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AVEVA Enterprise SCADA

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Field element attributes

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  • Last UpdatedApr 24, 2025
  • 7 minute read

The Field element is used to display the value of a column within a RealTime database (RTDB) table. You can edit the element to assign the proper value for the column’s data type.

Note: All attributes are required unless indicated as optional.

The attributes of the form Field element are as follows:

  • Optional: CheckBoxStringFalseString represents the text value of an unchecked state. You must use this in conjunction with the following attributes:

    • CheckBoxStringIndeterminantString

    • CheckBoxStringTrueString

    • IsCheckBoxString

  • Optional: CheckBoxStringIndeterminantString is used for an undetermined value. It must be used in conjunction with the following attributes:

    • CheckBoxStringFalseString

    • CheckBoxStringTrueString

    • IsCheckBoxString

  • Optional: CheckBoxStringTrueString represents the text value of a checked state. It must be used in conjunction with the following attributes:

    • CheckBoxStringFalseString

    • CheckBoxStringIndeterminantString

    • IsCheckBoxString

  • ColumnLabel is the label that appears in the Table Edit form for this field.

  • Optional: DefaultValue is the default value when a new record is created.

    Important: Ensure that the default value matches the data type of the column.

  • Optional: DisplayWidthToUse is used to set the display width of the field. The value can be Minimum, Medium, or Maximum.

    If the field is specified under the Group element, the Advanced Database Editor (ADE) will use the Group values of either DataDisplayWidthMin, DataDisplayWidthMedium, or DataDisplayWidthMax.

    If the field is specified under the DataSetTable element, ADE will use the DataSetTable values of either DataDisplayWidthMin, DataDisplayWidthMedium, or DataDisplayWidthMax.

    The values Minimum, Medium, and Maximum correspond to the values DataDisplayWidthMin, DataDisplayWidthMedium, and DataDisplayWidthMax of the parent element, respectively.

  • Name is the name of the column in the database. For entries nested under a SubGroup that are an array type, the name should exclude the SubGroup name and array marker. If the RTDB field type is a slot type, enumeration type, or the primary key field of the table, ADE will automatically include a selection dialog box form for the field. If the field value is not one of the listed types and requires selection from a selection dialog box form, nest an EditForm element in the Field element.

  • Optional: IsCheckBoxString controls the checkbox behavior of the field. If the field data type is Boolean, the field control will show a checkbox by default. However, you can also display checkbox control for those fields whose values can be either true/false, yes/no, or three states (refer to the IsCheckBoxStringThreeState and the CheckBoxStringIndeterminantString attributes). If you set this attribute to true, the string data will be treated as Boolean. You should use this attribute in conjunction with CheckBoxStringTrueString, CheckBoxStringFalseString, and CheckBoxStringIndeterminantString.

    Example 1

    IsCheckBoxString="true"

    CheckBoxStringFalseString="no"

    CheckBoxStringTrueString="yes"

    CheckBoxStringIndeterminantString=""

    Example 2

    IsCheckBoxString="true"

    CheckBoxStringFalseString="0"

    CheckBoxStringTrueString="1"

    CheckBoxStringIndeterminantString=""

  • Optional: IsCheckBoxThreeString is used to display a dropdown menu with its configured options. If set to true, ADE displays the dropdown menu.

  • IsReadOnly is used to make the field read-only. If set to true, values will appear on the form, but will not be editable.

  • IsRequired indicates if this field is mandatory. A key appears in the Table Edit form, and an asterisk appears on the Record Details form.

  • IsVisible controls whether or not the column is visible. When set to false, the column disappears from the form.

  • Optional: IsVisibleInRowEditor controls whether or not the field appears in the Row Details form, but will appear in the Table Edit form. If the value is set to false, ADE will not display the field in the Row Details form.

  • Optional: LookupTableDisplayColumn refers to data from another table. If the column is a slot number, the value set in this attribute is the column name of the foreign table. ADE displays the button along with the textbox control. When an Administrator selects the button, a lookup dialog box appears and displays data from the foreign table. If this value is set, ADE displays data in this column. If this value is not set, ADE uses the primary key of the foreign table to display data.

    For example, the flag.bmsg column—a type of messageslot—in the message table has multiple keys. To use the correct column, set LookUpTableDisplayColumn="setName" so that ADE displays the setName column value from the message table rather than the primary key value.

