dict_column(upd1) - Update Column

The purpose of this function is to allow the user to update the details of entries on the DICT_COLUMN table of the data dictionary.

This form is accessed by an option on the navigation bar in the List Column screen.

For a complete description of how this type of form works please see Transaction Pattern UPDATE 1.

Note that some of the following fields are only valid for certain column types, so will not be shown if they are not relevant.

Field List
Field Name	Type	Description
database_id	STRING	Required. The name of the database.
table_id	STRING	Required. The name of the table.
column_id	STRING	Required. The name of the column.
column_seq	NUMERIC	Required. The sequence number of this column within the table's definition.
column_name	STRING	Required. A user-defined name for the column. During the IMPORT process this is initially set to COLUMN_ID. If this is set to 'DEPRECATED' the column will be excluded from the <tablename>.dict.inc file which is created in the Export Files process.
column_desc	TEXT	Optional. A user-defined description for the column.
col_type	STRING	Required. The column type as used by the application. In some cases this may be different from the database type in which case the possible choices are shown in a dropdown list. This situation exists, for example, where a database does not have a BOOLEAN datatype in which case a CHAR(1) or TINYINT(1) can be used instead. This is also the case for the Oracle DATE datatype which can either be used as DATE on its own, TIME on its own, or DATE and TIME combined.
col_array_type	STRING	By default each datatype holds a single value, but with the PostgreSQL database it is possible to have a datatype which holds an array of values. In this case COL_TYPE is set to "ARRAY" and COL_ARRAY_TYPE is set to the underlying datatype such as VARCHAR, NUMBER, etc.
col_values	TEXT	Optional. This is the array of field values for MySQL fields of type 'ENUM' or 'SET'.
col_size	NUMERIC	Required. The column size as defined by the user. It starts off the same as COL_MAXSIZE, but may be reduced.
col_maxsize	NUMERIC	Required. The column size as defined in the database.
col_null	STRING	Required. Identifies if the column value is allowed to be NULL or not. Possible values are: 'NULL' - value is allowed to be empty. 'NOT NULL' - value is not allowed to be empty.
is_required	BOOLEAN	Required. Indicates if the column value is required or not. This is initially set using the value in COL_NULL. Possible values are: 'REQUIRED' - value is not allowed to be empty. 'No' - value is allowed to be empty. This may be altered to 'REQUIRED' to override the database setting.
col_key	STRING	Optional. Indicates if this column is part of a key or index. Possible values are: ' ' - not any type of key. 'PRIMARY' - column is in the primary key. 'UNIQUE' - column is in an additional unique key (candidate key). 'NON-UNIQUE' - column is in a non-unique key (index).
col_default	STRING	Optional. The default value for this column as defined within the database. If IS_REQUIRED is TRUE and no value is supplied on an INSERT, this default value will be used.
col_auto_increment	BOOLEAN	Required. Indicates if this column is set to 'auto_increment' within the database. Possible values are: ' ' - no. 'AUTO INCREMENT' - on an INSERT the database will generate a unique value (unless a non-null value is supplied manually).
col_unsigned	BOOLEAN	Required. For numeric columns this turns off the ability to store values with a plus or minus sign (+/-). Only positive values can be stored. For MySQL this allows the maximum value to be doubled as the sign bit can be used as part of the value.
col_zerofill_bwz	STRING	Optional. Available for numeric/decimal fields only. Possible values are: '' - zeroes and blanks will not be converted in any way. ZEROFILL (ZF) - Causes leading zeros to be shown as '0' instead of ' ' (blank). BLANK WHEN ZERO (BWZ) - Causes '0.00' to be displayed as ' ' (blank). STRIP TRAILING ZERO (STZ) - Causes trailing zeros after the decimal point (except the first) to be removed, thus '17.50' is displayed as '17.5'.
col_precision	NUMERIC	Optional. For numeric values this is the number of significant decimal digits. For example, the value 999.99 has a precision of 5.
