1. Aptify Support
  2. Installing & Administering Aptify
  3. Administering Aptify
  4. Administering Entities

Performing Common Entity Maintenance Tasks

Avatar
Madhuri Dange

This topic describes some common maintenance task that an administrator may have to perform for existing entities, including:

Adding Reports to an Entity

When a user launches the Report wizard from a view, the wizard displays the list of reports associated with that view's service. These reports may be in various formats, such as Crystal Reports or Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services, and are defined and linked to the entity through the Reports tab of the Entities form.

Follow these steps to add a new report to an entity:

  1. Obtain the report you want to add to Aptify from the report writer. Aptify supports both Crystal Reports and Microsoft SQL Server Report Services (SSRS).
    • When writing Crystal reports:
      • Aptify integrates with Crystal Reports 2008 with backward compatibility to Crystal Reports 9. Note that if using Crystal Reports XI, you need version XI R2.
      • Business Objects offers several versions of Crystal Reports but the Standard version is all that is needed to integrate with Aptify.
      • Alternatively, you can use the version of Crystal Reports included with Visual Studio.
    • When writing reports using SSRS:
      • Visual Studio includes an add-on tool (SQL Server Data Tools – Business Intelligence (SSDT-BI)) to write reports.
  2. Make sure the report is added as an object in the Aptify Object Repository. See Creating Object Repository Objects for more details.

    • This location in which reports are found in the repository varies from organization to organization. If using the Aptify sample dataset, the location for the sample Crystal Reports is Production > CRM > CrystalRPT or Production > DataModules > CrystalRPT.

      Note Concerning Running Reports in Aptify Web

      When adding a new report (which require a brand new object repository record), you must run the Object Repository Synchronizer utility to update your web server's bin folders so it has the latest Aptify objects. You can also manually add the object to the bin as needed. See Running the Object Repository Synchronizer for more information.

    • For the location for the sample SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) reports is Production > CRM > SSRSRPT or Production > DataModules > SSRSRPT. 

      SSRS report entries in the Object Repository should point to the Report Server URL (such as https://<ServerName>/<SSRSServerName>?/<ReportsFolderName>), which you can specify when installing 5.5.4, as described in Installing Aptify 5.5.4 Server Software. See Setting Up Aptify to Use SQL Server Reporting Services for information on setting up SSRS after installation.

  3. Launch Aptify with a user account that is a member of the Administrators group.
  4. Open the Entities record for the entity to which you want to add a report.
  5. Click the Reports tab.
  6. Open a new Reports sub-type record.
  7. Enter the report name and a description in the Name.
  8. Enter a culture string to use as the display name of the report in the Display Name Culture String field if you want to localize the name of the report on a user-by-user basis (based on a user's assigned Culture). See Working with Culture Strings for details.
  9. Enter a description of the report in the Description field.
  10. Enter a culture string to use as the description of the report in the Description Text Culture String field if you want to localize this report's description on a user-by-user basis (based on a user's assigned Culture). See Working with Culture Strings for details.
  11. Enter a category in the Category ID field, if applicable.
    • This field links to the Report Categories service. See About the Report Categories Form for details.
    • If you leave the Category ID field blank, the report will appear under the Report wizard's General tab.
    • If you enter a name in the Category ID field, the report will appear in the Report wizard under a tab labeled with the specified category's name. For example, if you enter Membership in the Category ID field, the report will appear under the Report wizard's Membership tab.
    • Note that if you enter an existing category that belongs to another entity, Aptify will automatically create a new Report Categories record with the same category name assigned to the current entity. 
  12. Click the icon to the right of the ObjectName field to open the Object Repository selection dialog.
  13. Browse to the location where your organization stores reports in the Object Repository.

    • This location varies from organization to organization. If using the Aptify sample dataset, the location for the sample Crystal Reports is Production > CRM > CrystalRPT or Production > DataModules > CrystalRPT, and the location for the sample SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) reports is Production > CRM > SSRSRPT or Production > DataModules > SSRSRPT.

  14. Select the report file and click Open.
    • If the report has not yet been added to the repository, click New, which opens a Windows file selection dialog, and browse to the location of the Crystal Report or SSRS file. Select the file and click Open. Then double-click the name of the report you just added within the Object Repository dialog. See Creating Object Repository Objects for details.
    • This returns you to the Reports sub-type record and fills in the report name and location within the Object field. 
  15. Enter the report's type in the Type field (typically, List).
    • Active Data Driver (1): The source for this report is a Crystal Reports Data Definition (TTX) file or SSRS.

    • List (2): This is the most common list type in Aptify. It corresponds to a list-based Crystal Report. When this option is selected, the list report generates a List within Aptify before displaying the report results.

      List (2) should be selected when you are adding a Crystal Report or SSRS report to an entity.

    • Standard (3): A standard report is not based on a List; the report is responsible for requesting any parameters from the user within the Report wizard.

    • Custom Report (4): A custom report corresponds to a special report type that requires that an object be created by a developer. See the next step for additional information.



