3. Select Add Property.
4. Enter the Property Name.
5. Choose the Data Type.
6. Configure the settings offered for that type.
7. Select Save Changes.

New properties are empty on existing objects. Adding a required property to a dataset that already holds objects means those objects have no value for it until someone supplies one, so add required properties early where you can.

Select a property type #

There are eight data types. Each offers its own settings.

String holds text. Switch Multiline on for long text such as notes or descriptions. Min Length and Max Length can be set.

Integer holds whole numbers. A minimum and maximum can be set, and leaving them empty means no limit.

Decimal holds numbers with decimal places. As well as a minimum and maximum, Decimal places sets how many decimal places are kept. The default is two.

Boolean holds a yes or no value. It has no settings of its own beyond a default value. Widgets can display it as a checkbox or as a dropdown.

Date holds a calendar date, with an optional earliest and latest date.

Time holds a time of day, with an optional earliest and latest time.

DateTime holds a date and a time together, with an optional earliest and latest value.

Dropdown holds a value chosen from another dataset. This is how relationships and lists of allowed values are built. See Configure available values below.

Choose the type carefully. A property that is already used by a widget, a permission rule, or another dataset cannot have its type changed, and Auclio disables the Data Type field with an explanation of what is using it.

Where a minimum and a maximum are both set, the minimum must not be greater than the maximum.

Configure the property name #

Enter the name in Property Name. Use the words your users would use, because the name appears as a column heading in tables and as a field label in forms.

From the name, Auclio derives an internal key by converting it to lower case, replacing spaces with hyphens, and discarding anything that is not a letter, a digit, or a hyphen, so Account name becomes account-name. You do not edit the key directly, but it is worth knowing that it exists, because it appears in expressions and in exported files.

Renaming a property changes the label everywhere it appears. It does not break widgets, permission rules, or relationships, because those refer to the key rather than to the name.

Make a property required #

Four checkboxes sit on each property card.

Required means an object cannot be saved while the property is empty.

Readonly means users cannot type a value. Use it for values that Auclio calculates or that an external system owns.

Unique means no two objects in the dataset may hold the same value. Tick Required as well, because an empty value cannot be checked for uniqueness. Ticking Unique does not tick Required for you, and Auclio refuses to save the dataset until you do.

Name marks the property that labels an object. It is what appears in dropdowns, in breadcrumbs, and wherever the object is referenced from another dataset. Ticking it also ticks Required, and clears Name from whichever property held it before.

Exactly one property must be marked Name. Auclio shows a warning until one is chosen, and will not save the dataset without it.

Mark only genuinely necessary properties as required. Each one is another value a user must supply before anything can be saved.

Configure a default value #

Default Value is used when an object is created without a value for the property. The user can change it afterwards.

A default can be a fixed value, or an expression that reads another property of the same object. Where the dataset has a Dropdown property, the expression can also reach through that relationship and read a property of the object it points at.

Auto Calculated Value is different. It is an expression Auclio evaluates and stores, and the user does not supply the value at all. Use a default value when the user should be able to override it, and an auto-calculated value when Auclio should own it.

A property that is calculated by an expression must be read-only, and cannot also have a default value. Auclio enforces both rules when you save.

Configure available values #

Auclio has no separate choice or option-list data type. A list of allowed values is a small dataset, referenced by a Dropdown property.

To offer a fixed list of values:

1. Create a dataset for the list, such as Industries.
2. Give it one String property, marked Required and Name.
3. Add one object for each allowed value.
4. In the dataset that needs the list, add a property with the Dropdown data type.
5. Select the list dataset in Dataset.
6. Select its name property in Label property.
7. Tick Multiselect if more than one value may be chosen.

Adding, renaming, or removing an allowed value later means adding, renaming, or removing an object in the list dataset. Nothing else has to change.

Two settings narrow the options a user is offered. Parent property creates a cascading pair, so that choosing a country limits the cities offered next. Filter by property narrows the options based on the value of another dropdown on the same object.

Switch on Use dropdown colors in the list dataset’s settings to give each value a colour, so it appears as a coloured chip wherever it is selected.

Control the order properties appear in #

Properties do not have an order of their own, and they cannot be dragged into a sequence in the dataset dialog. Order is decided by the widget that displays them.

In a Table widget, the order of the columns is set on the Columns step, and users can then rearrange columns themselves.

In a Text Grid widget or Form widget, each item is placed on a small grid on the Properties step, where items are dragged into position and resized.

This means the same dataset can be presented in a different order on different pages, which is usually what you want. A summary block and a full edit form rarely need the same order.

Rename a property #

To rename a property:

1. Open the dataset for editing.
2. Move to the Properties step.
3. Change the Property Name.
4. Select Save Changes.

The new name appears everywhere the property is displayed. Widgets, relationships, and permission rules continue to work.

Change property settings #

Most settings can be changed at any time, but some changes affect objects that already exist.

• Making a property Required does not retroactively fill in existing objects. They keep their empty value until someone edits them, and saving one of those objects then demands a value.
• Making a property Unique fails if two existing objects already share a value.
• Narrowing a minimum or maximum leaves existing values outside the new range untouched, but they cannot be saved again without correction.
• Changing which property is marked Name changes how every object in the dataset is labelled, everywhere.
• The Data Type cannot be changed once the property is in use.

Review the dataset’s usages before changing settings on a dataset that is in daily use, and test with a few objects first.

Delete a property #

To delete a property:

1. Open the dataset for editing.
2. Move to the Properties step.
3. Select the remove icon on the property card.
4. Select Save Changes.

Deleting a property deletes the values held in it, across every object in the dataset. This cannot be undone.

Two kinds of property cannot be deleted. A property that is in use is blocked, and the tooltip on the remove icon names what is using it. A property that Auclio manages itself is also blocked, and its tooltip says that the property is system-managed.

The Workflow and State properties that come with a default workflow are a separate case. They are virtual rather than stored, and the dataset dialog does not list them at all, so there is nothing to delete. They still appear where columns and fields are chosen, in the Table widget and the Text Grid widget.

Check where a property is used #

Auclio tracks usage per property, not only per dataset. When a property is used by a widget, a permission rule, another dataset’s dropdown, or a workflow condition, its Data Type field is disabled and its remove icon is disabled, and both explain what is depending on it.

Use the dataset’s Used in count and the Dependency graph view for the wider picture. Between them they tell you which pages and datasets to check before making a change.

Property naming recommendations #

When naming properties:

• name the value, not the type: Annual revenue, not Number field;
• be specific enough to stand alone as a column heading;
• use the same word for the same idea across datasets, so that Owner means the same thing everywhere;
• avoid abbreviations that only your team would recognize;
• avoid vague names such as Information, Value, or Details unless the context makes them clear;
• keep names short enough to fit a column heading without wrapping;
• decide the name before saving, because the internal key is generated from it.