A POV (point-of-view) acts on the data-entry forms and reduces the data in a column according to one single value. In simple words, in the reading phase it is very similar to a SQL of WHERE in one single value, and in the writing phase it is similar to a column rated at a defalut value by the system.


A POV has different properties and you can set them all up from a creation/editing window (to create and edit a POV, please see How to - Create a POV) as described in the following list:

 

  1. Display name*: Name of the POV as shown in clients
  2. Description: Additional description on the POV
  3. Column name*: The name of the column where the POV acts
  4. Default value: POV default value
  5. Server variable*: The name of the environment variable where the POV will save its current value
  6. Is user editable*: this field is a boolean and can be:
    1. 'True' if the end-user can change the current value 
    2. 'False' if the POV acts as a static filter set by the server.
  7. Hide target column: this field is a boolean, when it is 'True' the target column will not be shown 
  8. Is optional:  this field is a boolean, when it is 'True' if together with the available values (please see property 10) you will see a further  '<-- all -->'  value, that will bypass the POV
  9. On working value changed: Name of the Procedure triggered when the POV value changes
  10. Population query*: Query run to obtain the list of the POV values. If the select list has several columns, the first one will be saved in the environment variable and will be shown to the end user: for example, with the query 'SELECT PRODUCT_ID, PRODUCT_DESCRIPTION FROM PRODUCTS' the environment value is populated with the chosen PRODUCT_ID value and the user will view the description on the drop-down list. If the property 'Is user-editable' is set to 'False', the population query will not be run.

* mandatory properties 


Like all objects in the catalog, POV's access is provisioned and scope filtered: in this way a POV can be applied to a single user.

In order to ensure that a POV is applied to a data-entry form, it has to be within a folder that contains either directly or indirectly a form: in fact, a POV can be applied to all the forms contained in the folder and in all its subfolder where it is positioned. In case there is a POV that acts on the same column on a subfolder, the most internal POV prevails.

 

If you want to apply a POV to a form make sure that:


  1. The POV and data-entry-form have to be visible to the end-user
  2. The POV has to be in a folder that contains directly or indirectly the data-entry form
  3. The POV has to filter a column that is on the data-entry form (same name, case-sensitive), no matter if it is a column of the source table or a foreign-field.
  4. The column of the data-entry form on which the POV acts has to be visible.



If the POV population query gives only one available value, the Excel client will place an empty entry before the available ones to allow for editing.


See also:

Filter a look-up with a POV

POV Query Contextualization