  16. If you are adding a Custom Report, complete the following fields as necessary. (Note that the Location field is reserved for future use.)
    • OLEProgID: If the object that implements this report is a COM DLL, enter the name of the class that implements this report.
    • Assembly: If the object that implements this report is a .NET assembly, then enter the name of the assembly in this field.
    • Class Name: If the object that implements this report is a .NET assembly, enter the name of the assembly class that implements this report. 
  17. If your environment is running Aptify 5.5.4, perform the following steps:
    1. If you are adding a Crystal Report or SSRS report, select the appropriate format from the Report Format drop-down list.  The available formats are Crystal Report and SSRS Report.
    2. Specify whether the report should appear in the Status field by selecting Active or Inactive.
    3. If you want this report available to all users, select the Allow Everyone To Run option. Clearing this option means that the report is available to those users that have the appropriate permissions for the entity.
      Reports Sub-Type Record (Aptify 5.5.4)
  18. Click OK. 
  19. Confirm that the new report has been added to the entity's Reports tab.
  20. Save and Close the entity.
  21. Close and reopen Aptify.
    • If you do not close and reopen the client application, the report may not appear in the Report wizard due to system caching. 
  22. Create or open a view for the service to which you just added the report.
  23. Click the Report Wizard icon in the View toolbar to launch the wizard.
  24. Select the new report and click Finish.
  25. The report loads.
  26. Review the layout of the report. Also, confirm that all of the records from the view appear in the report.
  27. Close the report.

Generating a List of Existing Reports

Aptify includes sample reports for some of the entities (such as Entities). An organization's unique business practices may require additional reports be made available from various entities. One of the standard reports displays a list of all reports configured within the application, as well as the entities those reports are associated with.

To view the list of all existing reports configured for the Report wizard in Aptify, right-click in the Entities view and select Report Wizard from the context menu. In the first screen, select Report Wizard Reports from the list to display a list of all reports set up for the Report wizard for all entities.

Setting Up Aptify to Use SQL Server Reporting Services

This topic describes how to configure your SQL Server 2012 environment to support SSRS reports.

Pre-requisites

Steps

  1. Launch the Reporting Services Configuration Manager from your database server. Specify the Server Name and Report Server Instance.
    • If you have not configured your instance of SQL Server to use Reporting Services or if the service is not currently running, you will not be able to select a Report Server Instance. See the product documentation for your particular version of SQL Server for more information.

      Select Server Name and Instance
  2. Select Service Account from the tree.
  3. Check User built-in account and select Network Service from the drop-down.  
    • Using the User built-in account option makes local admin administrators in the Report server and the only admins. That is, local admin will be able to manage reports and make changes to the server (i.e. add permissions for users, etc.) You can change who has access to the Report later on. 
  4. Click Apply.
  5. Select Web Service URL from the tree. 

  6. Enter the Virtual Directory as SSRSReportServer (or a different name of your choosing).

    If you did not specify a directory or the directory you specified does not exist, you will need to click Apply before continuing to the next step.

  7. Click the Advanced.. option.
    • You may have to click Apply or exit out of the Reporting Server Configuration Manager and re-launch it before the Advanced... option is enabled.
    • For web servers that will be available on the public Internet, we are recommending securing the site using HTTP over a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) to create an HTTPS site. The default installation of the Aptify web requires SSL.  
  8. In the Multiple SSL identities for Report Manager section, click the Add button and select the certificate from the certificate drop-down. The Default SSL Port is 443.

    SSL Bindings

  9. Click OK and then OK again to close the Advanced. dialog.
  10. Click on Apply (if needed, clicking OK on the Advanced... dialog may automatically start the URL creation process).
  11. Select Database from the tree. 
  12. Click Change Database and select Create a new report server database.
    • In versions prior to SQL Server 2014, you may be able to select the Create a new report server database option directly.  
  13. Click Next.
  14. In the Database Server setting, you can select Integrated Security SQL Server Account as the Authentication Type depending on your organization's needs. 
    • You can click Test Connection to make sure the authentication type you select can connect successfully. If using Integrated Security, the domain user in which you have logged into the database server must have a valid user in the Aptify database.  
  15. Click Next.
  16. Enter the database name as ReportServer and click Next.
  17. Enter the credentials of an existing account that the report service will use to connect to the report server database. 
  18. Click Next.
  19. Review the Summary screen and then click Next to complete the process and then Finish. 
    • You may need to click Apply to apply the changes. 
  20. Select Report Manager URL from the tree.  Enter the Virtual Directory Name as SSRSReport.
  21. Click Apply.
  22. Click the Advanced... option.
  23. In the Multiple identities for Report Manager section, click Add to add the localhost URL.

     
     
