Records and datasheets

There are three types of record in the Table tree structure:

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

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 (for example, the material Aluminum alloy 2014-T4).

Generic Records

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.

Each data record in the database represents an entity, for example, a material, a process, or a supplier. Each has a set of attributes. For a MaterialUniverse record, these attributes include its composition, strength, density, and so on. A ProcessUniverse record includes attributes such as the surface finish, tolerance, and economic batch size. For a supplier, attributes such as the Company name, address, and telephone number are provided.

Datasheets

Record data can be viewed in a datasheet. Double-click a record name to open its datasheet. Attributes are organized under headings.

You can change which attributes are displayed on the datasheet by the changing the layout from the Datasheet view list. This determines the headings and data that are visible on the datasheet, and the attributes that are available for selection purposes. Pre-defined layouts are provided for each table, and can be selected from the list.

Some attributes are relevant to all entities in the table, while others are specific to a particular class of entities. For Example, all materials have a 'Density', but 'Water Absorption' is only applicable to polymers. Therefore, the 'All Bulk Materials' attribute layout (relevant for all classes of materials) contains Density, but not Water Absorption. The 'Polymers' attribute layout contains both Density and Water Absorption.

In this example, you can only use 'Water Absorption' as a selection criteria if the attribute layout is set to Polymers.

Datasheets also contain links between a record and records in other data tables. To view links, open a record datasheet and click Links for a particular table. In the Links window, use the drop-down to change the table for which links are shown and view the linked records as either a List or Tree.