ADVANCED TOPIC
An Entity is a business object that gives data business context.
Entity Manager can be access from the System Managers section of the main menu on the Administration tab:
Entities Manager
Auto-created Entities are generated during discovery processes. If they are not exactly what you were expecting, they can be edited or removed completely. You can also create Entities manually using the New option.
Manually creating Entities allows you to select any Data Category to base the Entity. Once an Entity is saved you CANNOT change the Data Category. You must delete the Entity and create a new one. All other values can be edited.
You select System Field items to add to an Entity the same way you would select fields to add to a View. Selected fields are automatically added to the Entity Fields folder. This folder reflects the fields that will be the selected defaults when users use the Entity to create Views. You must select at least one field.
The column headers you use here will be the field names the users see when creating Views. Set the column headers by renaming the field names in the Entity Fields folder. The preview panel indicates how the user will see the data.
Entities have the ability to filter data. Although this is NOT part of the Role Security model (Enterprise Licenses only), it can be used to hide data records from all users using DSF. When users create Views from an Entity they can not change the filter applied to Entities. They can add an additional filter to their Views but they cannot remove any Entity row restrictions imposed by the filter.
IMPORTANT: Published Views DO NOT reveal the filters applied to Entities, however, if you give the user the ability to view the generated SQL query with the Show SQL option , they can copy the query and manually remove the filter. If you're concerned with security, never enable this option.
Filters can be applied to Entities using 2 different methods; Preview Grid Filter and SQL Filter.
Both methods can be combined. The method you choose depends on personal preference. When a View is generated, both methods are converted to a database type SQL filter using a WHERE CLAUSE. There is no performance difference between the methods.
Preview Grid Filter
Any column on the preview panel can be filtered by selecting the filter icon on the column header.
To use this method, the data field to be filtered MUST be a field represented by a selected column on the preview panel.
To filter on a field that you don't want as part of the select-able fields of the Entity, use the SQL Method.
The Custom option displays an advance filter window where you can create any combination of filter selections.
By selecting a value from the list you can quickly filter your data records.
SQL Filter
Filters of this style are manually typed in and MUST follow your data providers syntax. This also allows you to use ANY special functions of the data provider. If it's supported by the provider, it can be used here. (i.e. dateadd, datepart, len, etc.)
Fields you wish to use in the filter can be dragged in from the field selector.
When entering field names use the alias as seen on the field selector panel and surround the name with brackets []. (i.e. [StateProvinceCode])
DSF will do its best to determine the unique identity of a field. If it can not determine which field you are referring too you will get an error.
NOTE: Field aliases are used so that you do not need to know anything about the underlying data model.
DO NOT include the WHERE in the filter. It will be added for you.
When creating Views with filtered Entities the user's preview panel will only display the filtered records.
Copy As
This option creates an exact copy of an Entity with all of the same parameters. This can be used to quickly create like Entities with similar selections and different filter settings.
Make sure your rename the Entity to something the represents its business purpose.