  24. Click OK.
  25. In the Multiple SSL identities for Report Manager section if not already added, click the Add button and select the certificate from the certificate drop-down. The Default SSL Port is 443.
  26. Click OK.
    • You should now be able to use both http and https for SSRS reporting. 
  27.  Open the rsreportserver.config file and make sure the SecureConnectionLevel key is set to 0. 
    • When running  SQL Server 2014, this file is found in C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSRS12.MSSQLSERVER\Reporting Services\ReportServer by default.
    • When running SQL Server 2012, this file is found in C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSRS11.SQL2012\Reporting Services\ReportServer by default. 
  28. From a Browser, open the Report Manager URL (for example, https://servername.domain/SSRSReport).
  29. When prompted, enter the username and password of a user who has administrative rights to report server.
    • If you used the Use built-in account option, only accounts with administrative rights locally to the database server or with role-based administrative rights to the report server itself can access the report manager. 
  30. Select New Folder and create a folder called Reports (will store the SSRS reports).
  31. Select New Folder again and create another folder called DataSource (will store the data sources that will be used to connect between your reports and the Aptify database).
  32. In the Reports folder, click Upload File to upload the sample reports provided by Aptify (Invoice.rdl and PersonRoster.rdl) and any other reports you want to add.
    • The sample reports included in Aptify 5.5.4 are stored as objects in the Aptify Object Repository. You can obtain these reports by downloading them from the object repository.
    • Additional steps are required to add new reports to Aptify. See Adding Reports to an Entity for more details. 
  33. Navigate to the DataSource folder and click New Data Source and complete the steps below to create a data connection between the report and the Aptify database:
    1. Enter a name for the Data Source
      • This can be shared across multiple reports. 
    2. Select Datasource type as Microsoft SQL Server
    3. Add the connection string: Data Source=databaseserverinstance;Initial Catalog=Aptify
    4. Select an authentication method, based on your organization needs, Windows Integration is recommended.
    5. Click Test Connection to make sure the connection is successful.
    6. Click Apply

      Datasource 
       
  34. To apply the new data source to the uploaded reports, navigate to the Reports folder, make sure you are in Detail View, and select Manage from the drop-down for the report you want to manage.
  35. Click the Data Source tab, select A select shared data source and browse to the data source you created in the previous steps.
  36. Click Apply.

 

If you want other users to at least open reports, you need to provide the appropriate security rights using the steps below. The following steps illustrate how to add trusted domain users so they can access reports. 

  1. Click on Site Settings in the top-right corner and go to Security tab.
  2. Click on New Role Assignment and enter NT AUTHORITY\Authenticated Users in the group or username text field

  3. For end users who are only viewing reports, select System User as the role and then Click OK.

    If a user is required to provide administrative rights, you will need to assign System Administrator rights to that specific user

  4. To apply the new security updates to the uploaded reports, navigate to Home and select Security from the Folder drop-down.

  5. Click on New Role Assignment and enter NT AUTHORITY\Authenticated Users in the group or user name text field.
  6. Check the appropriate options (like Browser and My Reports) and click on OK.

Verifying SSRS Report Run in Aptify

  1. Log into Aptify desktop and navigate to the Object Repository Objects service.
  2. Open the objects for each report you added (in our case, the sample reports PersonRoster_SSRS and Invoice_SSRS) and verify that the Download Path is correct. The path should be something like: https://<ServerName>/<SSRSServerName>?/<ReportsFolderName> 
    • If you specified a Report Path in the Aptify 5.5.4 setup, the Download Path will already be populated. Verify it is correct based on how you set up your SQL Server Report Server. 
  3. Once you have verified the path is correct for all reports, close and re-open the Aptify desktop as an end user and make sure you can run the report from an appropriate view.
    • The desktop client must have the SSRS CLR and Report viewer runtimes installed. See the Installing Aptify 5.5.4 Server Software for more details. 
  4. If you are using Aptify web, you will need to restart the application pool for the SOA user (typically Aptify_SOAWeb) before reports can be viewed by users through the web interface.
    • The above steps is sufficient when making changes to an existing report's object repository records. However, when adding a new report (which require a brand new object repository record), you must run the Object Repository Synchronizer utility to update your web server's bin folders so it has the latest Aptify objects.  You can also manually add the object to the bin as needed. See Running the Object Repository Synchronizer for more information.

Adding Wizards to an Entity

The wizards that appear in an service's view toolbar correspond to actions specified in the service's Entities record. Therefore, to add a new wizard to a service, you need to add an action to the service's Entities record.

Follow these steps to add a wizard to an entity:

  1. If you have created a new wizard for an Aptify service, add the wizard's object file to the Object Repository.
  2. Open the Entities record for the service to which you want to add the wizard.
  3. Click the Configuration > Actions tab.
  4. Open a new Actions sub-type record.
  5. Enter a name for the wizard in the Name field.
    • This is the tool tip text that will appear when a user places the mouse cursor over the wizard's icon.
  6. If your organization is using Localization to translate different areas of the system to the local culture for a set of users, specify the culture string for this wizard name in the Name Culture String field. See Using Localization Administration for more information.
  7. Enter the wizard's .NET assembly name in the Action Assembly field.
  8. Enter the class within the .NET assembly that corresponds to the wizard's form in the Action Class field.
  9. Enter the Object Repository location of the wizard's object in the Action Object field.
    • Alternatively, you can click the plus (plus) icon to the right of the field to open the Select Object Repository Object dialog. You can use this dialog to browse for an existing object or to add a new object to the repository (if you have not done so already). See Creating Object Repository Objects for details.
  10. Enter a description for the wizard (optional).
  11. Enter or select the Object Repository location for the icon that you want to display for this wizard in the Icon field.
    • This is the icon that the system will use for this wizard. For example, this icon will appear in the service's view toolbar. A user will click this icon to launch the wizard.
    • If you leave this field blank, the system will use the default wizard icon.
    • Note that the Icon Small field is currently not implemented and is reserved for future use.
  12. Select or clear the Run From options as necessary.
    • By default, the wizard always appears in the service's view toolbar (this applies to List Views only).

