Working with user-defined tables
You use the UDTs page to manage a data source's user-defined tables.
You can add your own user-defined tables to data sources. You create user-defined tables in Server Admin and use them to store information against objects in Asta Powerproject. You can specify the types of Asta Powerproject object that can use each user-defined table, for example tasks, picture annotations or cost centres. You then specify the fields and user-defined enumerators that you want to use as columns in the table. Each user-defined table can contain a number of fields and user-defined enumerators.
For example, you could create a user-defined enumerator called Priority and define values of High, Medium and Low. You could then add this to a user-defined table which is associated with tasks and use the enumerator to specify the priority of tasks in Asta Powerproject. Alternatively, you could create a user-defined enumerator called Manager and define values relating to the names of your Managers. You could then add this to a user-defined table which is associated with cost and income rates and use the enumerator to specify the person that sets the cost and income rates of your permanent resources. Adding a string field called Telephone to the user-defined table would enable you to record the telephone number of each Manager.
You can use Resource Search to search for permanent resources using the information stored within user-defined tables that are associated with the 'Perm Resource Skill' object. For example, if you have a user-defined table called Resource Attributes, populated with Expertise and Location fields, you could search for permanent resources by their area of expertise (for example Brick Layer, Developer or Builder) or their location (for example Edinburgh, Dublin or Paris). You can only search on fields within a user-defined table for which the Allow enumeration field has been selected on the
User-defined tables can be associated with more than one type of Asta Powerproject object. For example, you may want a 'Manager' user-defined table to be associated with both permanent resources and quality checks, to enable users to specify the managers of both permanent resources and quality checks in a project.
To access the UDTs page, either:
- In the sidebar, click a data source, then click UDTs.
- On the Datasources page, click UDTs underneath a data source.
Creating user-defined tables
If you baseline projects from one data source into another and you add a user-defined table to one data source, you must also add it to the data source into which you baseline projects, as both data sources must have the same user-defined table structure.
To create a user-defined table:
- Click Create New. The Create New UDT page appears.
- Enter a name for the user-defined table in the UDT name field. The table will appear on Asta PowerprojectProperties dialogs on a new tab that uses the name that you enter here, so the name should reflect the use to which the table will be put. For example, if you are going to store security information in the table, call it 'Security'.
- Specify the Asta Powerproject objects with which the user-defined table should be associated by dragging and dropping object types from the Available object types column to the Associated object types column. For example, if you want this user-defined table
to be available for entering information relating to permanent resources and quality checks, click and drag 'Permanent Resource' and 'Quality Check' to the Associated object types column. Select 'Perm Resource Skill' if you want
to use this table in conjunction with Resource Search
to search for permanent resources.
If you change your mind, you can drag object types from the Associated object types column back into the Available object types column.
You must now enter details of the columns of the user-defined table - each column containing a field or user-defined enumerator. - Click Add Column. The Column Data popup appears.
- Enter a name under which the field will appear within the user-defined table in Asta Powerproject in the Name field. This is the name of the column within the table.
- Select the type of field, for example 'Integer' or 'Boolean', in the Type field. If you have created one or more user-defined enumerators in this data source and you want to add one to the user-defined table, you can select a type of 'User Defined Enumerator', then select the enumerator you want to add to the table in the Enum field. To enable users to link objects to external documents using this field, select 'URL'.
- Select or enter the value that you want to appear by default in the field in the Default value field. If you are adding a Boolean field, this field appears as a check box. Select the check box to make the field selected by default, or clear it to make the field cleared by default.
- For string fields, you can use the Allow zero length check box to specify whether users are allowed to leave the field blank.
- Select the Allow enumeration check box to enable users to filter on the contents of the field within Asta Powerproject, or clear the check box to disable filtering on the field. For user-defined tables that are associated with the 'Perm Resource Skill' object, selecting this check box also enables you to use this field as search criteria when searching for permanent resources using Resource Search. You must select this check box for all types of field, including 'Boolean' fields, that you want to use to search for permanent resources using Resource Search.
- Click OK to save the details of the column and return to the Create New UDT page, where the column appears in the Columns section.
- Repeat steps 4-10 to add the rest of the columns to the user-defined table.
- When you have added all the required columns, click Save to save the user-defined table and return to the UDTs page.
Editing user-defined tables
You can edit the name and the columns that appear in user-defined tables, and change the Asta Powerproject objects to which a table is associated.
To edit a user-defined table:
- Click the user-defined table that you want to edit. The Edit UDT page appears.
- Edit the details of the user-defined table as required.
- Click Save. You return to the UDTs page.
You can also change the order in which the columns in a user-defined table appear. To do this:
- Click Column Order to the right of the user-defined table whole columns you want to reorder. The UDT Column Order page appears, listing the columns that are included in the user-defined table.
- Drag and drop the columns to change the order in which they appear in the user-defined table. The column at the top of the list will appear at the far left of the user-defined table; the column at the bottom of the list will appear at the far right.
- Click Save when you have finished reordering the columns. You return to the UDTs page.
Deleting user-defined tables
Deleting a user-defined table is a way of removing the table and any data that has been entered into it. If you delete a user-defined table, the Asta Powerproject Enterprise system's link to the table is removed, and the table and any data that has been entered into it is removed from the database. Therefore, you cannot access the information that was entered into the user-defined table.
If you baseline projects from one data source into another and you delete a user-defined table from one data source, you must also delete it from the data source into which you baseline projects, as both data sources must have the same user-defined table structure.
To delete a user-defined table:
- Click Delete to the right of the user-defined table that you want to delete. A popup appears, asking you to confirm whether you want to delete the user-defined table.
- Click OK. You return to the UDTs page and the user-defined table is deleted.