Creating an Entity Type

An entity type defines the name and the default icon of the entity records created in iBase. It usually contains fields to hold information about the entity.

About this task

You can create a new entity type or edit an existing entity type using the New Entity and Entity dialogs.

When you have created an entity type, you may want to add fields specific to the new entity type by creating new fields or copying existing ones. See Creating a field for details.

Procedure

  1. Select New > Entity Type.

  2. Specify an icon for the entity type. Either click the name of an icon in the Icon list or enter the full name of a known icon.

    Tip: Double-click on an icon name if you want the entity to have the same name as the icon. Alternatively, edit the text in the Name box if you want the entity to have a name different from the icon.

  3. Enter a description in the Description box. This can help others to understand what kind of data this particular entity type should be used for, and therefore ensure that a suitable entity type is used when adding information to the database.

  4. Deselect Select in 'Expand' list.

    Note: Select in 'Expand' list determines whether an item type is included in expand operations on Analyst's Notebook charts. Deselecting Select in 'Expand' list, prevents the item type from being added to the chart as the result of a default expand. If you would like to expand an item type that isn't added to the default expand operation, you must select the item type in an Analyst's Notebook Expand with settings operation.

  5. Assign a semantic type to the entity type. For further information, see Assigning a semantic type.

  6. Click OK to save your choice.