    • If you want the wizard to appear in the service toolbar (that is, the toolbar that appears in the main display window when a service is selected), select the Run From Entity Browser option. If you do not want the wizard to appear in the service toolbar, clear this option.

      Any wizard that pulls data from a view should have the Run From Entity Browser option cleared.

    • If you want the wizard to appear in the view toolbar for a temporary list view, select the Run From Temporary View option. If you do not want the wizard to appear for temporary views, clear this option.

     

    A temporary view is a list view that is constructed outside of the standard Views entity. This includes:

    • Entity list views that appear under a related service tab of form. One example is the Templates tab on the Form Template Parts form that displays the templates to which the part applies.
    • Dashboard entity list views that are constructed using a custom SQL statement rather than an existing system view. 

     

    • If you want the wizard to appear in the view toolbar for a prompted list view, select the Run From Prompted View option. If you do not want the wizard to appear for prompted views, clear this option.
  13. If you are not ready to enable the wizard yet, set the Status to Inactive and users will not be able to access it. If the wizard is ready for deployment, leave the Status as Active.
  14. Configure the security settings to determine who can run the wizard.
    • If the wizard should be available for all users, leave the Allow Everyone to Run option selected.
    • If you want to limit access to a particular set of users, clear the Allow Everyone to Run option. This enables the Group Permissions and User Permissions tabs. Then, specify the Groups and/or Users who should have access to the wizard on the appropriate tab.
      • Note that the sa user has a default User Permissions record for all wizards.

        Actions Record
  15. Click OK.
  16. Save and Close the Entities record.
  17. Close and reopen the Aptify application as a user who should have access to the wizard.
  18. Open a view of the service to which you added the wizard and confirm that an icon appears for the wizard.
  19. Click the icon and confirm that the wizard launches successfully.

Adding Plug-Ins to an Entity

An organization can configure an entity to use a specially designed form or specialized functionality. To implement this specialized behavior, a developer creates a .NET assembly that defines the entity's extended functionality. These assemblies are then stored in the Object Repository and are added to the entity on the Plug-Ins tab using the Plug Ins record. The entity uses the plugins specified on this tab to override standard functionality with the functionality specified in one or more plug-ins.

Plug In Types

The Entity Plug In Types service stores the list of available plug-in types. Plug-in types may be global or entity specific. A developer can create additional Plug In Types as necessary. See About the Entity Plug In Types Form for more information.

The standard Aptify installation includes seven global types as well as a number of entity-specific types:

  • Viewer (1): This plug-in type corresponds to an alternate data form for the entity. In Aptify, entities with specialized viewer forms include Views, Entities, Archive Runs, Scheduled Tasks, and Base Fields.
  • Entity (2): This plug-in type indicates that the object implements specialized business logic for the entity. Typically, this plug applies to entities that require additional functionality beyond the standard implementation. For example, the Views, Entities, Archive Runs, Scheduled Tasks, and Base Fields entities all have an Entity plug-in.
  • Duplicate Check (3): This plug-in type corresponds to an object that implements entity-specific duplicate checking behavior.
  • Extension (4): This plug-in type corresponds to an object that implements an entity-specific right-click context menu.
  • Verification (5): This plug-in type corresponds to an object that implements entity-specific record verification behavior.
  • Find (6): This plug-in type corresponds to an object that implements an entity-specific Find dialog.
  • Merge (7): This plug-in type corresponds to an object that implements -entity-specific record merging behavior.
  • Excel Integration (37): This plug-in type defines the Excel Export wizard for the entity and overrides the default Excel Integration logic specified in the Views entity (or the core Excel Integration component if a default integration plug-in is not specified in the Views entity). You can also define a default configuration for all views within Aptify using the Excel Integration Default plug-in type of the Views entity. See the Using the Excel Integration Wizard for more information.
  • Data Pack: This plug-in defines the Data Pack wizard for the entity and overrides the default packing logic.
  • Data Unpack: This plug-in defines the Data Unpack wizard and overrides the default unpacking logic.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Once a developer has created the plug in, follow these steps to add the new plug-in to an entity:

These steps describe how to add a plug-in to an entity after a developer has created the .NET assembly; these steps do not describe how to write a plug-in. Aptify provides information on creating entity plug-ins in the Developers training course. Students in this course gain first-hand experience creating entity plug-ins in a test environment. Contact Aptify for more information. Additional developer information is also available in the Aptify Software Development Kit (SDK).

  1. Add the plug-in's object file to the Object Repository.
  2. If the plug-in provides functionality that is not already described by an existing plug-in type, create a new record in the Entity Plug In Types service as directed by the plug-in's developer.
    • In general, any new Entity Plug In Types records you create should be specific to a particular entity.
  3. Open the entity's record in the Entities service.
  4. Click the Plug-Ins tab.
  5. Open a new Plug Ins sub-type record.
  6. Select the Plug In Type from the drop-down list.
  7. Enter the Object Repository location of the plug-in's object in the Object Name field.
    • Alternatively, you can click the plus (plus) icon to the right of the field to open the Select Object Repository Object dialog. You can use this dialog to browse for an existing object or to add a new object to the repository (if you have not done so already). See Creating Object Repository Objects for details.
  8. Enter the plug-in's .NET assembly name in the Assembly Name field.
  9. Enter the class within the .NET assembly that implements the plug-in's functionality in the Class Name field.

