Managing the Recordset Query Limitation

Recordset Query Limitation lets an organization limit the number of records that are available to a user within a list view. This is particularly useful for entities that have a large number of records, such as Persons. If a user opens an "all" view of such a Persons entity, it can require a large amount of time and system memory to run a query that retrieves all records.

This situation is further exacerbated if the user is connecting to Aptify from a shared server using a terminal client, such as with Windows Terminal Server software. In this case, the view query reduces system response time for not only the user who opened the view but also for other concurrent users.

Limiting the number of records in a view prevents users from inadvertently slowing down the system. It also encourages users to create and use targeted views rather than spend time scrolling through all available records.

Note that Recordset Query Limitation does not prevent a user from accessing any particular record; all records are still available to the user. This feature only limits the number of records that can be displayed within a single page of a view.

Recordset Query Limitation applies only to List views; it does not apply to Pivot Table, Pivot Grid, Calendar, or Chart views.

This topic contains the following sub-topics:

• Enabling Recordset Query Limitation
• Disabling Recordset Query Limitation
• About the Recordset Query Limitation Effects
• About the Recordset Query Limitation and Page Size

Enabling Recordset Query Limitation

Recordset Query Limitation is configured on a per-entity basis. For example, if you want to limit the number of records that appear in views of the Form Templates and Database Objects Persons and Companies entities, you need to enable Recordset Query Limitation on both entities.

Enabling Record Query Limitation is a two-step process. First, you enable the feature on the particular entity and then you configure the maximum number of records that can be displayed in a view for each group or user who has access to the entity.

Follow these steps to enable Recordset Query Limitation for a particular entity:

1. Open or create a view of the Entities service that includes the entity you want to -configure.
   • You must be logged in as a user who has System Administrator privileges to make changes to an entity. 
2. Double-click the entity's entry in the view to open the entity's record.
3. Click the Configuration tab.
4. Select the Enable Recordset Query Limitation option.
   
    
5. Click the Security tab.
6. Double-click a group's entry in the list to open its EntityGroupPermissions record.
7. Configure the group's Recordset Query Limitation.
   • To limit the number of records in a view, select the Recordset Query Limited option and enter the maximum number of records to display in a view in the field provided.
   • With the configuration settings shown below, members of the Users group can see a maximum of 20 records in a view.
     
     
   • If you want a group to have access to all entity records within a view, leave the Recordset Query Limited option cleared.
   • With the configuration settings shown below, there is no limit to the number of records that can appear within a view for members of the Administrators group.
     
     
8. Click OK to return to the Entities record.
9. Configure the other groups as necessary.
10. Click the Users sub-tab.
11. Configure the Users' Recordset Query Limitation settings, as necessary.
    • The configuration for Users is the same as the configuration for the Groups. 
12. Click Save and Close to save your changes and close the entity record.

Disabling Recordset Query Limitation

Follow these steps to disable the Recordset Query Limitation for a particular entity:

1. Open or create a view of the Entities service that includes the entity you want to configure.
2. Double-click the entity's entry in the view to open the entity's record.
3. Click the Configuration tab.
4. Clear the Enable Recordset Query Limitation option.
   • This will disable the Recordset Query Limitation feature.
   • You do not need to disable Recordset Query Limit for each Group or User permissions record. However, if you leave the Group and User permissions configured as is, note that these permissions will be automatically reinstated if you enable Recordset Query Limitation again for this entity at a later date.
5. Click Save and Close.

About the Recordset Query Limitation Effects

When Recordset Query Limitation is enabled, the number of records that can appear within a view is limited based on the user's permissions. The following is an overview of how this limitation impacts a user:

• If a user is a member of multiple groups, Aptify uses the Group permission setting that provides the user with the highest limit. Consider the following scenario:
  • An organization sets an entity's Recordset Query Limit to 20 for the Users group.
  • The organization sets an entity's Recordset Query Limit to 50 for the Accounting group.
  • A user who is a member of both the Users and Accounting groups can see up to 50 records in a view of that entity. 
• Even if an administrator has defined Entity User permissions for a specific user, Aptify still uses the permission setting that provides the user with the highest limit. The user's particular permissions do not necessarily take precedence over his/her group permissions. Consider the following scenario:
  • An organization sets an entity's Recordset Query Limit to 20 for the Users group.
  • The organization set an entity's Recordset Query Limit to 10 for a user named John Public who is also a member of the Users group.
  • John Public can see up to 20 records in a view of that entity. 
• If a user creates or opens a view that would normally contain more records than his/her limit, a message box appears to alert the user.
  • For example, if a user is limited to 20 records for the Companies entity, the following message appears each time the user opens or creates a Companies view that would normally contain 20 or more records: 
• After a user clicks OK to close a Query Record Limitation message, the view opens but only displays the number of records specified by the user's limit.
  • Although the view shows a limited number of records, the user still has access to all of the records that would appear in the unrestricted view.
  • A user can use the sorting options to display different records within the same restricted view. For example, sorting the records in descending order and sorting the records in ascending order displays different record sets. Note that if using the sorting buttons directly in the view, the system resorts only the records that are currently displayed. The user must refresh the view first to see a new set of records. 
• A Query Record Limitation message box does not appear if a user creates or opens a view that returns a number of records that is less than the user's limit.
  • For example, if the user's limit is 20 records and he/she opens a view that contains 19 records, no message appears. However, if the user opens a view that contains exactly 20 records, the message appears.

About the Recordset Query Limitation and Page Size

When Recordset Query Limitation is enabled for an entity, the system appends an additional command to a view's SQL query before sending it to the database server. This command limits the maximum number of records returned by the server based on the user's Recordset Query Limit. If the number of records returned matches the user's Recordset Query Limit, a message is displayed to the user informing them that the limit was reached.

List views also support paging. This functionality breaks up a view's results into one or more pages of a specified maximum size. Paging appends the same command to a view's SQL query as Recordset Query Limitation (although in this case, the record limit is the size of the page). However, when using paging, a user can navigate the other pages to review all of the data returned by view.

If you intend to use Paging in conjunction with Recordset Query Limitation, keep in mind the following conditions:

• The Recordset Query Limit is not imposed if the view's Page Size is less than the Recordset Query Limit. However, the Recordset Query Limit continues to apply if the view's Page Size is greater than the Recordset Query Limit.
• Paging and a view's Page Size is controlled on a view-by-view basis, and users can modify these settings as necessary. Recordset Query Limitation is configured on an entity-by-entity basis by an administrator to prevent a user from executing a query that returns an excessive number of rows.