Creating an entity

You can add new data to create entities. The data is organized into different entity types and each type represents a “thing” such as a person, a crime, or a bank account.

About this task

When you add an entity, you are warned of matching records if you enter an entity that is a potential duplicate of an entity already in the database. iBase identifies matches by comparing the values in the discriminator fields. You might see a warning as soon as you enter data that matches an entity that is already in the database or when you try to save an entity that matches a record already in the database.

Procedure

  1. In the Database Explorer, right-click on the entity type, and from the shortcut menu, select New.
    Note: Depending on how the database designer has configured the entity types in your database, you will display either the New (entity) dialog or the Datasheet dialog. The Datasheet dialog is displayed for entity types where the datasheet is set to override the standard form; this can only be changed using iBase Designer. To choose which to use, select New With > New Record for a standard dialog or New With > datasheet name for a datasheet.
  2. Enter the details for the new entity in the New dialog.
    Note:
    • Mandatory fields, those that you must fill in, are shown with a blue label.
    • You may be able to get help on what you should enter in each field by hovering the mouse pointer over the field labels. This displays a tooltip telling you something about the type of data to enter in each field.
  3. Depending on your organization, you may need to select a user as the owner of the record, and there will be a Owner box or something similar. This person is the point of contact if there are any queries about the record. You can either type $ to make yourself the owner (your username will be inserted when you save the entity), or type $, click the Browse button, and then select a different person from the list.
  4. When you have finished entering the data, click Save to save the record.

Results

The new record is displayed in the Show dialog. The title bar of this dialog also shows the unique number given to the record when it was saved, such as [ADD48\GEN]. If required, in the Show dialog, click New to add another record of the same entity type.