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Tables Mapped Tables
Alpha Five now allows you to create
'mapped' tables. A mapped table is a virtual table that displays data from one
or more physical tables. The mapped table can include all, or a subset of, the
field fields in the physical tables that it maps. It can also include calculated
columns. Once you have created a mapped table, it appears in the Tables tab of
the Control Panel just like any other table. You can create Forms, Reports,
Labels, Letters and Operations for mapped tables just as you would for physical
tables. Mapped tables can be read-only, or updateable, depending on how they are
defined.
Here are some
ways in which a mapped table can be used:
-
You want to define an Export
Operation and include a calculation in your export definition. For example,
your table has a Quantity and Price field, and you want to export these
fields, as well as a Total field (Quantity * Price). The Export Operation
builder does not allow you to define calculations. To solve this problem, you
create a mapped table that has the Quantity, and Price fields, as well as a
new calculated field called Total. You can then define your Export Operation
on this new mapped table.
- You want to include data from
multiple tables in a Table Lookup Field Rule. The Field Rule editor only
allows you to select Tables (not Sets) as the data source for a Lookup Field
Rule. To solve this problem, you define a mapped table that joins all of the
tables that you would like to use in the Lookup Field Rule, and then when you
define the Field Rule, you specify the mapped table as the lookup data source.
- You have a complicated Xbasic
script that operates against a certain table. Your script makes certain
assumptions about the fieldnames in the table. You would like to run this
script against another table that has the same fields, but with different
names. To solve this problem, you create an updateable mapped table that makes
the table 'look' as if it has the same structure as the original table that
your script was designed to operate against. You then run your script against
the mapped table.
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