    Plug Ins Record
  10. Click OK.
  11. Save and Close the Entities record.
  12. Close and reopen the Aptify client.
  13. Use the records in the entity to perform a test to confirm that the system successfully uses the functionality defined by the plug-in you added.

Sample Duplicate Check Objects

Aptify provides the compiled object and source code for two sample duplicate check objects: one for Persons and one for Companies. A developer can use these samples as a basis for writing his or her own duplicate check object for an entity. Note that these objects are provided as samples only since what may be considered a duplicate will vary from entity-to-entity and from organization-to-organization. Additional sample duplicate check objects are included with the sample application. See About the Sample Application Duplicate Check Objects for details.

The sample objects use the following logic to identify duplicates:

  • Sample Persons Duplicate Check Object (AptifyPersonDupeCheck.dll): When a user attempts to save a new Persons record, this sample object checks for existing Persons records that have the same First and Last Name. If any matches exist, Aptify identifies these records as potential duplicates.
  • Sample Companies Duplicate Check Object (AptifyCompanyDupeCheck.dll): When a user attempts to save a new Companies record, this sample object checks for existing Companies records that have the same exact Name. If any matches exist, Aptify identifies these records as potential duplicates.

By default, the Aptify installer adds these sample objects to the Aptify Object Repository, but the duplicate checking functionality is not enabled.

See Enabling the Persons and Companies Sample Duplicate Object to turn on the sample duplicate check object for the Persons and/or Companies entity:

Enabling the Persons and Companies Sample Duplicate Object

Follow these steps to turn on the sample duplicate check object for the Persons and/or Companies entity:

  1. Open the Entities record for Persons or Companies and click the Plug-Ins tab.

    Entities Record
  2. Click the New icon in the sub-type toolbar to open a new Plug-Ins record.
  3. Select Duplicate Check from the Plug In Type drop-down menu.
  4. Enter the Object Repository location for the sample duplicate check object in the Object field.
    • For the Persons duplicate check object, enter CRM.AptifyPersonDupeCheck.
    • For the Companies duplicate check object, enter CRM.AptifyCompanyDupeCheck. 
  5. Enter the object's Assembly Name in the field provided.
    • For the Persons duplicate check object, enter AptifyPersonDupeCheck.
    • For the Companies duplicate check object, enter AptifyCompanyDupeCheck. 
  6. Enter the applicable Class Name in the field provided.
    • For the Persons duplicate check object, enter Aptify.Applications.CRM.PersonDupeCheck.
    • For the Companies duplicate check object, enter Aptify.Applications.CRM.CompanyDupeCheck.

      Plug-Ins Record
  7. Click OK to save and close the Plug-Ins record.
  8. Save and close the Entities record.
  9. Close and reopen Aptify.
  10. Test the duplicate check object by attempting to save a new Persons or Companies record that has the same name as an existing record.

    Duplicate Check Message

Regenerating an Entity

When you modify an Entities record, Aptify reviews the list of changes to determine if any of the changes need to be propagated to the entity's generated database objects or form templates. For example, if you add or remove a group from the entity's Security tab, the system also needs to update the entity's associated database objects (such as its base view and stored procedure) with these new security settings.

If the system determines that an entity's associated objects or templates need to be updated, it displays the prompt.

Regenerate Entity Message
When you click OK, the system automatically regenerates the entity's table, base view, stored procedures, and form templates as necessary using the updated entity settings. (Review the Aptify Status Window to determine the list of items that require regeneration. In the example in the figure below an administrator removed a field so the system needed to regenerate the entity's table.)

Aptify Status Window
However, in some cases, you may want to trigger the regeneration process manually. For example, you may want to regenerate the entity's form templates if you modified a form manually and now want to revert to the generated version. 

Note that an administrator can regenerate an entity's form templates by using the Generate Form Template option on the entity's Form Templates tab without having to manually regenerated the entire entity. See About the Baseline Form Template Generator for more details.

 

Follow these steps if you want to force the system to regenerate an entity:

  1. On the Entities record, clear the Generate Table option.

    Force Entity Regeneration 
  2. Save the Entities record.
  3. Select the Generate Table option.
  4. Save or Save and Close the Entities record.
  5. Click Yes when prompted that the entity will be regenerated.

Enabling and Disabling Record History

 

 

Aptify uses the Record History feature to provide a complete revision tracking system for all records in the database. Record History maintains information about each version of a record, including what changes were made and who made them. Enabling the optional Allow Record History Restore feature can also give users the ability to restore previous versions of a record. This functionality is accessed by clicking the Record History button in a record's Data Control Bar (that is, the buttons along the top) or by right-clicking within a view and selecting Record History from the pop-up menu. See Using the Record History Button for more information.

While Record History provides valuable information about the versions of a record, it does increase the size of the Aptify database on your database server. Aptify recommends that you not enable Record History for all entities but that you limit it specifically to those entities you want to track to conserve disk space.