col_scale	NUMERIC	Optional. For numeric values this is the number of digits that can be stored following the decimal point. For example, the value 999.99 has a scale of 2.
col_minvalue	NUMERIC	Optional. For numeric fields this is the minimum value allowed by the database.
col_maxvalue	NUMERIC	Optional. For numeric fields this is the maximum value allowed by the database.
min_value	NUMERIC	Optional. This starts off with the same value as COL_MINVALUE, but can be customised by the user.
max_value	NUMERIC	Optional. This starts off with the same value as COL_MAXVALUE, but can be customised by the user.
noedit_nodisplay	STRING	Optional. This is used by the presentation layer only. Possible values are: ' ' - value may be changed. 'NOEDIT' - the value will be displayed but cannot be changed. 'NODISPLAY' - value will not be displayed.
nosearch	STRING	This is used by the presentation layer only. Possible values are: ' ' - the field will not be excluded from SEARCH screens. 'NOEDIT' - the field will be excluded from SEARCH screens.
noaudit	STRING	This is used by the data access layer only. Possible values are: ' ' - the field will be included in all Audit Logging. 'NOAUDIT' - the field will be excluded from all Audit Logging.
upper_lowercase	STRING	optional. For string fields this forces all input to be shifted to upper or lowercase before being written to the database.
is_password	BOOLEAN	Required. This is used by the presentation layer only. As characters are input they are masked, typically by a series of asterisks, to protect sensitive information from onlookers. However, they are still transmitted to the server in clear text.
auto_insert	BOOLEAN	Required. This is only used when new records are inserted. Possible values are: ' ' - no action. 'AUTO-INSERT' - a value will be inserted according to the column's type: DATETIME - the current date and time will be inserted. DATE - the current date will be inserted. STRING - the current user's identity will be inserted. OTHER - no action will be taken.
auto_update	BOOLEAN	Required. This is only used when existing records are updated. Possible values are: ' ' - no action. 'AUTO-UPDATE' - a value will be inserted according to the column's type: DATETIME - the current date and time will be inserted. DATE - the current date will be inserted. STRING - the current user's identity will be inserted. INTEGER - the current value will be incremented by 1. OTHER - no action will be taken.
infinityisnull	BOOLEAN	Required. This is valid for columns of type DATE only. It means that a blank date on the screen will be held in the database as '9999-12-31' instead of '0000-00-00'. See Dealing with null End Dates for a detailed explanation.
subtype	STRING	Optional. This option is available for string fields only. Possible values are: ' ' - no action. 'FILE NAME' - no action (yet). 'E-MAIL' - will be checked against the pattern for e-mail addresses. 'IMAGE' - a file with that name must exist on the system.
custom_validation	STRING	This option is available on any field. It identifies the validation method to be used for this field. The format is 'file/class/method' where: file = the name of the file which contains the validation class. class = the name of the validation class. method = the name of the method within the validation class. Refer to Extending the Validation class for more details.
image_width	NUMERIC	Optional. Identifies the width of the image in pixels. Only valid if CONTROL='IMAGE' or SUBTYPE='IMAGE'.
image_height	NUMERIC	Optional. Identifies the height of the image in pixels. Only valid if CONTROL='IMAGE' or SUBTYPE='IMAGE'.
is_boolean	BOOLEAN	Optional. The DBMS may not support a column type of BOOLEAN, in which case a 1-character field may be used as a substitute. This column may be set to TRUE to force the application to treat such a field as BOOLEAN so that its values can be limited to either BOOLEAN_TRUE or BOOLEAN_FALSE.
boolean_true	STRING	Only valid if IS_BOOLEAN='TRUE'. Identifies how the value 'TRUE' is stored. typically something like '1' or 'T' or 'Y'.
boolean_false	STRING	Optional. Only valid if IS_BOOLEAN='TRUE'. Identifies how the value 'FALSE' is stored. typically something like '0' or 'F' or 'N'.