  • Optional: NumericDisplayFormat defines the numeric display format of the field. If it is a numeric field, you can bind a format using a Binding Format String. The field displays and enforces the defined format. For example, #0 or #0.00.

  • Optional: NumericMaxValue is the maximum allowable value for this field.

  • Optional: NumericMinValue is the minimum allowable value for this field. If the value exceeds the limit, the system displays a warning beside the value (exceeded the limit). Clicking the warning opens a popup with the detail message.

  • RowLabel is the label that appears on the form for this field.

  • Optional: TabOrder is the order in which the Tab key will traverse from one field to the next. This value can restart for each group.

  • Optional: ToolTipText is the text that appears when you hover the mouse pointer over the column (applies to both Record Details and Table Edit forms).

  • Optional: UpdateOrder is a numeric field that defines the order of update. In some circumstances, certain fields must be inserted or updated before other fields. This optional property allows you to set the insert/update order for the field. The fields are inserted/updated starting from the lower UpdateOrder value to higher UpdateOrder values. Fields lacking any UpdateOrder attribute are inserted/updated after the fields that have an UpdateOrder attribute value.

    An UpdateOrder of -1 indicates that the field should not be inserted/updated (it is typically used with fields where IsReadOnly = true). An UpdateOrder of 0 is the same as not specifying an UpdateOrder attribute. For example, the status table virtual field processing enforces that the Command Failure Timeout (devmtr) field value be larger than the COS Failure Timeout (trtmr) field value. Hence, the Command Failure Timeout (devmtr) field element is assigned a lower UpdateOrder so that it will always be set before the COS Failure Timeout (trtmr) value within an insert or update SQL statement.

    If several fields are dependent on each other, and UpdateStates for the update/insert SQL statement is not sufficient to allow consistency checking within the virtual layer (for example, field A depends on field B, and field B depends on field A), use a PostCustomEditValidator element.

  • Optional: ValidationRegEx is a regular expression used to validate data entered in the field. Unsupported characters are reported as soon as they are entered. Primary key name fields are often assigned a value of [^'@".;,[]()%:| ]*. Numeric fields that have IsRequired set to false are typically assigned a value of [+-]?\d*(\.\d+)?. String fields that have IsRequired set to false are typically assigned a value of \w*.

    Important: Do not assign field ValidationRegEx values of \w+ or \d+ unless IsRequired is set to true, as it will result in the inconsistent behaviour of allowing null values when a record is inserted or updated, but not allowing null values if the user clicks on the field value in the Row Details form. For further information refer to Microsoft Regular Expression.

  • Optional: ValuesDisableControls is used to disable/enable other controls of the form. The format of this string is DataValue(control1, control2, control3,...,controlN), where the control can be a field or a button name. If the data value for the field is DataValue, ADE disables controls associated with all the fields/buttons indicated within the brackets. If the data value for the field is anything else, ADE enables all fields indicated within the brackets. Use a DataValue of "*" (asterisk) if all non-null values should result in the disabling of the listed controls.

    Examples:

    • An Administrator wants to disable the raw min and max columns in the analog table (iengr.rawmin and iengr.rawmax) whenever the scaling column (iengr.scaleraw) is false. The ValuesDisableControls attribute for iengr.scaleraw is configured as ValuesDisableControls="no(iengr_@rawmin,iengr_@rawmax)". This means that iengr.rawmin and iengr.rawmax are disabled if iengr.scaleraw is not set.

    • An Administrator wants to disable the group and dataset controls when the output point in aceconfig records is specified. The ValuesDisableControls attribute for parameter[0].paramPath (the Output Point field on the Main Configuration tab of the aceconfig Row Details dialog box) should be set to as ValuesDisableControls="*(group,dataset)"....

  • Optional: ValuesSetValidation sets the VaditionRegEx attribute of another control on the form. Typically, the ValuesSetValidation attribute is used in a combo box, wherein the selected item of the combo box would set the VaditionRegEx attribute of a text box. The format of this string is "FieldToSet(key1=validation1, key2=validation2, keyN=validationN)". The format means that, when key1 is selected, the VaditionRegEx attribute of FieldToSet is set to validation1.

    For example, the fmt column in the modem table (connect[0].fmt) is used to set the VaditionRegEx attribute of the out field (connect[0].out). The attribute is set to ‘ValuesSetValidation="out(Telno=^(?!.*%s.*%s).*$,Baud=^(?!.*%d.*%d).*$)"’.