Metadata Designer
Where you design the data schema at the scope you are in: the active Tenant's model, or at the platform the platform catalogue every tenant reuses. One workspace per entity: its fields, what it inherits from, its relations, its domain views and its settings.
For: Builder, Tenant administrator
Where to start
- Create an entity: press + New entity above the tree, type its name (for example Course) and, if it is a kind of another entity, choose what it inherits from.
- Add its fields: on the entity's page, under Fields, press + Add field, name it, choose its data type and whether it is required or takes several values.
- Relate it to another entity: under Relations, press + Add relation to…, choose the other entity and the direction, and name the kind of link (for example “works in”) or reuse one.
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Entity | A kind of thing you keep records of: a Person, a Course, an Invoice. |
| Inherits from (ISA) | An entity that inherits from another has all its fields and relations: a Student inherits from Person. An entity may inherit from several. |
| Relation type | The kind of link between two entities, such as “works in”. One type can be reused between other pairs; the relation itself connects two entities with it. |
| Data type | What a field holds: text, a number, a date. The list is shared by the whole platform. |
Tip The Where to start panel above the workspace says the same; fold it away once you know it, and the screen remembers.
Where a field reaches
Under each field's key, Where it reaches opens the field on the right of the Model tool: its data type, whether it is required and who owns it, then every place that reads it — the views that show it, the workflow transitions that require it, test it in a condition or set it in an effect (your own steps too), and the actions that set it. Open on a use goes to its lens with the entity kept — on a view, a workflow's transition or an action, with it open beside it. A view shows every field of its entity unless it hides one, so it is listed whether or not it binds the field. When nothing reads the field, it says so: changing it breaks no view, workflow or action. Choosing another entity closes the field.
The parts of this screen
- The workspace of an entityThe entity tree and each tab of an entity's workspace: what it shows and what you do there.
- KeysHow a key is made from a name, and why it never changes once created.
- Who can do whatThe permissions the designer needs at each scope, and what is checked on the server.
- Changing what an entity inherits fromWhat depends on an inheritance link, and the ways to change it without losing data.
- Relation rulesCardinality, applicability and uniqueness of a relation, and what Explorer then refuses.
- Errors: a key that is taken, and other refusalsWhat the designer says when a definition cannot be saved, and what to do.