control	STRING	Optional. This identifies the HTML control to be used when the field is built into a screen (and is amendable). Possible values are: ' ' - text box (default). 'DROPDOWN LIST' - options will be displayed in a scrollable list. 'MULTI DROPDOWN' - a dropdown list that allows multiple items to be selected (see also MULTI_ROWS). 'RADIO GROUP' - options will be displayed as a group of radio buttons. The group may be displayed in either a horizontal or vertical list (see ALIGN_HV) with the text either to the left or right of each button (see ALIGN_LR). 'CHECKBOX' - a single control which is either ticked or unticked to represent ON or OFF, YES or NO, TRUE or FALSE. As well as the standard label there is also the option of defining an additional piece of text (see CHECKBOX_LABEL) which may appear either to the left or right of the control (see ALIGN_LR). 'MULTI-CHECKBOX' - a group of checkboxes which can be used instead of a 'MULTI DROPDOWN'. The group may be displayed in either a horizontal or vertical list (see ALIGN_HV) with CHECKBOX_LABEL either to the left or right of each checkbox (see ALIGN_LR). 'MULTI-LINE TEXT BOX' - will be displayed as a multi-line text box instead of a single line (see also MULTI_COLS and MULTI_ROWS). 'POPUP' - a picklist that will be displayed as another form/screen instead of a dropdown list due to the large number of available options. 'FILE PICKER' - a picklist that will present a list of file names from a particular directory. 'HYPERLINK' - a string that will be displayed as a hyperlnk, but for tasks of type 'input', 'update' and 'search' it will be displayed as an editable text box. 'IMAGE HYPERLINK' - a string containing the path to an image file that will be displayed using the dimensions specified in image_width and image_height. When clicked on it will be displayed full size. 'IMAGE' - a string containing the path to an image file that will be displayed using the dimensions specified in image_width and image_height.
optionlist	STRING	Optional. This is valid for dropdown lists and radio groups only. It is the name the list of items that will be used to populate that HTML control. This list should be constructed within the table class and written out to the XML file. Note: If the column type is BOOLEAN you may specify the name 'boolean' which refers to a list which is built into the framework and does not have to be constructed manually.
checkbox_label	STRING	Optional. This is valid for checkboxes only. It is for an additional piece of text which may appear either to the left or right of the control depending on ALIGN_LR. This label can either be defined as a fixed string, such as `FOOBAR`, or as the instruction `getLanguageText('id')` which will retrieve text which has been translated into the user's language (refer to Appendix O).
task_id	STRING	Optional. If the CONTROL type is 'File Picker' or 'Popup' this is the name of the Task that will be activated to provide the picklist of available options.
foreign_field	STRING	Optional. If the CONTROL type is 'Popup' this is name of a field on the foreign table that will be merged with the contents of the current table before being output to the XML file.
align_hv	STRING	Optional. If the CONTROL type is 'Radio Group' or 'Multi Checkbox' this identifies how the list of options should be aligned. Possible values are: 'V' - Vertical. 'H' - Horizontal (default). This can be used to produce effects such as: or
align_lr	STRING	Optional. If the CONTROL type is 'Radio Group', 'Checkbox' or 'Multi Checkbox' this identifies whether the text should be to the left or the right of the control. For 'Checkbox' this only applies if an additional checkbox label has been defined. Possible values are: 'L' - Left. 'R' - Right (default). This can be used to produce effects such as: or
multi_cols	NUMERIC	optional. If the CONTROL type is 'Multi-Line' this identifies the width of the text box in columns.
multi_rows	NUMERIC	Optional. If the CONTROL type is 'Multi-Line' this identifies the height of the text box in rows (lines). If the CONTROL type is 'Dropdown' or 'Multi-Dropdown' this identifies the height of the scrollable area in rows (lines).
The following fields are set automatically by the system:
created_date	DATE+TIME	The date and time on which this record was created.
created_user	STRING	The identity of the USER who created this record.
revised_date	DATE+TIME	The date and time on which this record was last changed.
revised_user	STRING	The identity of the USER who last changed this record.

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