Note that in some cases it may be undesirable to allow users to restore previous version of a record. Therefore, by default, Aptify disables the Allow Record History Restore option for certain entities. See Entities That Do Not Support Record History Restores for a list of core Aptify entities that do not support Record History restorations by default. 


An administrator can enable or disable Record History and Record History Restore support on a per-entity basis. For new entities, both Record History and Record History Restore support are enabled by default.

Follow these steps to enable or disable Record History and Record History Restore support for an entity:

  1. Open the Entities record for the entity that you want to modify the Record History setting.
  2. Click the Configuration tab.
  3. Locate the Track Versions option at the bottom of the form.
    • This is the field that controls Record History. When selected, Record History is enabled. When cleared, Record History is disabled. 

      Track -Versions Field
  4. Select or clear the Track Versions options as necessary to enable or disable Record History.
  5. Locate the Allow Record History Restore option.
    • This is the field that controls the ability for a user to restore previous versions of a record.
    • Note that the Allow Record History Restore option is not applicable when the Track Versions option is cleared.
  6. Select or clear the Allow Record History Restore option as necessary to allow or prohibit Record History Restores.
  7. Save and Close the Entities record.
  8. When prompted, click OK to regenerate the entity's SQL server database objects.

Entities That Do Not Support Record History Restores

In certain cases, such as records that are involved in financial transactions, it may be undesirable to allow users to restore previous version of a record. Therefore, Aptify clears the Allow Record History Restore option by default for the following entities:

  • Advertising Insertion Orders
  • Batches
  • Booths
  • Bulk Orders
  • Cash Control Batches
  • Class Registrations
  • Commission Payments
  • Donor Advised Fund Allocations
  • Orders
  • Payments
  • Pledges
  • Product Inventory Ledger Entries
  • Scheduled Transactions
  • Standing Orders
  • Subscriptions

Enabling the OmitObjectData Attribute

In certain types of operations where multiple saves of the same record occur within a logical transaction, the associated record history growth can become an issue for the organization. In an effort to fix this issue, Aptify includes a global attribute called OmitObjectData that an organization can utilize to omit certain aspects of the record history data.

For example, the Committee Terms entity includes this attribute by default with a value of 1 which indicates that object data for each record version should be omitted. In this case, although record version information can be recorded and a user can view the record history of each Committee Terms record (if the entity has record history enabled), the object data is not stored.

By default, the OmitObjectData entity attribute is ONLY included on the Committee Terms entity and enabled (with a value of 1), however it can be enabled on any entity manually, depending on your desired configuration.


Omit Object Data Example

Follow the steps below to enable the OmitObjectData attribute for a particular entity:

  1. Open the Entities record for an entity whose record history details you want to omit.
  2. On the Configuration > Attributes tab, create a new Attributes record with the following information:
    • Name: OmitObjectData
    • Value: 1
  3. Click OK and save the entity.

Keep the following details in mind when using this attribute:

  • Setting the Value to 0 or removing the attribute from the entity will disable this feature and object data will be included.
  • If the OmitObjectData attribute does not exist for an entity (or has an invalid value), no record history data is omitted.
  • If the OmitObjectData attribute is set to 1, the object data associated with each record version is not stored and the ability to roll back records to prior versions is not available, even if the entity has been configured to Allow Record History Restores.
  • This feature is only available for top-level entities. Sub-type record history is included within the context of the parent record and is not available for selective configuration.

Requiring Comments on Save

For particularly sensitive Entities, an administrator can require users to enter a justification each time a record is created or modified. Record History stores and displays these comments. Note that Aptify recommends that an organization use this feature only as necessary, since users may find it overly burdensome to provide a justification each time a record is changed.

Follow these steps to enable the Require Comments for Each Save feature for a particular Entity:

  1. Open the Entity's record from the Entities service.
  2. Click the Configuration tab.
  3. Under the General sub-tab, confirm that the Track Versions option is selected.
    • This option enables and disables Record History. Record History must be enabled to use the Require Comments for Each Save feature.
  4. Select the Require Comments for each Save option.

    Require Comments for each Save Field

  5. Click Save and Close.

Once this feature is enabled, the following dialog box will appear each time a user attempts to either create a new record or save a modification to an existing record in this Entity:

  • The Name, Title, and Comments fields are required.

Comments Dialog
The user's Comments appear within the Record History window after the record is saved, as shown below. Note that the Name of the person who entered the comment is displayed in the Who Updated field and if email information was provided at the time the comment was created, the person's email address is displayed in this column as well.

Record History Window Displaying Save -Comments

Enabling Support for Most Commonly Used Records

In Aptify, users can add a Most Recently Used Records component to one or more dashboards. This component displays links to records recently accessed by that user.

However, the items that can appear in the dashboard list are limited to those records whose entities support the Most Recently Used Records component. (Users can also further filter a Most Recently Used Records component to display records from only a sub-set of supported entities). An administrator can enable or disable support for the Most Recently Used Records dashboard component on a per-entity basis. For new entities, it is disabled by default.

Note that this feature is better for entities where the same records are opened frequently by users. Also, there may be a negative impact on system performance if you enable this feature for entities that have a large amount of data activity.

Follow these steps to allow records from an entity to appear in a Most Recently Used Records list:

  1. Open the Entity's record from the Entities service.
  2. Click the Configuration tab.
  3. Select the Enable Most Recently Used option.

