Records

The records in a Granta database are organized into a hierarchical tree structure. Data records with similar attributes are grouped together under folders. These folders, which may themselves have attributes, are similarly grouped together into other folders. Individual data records are the 'leaves' of the tree, and folders are the branches. Part of the identifier tree can be seen in figure 1 of the Architecture topic.

Folder Records

A folder record acts as a branch of the tree. It does not have any data associated with it, but does have records 'below' it in the tree.

Data Records

Each data record in the database represents an entity - a material, a process, a supplier, etc. Each has a set of attributes. For a MaterialUniverse™ record, these attributes include its composition, strength, density etc. For a ProcessUniverse record, the attributes include the surface finish, tolerance, economic batch size etc. For a supplier, the attributes are the Company name, address, telephone number, etc.

There are two types of data record:

A 'specific' data record is a 'data' record that is not also a 'folder' record. It can not be subdivided, and usually represents a 'real' entity (e.g. Aluminum alloy 2014-T4).

A 'generic' data record is a record that is both a 'folder' and a 'data' record. Its attributes span the range of attributes of the 'specific' records beneath it in the tree - that is, it is a 'fictitious' entity whose attributes are an envelope around the attributes of the records below it in the tree. Generic records are particularly useful during the early stages of the selection, where breadth of information, and not detail is important. They are also useful as part of the data validation process - it can be expected that the attributes of the records beneath a generic record will be within the envelope of attributes covered by the generic.

In Granta Selector, the attributes of a record can be viewed in the Datasheet window.