    Enable Most Recently Used

  4. Save and close the Entities record.

     

See Using the Desktop Client Most Recently Used Dashboard and the Configuring the Most Recently Used Records Component for more information on the Most Recently Used Records list.

 

Not yet followed by anyone

Configuring the Appearance of Required Fields

By default, Aptify identifies a form's required fields by setting the field's label caption to red, while non-required fields remain in black (or blue for link box captions). Aptify also leaves the background color for required fields as white. However, an administrator can override this setting at a global or per-entity basis.

Modifying Required Field Appearance Globally

The global attributes that control the required field appearance are in the Aptify Shell exe.config file and correspond to the following keys, which set the default appearance to Tahoma 8 pt font in red and the background color to white:

<add key=Startup.GeneralStartup.RequiredFieldTextColor value= Red/>
<add key=Startup.GeneralStartup.RequiredFieldFontName value=Tahoma/>
<add key=Startup.GeneralStartup.RequiredFieldFontSize value=8/>
<add key=Startup.GeneralStartup.RequiredFieldFontStyle value=Regular/>
<add key=Startup.GeneralStartup.RequiredFieldBackColor value=White/>


If desired, you can modify the values for these keys in Aptify Shell.exe.config and then upload the new version of the file to the Aptify Object Repository to deploy it to all users. For example, you could change the font color to green, the style to Bold, the font to Arial, and the background color of the field to Yellow with these updated settings:

<add key=Startup.GeneralStartup.RequiredFieldTextColor value= Green/>
<add key=Startup.GeneralStartup.RequiredFieldFontName value=Arial/>
<add key=Startup.GeneralStartup.RequiredFieldFontSize value=8/>
<add key=Startup.GeneralStartup.RequiredFieldFontStyle value=Bold/>
<add key=Startup.GeneralStartup.RequiredFieldBackColor value=Yellow/>


See Modifying User Login Preferences and System Attributes for more information on modifying configuration file values.

Modifying Required Field Appearance for a Particular Entity

In addition to changing the default behavior for all required fields in the Startup.exe.config file, an administrator can also modify the appearance on a per-entity basis. Follow these steps:

  1. Open the entity whose required field appearance you want to modify.
  2. Click the Configuration > General tab.
  3. Select the Customize Required Field Font Name and Font Color option. Four additional fields appear, as described below.

    Specifying Required Field Appearance
  4. Select the Settings... button to open the Font dialog that lets you select a Font Name, Font Style, and Font Size.
  5. Click the ellipsis to the right of the Font Color field to open the color picker dialog to select a font color for required field label captions.
  6. Click the ellipsis to the right of the Back Color field to open the color picker dialog to select a background color for the required field.
  7. Save and close the entity.

Specifying a Default List View Preview Pane

Aptify can display a preview pane at the bottom of list views that provides easy access to a sub-set of information from a particular record. See Using the List View Preview Pane for information on working with Preview Panes. This topic describes how to specify a default preview pane at the entity level so that it is available for views of that entity. Note that by default, the Persons service is the only entity that has a Default Preview Pane specified.

  1. Design the preview pane that you want to use for this entity. The preview pane should be a Form Templates record that contains all of the fields that you want the preview pane to display.
    • See Administering Form Templates for information on working with Form Templates.
    • If you want to use an existing Form Template as the preview pane, for best results, you should create a copy of that form template using the Form Template Copy wizard to prevent inadvertent changes to the original template. See Using the Form Template Copy Wizard for details.
    • Review the design of the Persons and Companies entities' default preview pane templates for ideas on how to create your own for other entities.
  2. Open the Entities record and click the Configuration > General tab.
  3. Specify the appropriate form template (from step 1) in the Default Preview Pane link box.

    Default Preview Pane Specified
  4. Save and close the entity.

Enabling and Disabling OK and New Button for Sub-Types

With Aptify, a user can save the current sub-type record and open a new Sub-Type record in one easy step by using the OK and New button found on Sub-Type forms within Aptify. However, there may be cases when having an OK and New button on a sub-type form may not be appropriate or desirable. Therefore, Aptify allows an administrator to configure the OK and New button option for sub-type records on a global or per-sub-type entity basis.

By default, the OK and New functionality is enabled for all sub-type records. This behavior is controlled by the DisplayOKandNewDefault attribute found on the Configuration > Attributes tab of the Entities entity.

  • The possible values for this attribute are 0 (do not display the OK and New button on Sub-Type records) and 1 (always display the OK and New button on Sub-Type records, the default value.)
  • If this attribute does not exist on the Entities entity (or has an invalid value), the value is assumed to be 1 and all Sub-Type records within the system will display the OK and New button option.

You can modify this attribute at the global level as necessary based on the system functionality desired. In addition, you can also add the DisplayOKandNew attribute to any sub-type record to limit where this functionality is available.

  • The possible values for this attribute are 0 (do not display the OK and New button on the particular Sub-Type record) and 1 (always display the OK and New button on the particular Sub-Type record, the default value.)
  • If the DisplayOKandNew attribute exists for a sub-type entity, then that value will be used. If an attribute does not exist for a sub-type entity (or has an invalid value), the global value will be used.

Note that the OK and New button option is disabled for the PersonFunctions and OrderLines sub-type entity by default.

 

Disabling Linked Field Hyperlinks for List Views

Aptify includes a hyperlink functionality that allows users to open records in the corresponding service directly from the view. (See Enabling or Disabling Hyperlinks for Fields in a List View for information on working with this functionality.) However, there are situations where it is either not desirable or inappropriate to allow users access to the linked record. For example, users should not be able to access an embedded Addresses record from a list view. Having access to the Addresses records gives the user the ability to update the addresses directly from the Addresses record, which is not appropriate. Therefore, Aptify provides the ability to disable the hyperlink functionality for a particular entity.

For Aptify Web 6.1

Aptify Web 6.1 includes support for displaying the required fields of a list view in hyperlinks to open the corresponding services directly from the view.

The hyperlink functionality is disabled, and cannot be enabled, for entities that are embedded in one or more container entities via an embedded link field (for example, the Payment Information, Addresses and Phone Numbers entities).

 

For Desktop Client

Follow the steps below to disable the hyperlink functionality for a particular entity.

  1. Open or create a view within the Entities service.
  2. Double‐click the entity that you want to configure.
  3. Click the Configuration tab.
  4. Click the Attributes sub‐tab.
  5. Click the New icon to create a new Entity Attributes record.
  6. Enter DisableHyperlink in the Name field.
  7. Enter 1 in the Value field.
  8. Save and close the entity.

To modify the behavior of the hyperlink functionality so that linked fields are displayed as hyperlinks (the default behavior), open the entity that you want to modify and either remove the Disable Hyperlink attribute or enter 0 in the Value field of the DisableHyperlink attribute.

 

A user can also control the appearance of linked fields as hyperlinks on a per view basis. See Enabling or Disabling Hyperlinks for Fields in a List View for details.

 

For Aptify Web Interface

Follow the steps below to disable the hyperlink functionality for a particular entity.

Disabling of hyperlink functionality for List view fields cannot be performed using the Aptify web interface. You must use the Aptify Desktop client to perform this procedure.

  1. Open or create a view within the Entities service.
  2. Double‐click the entity that you want to configure.
  3. Click the Configuration tab.
  4. Click the Attributes sub‐tab.
  5. Click the New icon to create a new Entity Attributes record.
  6. Enter DisableHyperlink in the Name field.
  7. Enter 1 in the Value field.
  8. Save and close the entity.
  9. Log into the Aptify Web and notice that the hyperlink checkbox is disabled and cannot be check-marked. In the below example, the company field has been disabled and cannot be check-marked for the hyperlink functionality.

To modify the behavior of the hyperlink functionality so that linked fields are displayed as hyperlinks (the default behavior), open the entity that you want to modify and either remove the Disable Hyperlink attribute or enter 0 in the Value field of the DisableHyperlink attribute.

A user can also control the appearance of linked fields as hyperlinks on a per view basis. See Enabling or Disabling Hyperlinks for Fields in a List View for details.

Displaying Fields as Hyperlinks in List Views By Default

Aptify can display linked fields as hyperlinks in list views allowing users to open records in the corresponding service directly from the view. See Enabling or Disabling Hyperlinks for Fields in a List View for information on working with this functionality. An administrator can configure whether or not the linked fields are displayed as hyperlinks or normal fields by default.

To use this feature, add the ShowHyperlinkInViewDefault attribute to the entity in which the linked field belongs, configured with the appropriate default behavior. For example, if you want to create a view from the Persons service that contains a hyperlink to open records in the Employees service, the attribute must be added to the Employees service.

Note that by default, linked fields are displayed as hyperlinks for the Companies, Entities, Employees, Issues, Meetings, Orders, Organizations, Persons, Products, Payments, and Tasks services.

For Aptify Web 6.1

Aptify Web 6.1 includes support for displaying the required fields of a list view in hyperlinks to open the corresponding services directly from the view.

Follow the steps below to modify the behavior of the hyperlink functionality for a particular entity so that linked fields are not displayed as hyperlinks by default for list views within the Aptify system. 

  1. Open or create a view within the Entities service.
  2. Double‐click the entity that you want to configure.
  3. Click the Configuration tab.
  4. Click the Attributes sub‐tab.
  5. Click the New icon to create a new Entity Attributes record.
  6. Enter ShowHyperlinkInViewDefault in the Name field.
  7. Enter 1 in the Value field.
  8. Save and close the entity. 

To modify the behavior of the hyperlink functionality so that linked fields are displayed as hyperlinks, open the entity that you want to modify and either remove the ShowHyperlinkInViewDefault attribute or enter 0 in the Value field of the ShowHyperlinkInViewDefault attribute.

 

If this attribute is not specified (or has an invalid value), the value is assumed to be 0 and the fields are displayed as non‐hyperlink fields by default. However, if the hyperlink functionality is enabled (see Disabling Linked Field Hyperlinks for List Views), a user can still display linked fields as hyperlinks on a per view basis. See Enabling or Disabling Hyperlinks for Fields in a List View for details.

Was this article helpful?
0 out of 0 found this helpful

Comments

0 comments

Please sign in to leave a comment.

Articles in this section

See more