User defined primary key

A user defined primary key defines an alternative key that is used to identify rows in the table. The user defined primary key overwrites the primary key of the database. It is used by XDM to determine if a row needs to be inserted, or updated during a RLP copy process or compatibility table copy insert process. A RLP delete task uses the key to identify the rows that need to be deleted.

In many cases the primary key of the database is a technical number that is incremented after each insert of a row. However, a user defined primary key is used if a more application specific key is required to identify if a row exists or not.

It is generally recommended that the columns of a user defined primary key uniquely identify a row.

Regular expressions can be used for user-defined primary keys. More Information can be found in How to use regular expressions in XDM

Properties

The table below documents the available properties for user defined primary keys. The 'name' column displays the property name as it can be used in Groovy and Java Scripts.

Name	Type	Default	Description
Active active	Boolean	true	Specifies whether the rule is active and therefore used, or inactive and therefore ignored, when a task is executed.
Columns columns	String	n/a	A column, or group of columns, that are used as a unique identifier for rows in the table. These columns are used to identify if a row exists in the table or not. If more than one column is specified the values must be separated by comma.
Description description	String	n/a	An optional description for this object. The description can contain multiple lines to give more context on the configured object. The description is not used in a technical context.
Mark null values identical markNullValuesIdentical	Boolean	false	Specifies whether null values in the defined primary key columns are considered identical when comparing rows. When set to true, rows with null values in the primary key columns are treated as identical. Otherwise, rows with null values in the primary key columns are treated as different.
Name pattern namePattern	String	%	Specifies a selection pattern which is used to match the name of database objects of the specified object type. regular expressions can be used.
Schema pattern schemaPattern	String	%	Specifies a selection pattern which is used to match the schema of database objects of the specified object type. regular expressions can be used.
Scope scope	Scope	SOURCE	Can be set to either Source or Target. If set to Source, the patterns specified in the fields schema pattern and name pattern refer to the names of source objects. If set to Target, they refer to the names of target objects.
Tags tags	Tag	n/a	Contains the tags that apply to this object. These tags can be used in the search to find objects quickly and effortlessly.

Name

Type

Default

Description

Active

active

Boolean

true

Specifies whether the rule is active and therefore used, or inactive and therefore ignored, when a task is executed.

Columns

columns

String

n/a

A column, or group of columns, that are used as a unique identifier for rows in the table. These columns are used to identify if a row exists in the table or not. If more than one column is specified the values must be separated by comma.

Description

description

String

n/a

An optional description for this object. The description can contain multiple lines to give more context on the configured object. The description is not used in a technical context.

Mark null values identical

markNullValuesIdentical

Boolean

false

Specifies whether null values in the defined primary key columns are considered identical when comparing rows. When set to true, rows with null values in the primary key columns are treated as identical. Otherwise, rows with null values in the primary key columns are treated as different.

Name pattern

namePattern

String

Specifies a selection pattern which is used to match the name of database objects of the specified object type. regular expressions can be used.

Schema pattern

schemaPattern

String

Specifies a selection pattern which is used to match the schema of database objects of the specified object type. regular expressions can be used.

Scope

scope

Scope

SOURCE

Can be set to either Source or Target. If set to Source, the patterns specified in the fields schema pattern and name pattern refer to the names of source objects. If set to Target, they refer to the names of target objects.

Tags

Actions

The available actions are described below. Some actions apply to the list, while others are specific to selected user defined primary keys.

List Actions

The following actions are available on the user defined primary keys list. If the action is disabled a tooltip will provide the exact reason for the deactivation. The required permissions are described in detail for each action.

Bulk Delete
Create
Export
List History

Delete the selected objects.

The following options are available:

Cascade: Recursively delete depending objects.

When using cascade, dependent objects are deleted first also with cascade enabled. Thus, a cascade deletion is a recursive function that deeply searches for dependent objects and deletes them first. There is only a confirmation for the first object. The dependent objects are deleted without confirmation but only when the user has the DELETE permission.

This feature is only available in development mode. More information about development mode can be found in the chapter User Settings. It should be used with caution.

An object in the result list can have two different states, these are:

DELETED: The object could be deleted.
NOT_DELETED: The object could be not deleted. This may be because the executing person does not have a delete permission on the object or the object is still referenced by others. A detailed reason can be determined with the help of the error message. If the object is still in use, these objects are also displayed.

The following permissions are required on the list:

READ
WRITE

Creates a new object in the current list. Depending on the object type either a popup dialog is shown for the most important settings, or the complete object is shown in edit mode. The dialog provides the option to create the object and remain in the current list or to switch to the newly created object in edit mode to perform further changes.

The following permissions are required on the list:

CREATE

This action allows to export XDM objects in different formats in order to import them via export or CasC in another environment.

Refer to configuration of export for more information.

Related and dependent objects can optionally be included in the export. The export dialog has the following options:

Include dependent objects: Dependent objects only belong to the exported object like rules and tasks.
Include permissions: Permissions of each exported object, only when the object supports permissions. Some objects like rules don’t have permissions.
Include referenced objects: Referenced objects exist by their own and are used in the exported object like connections and environments.
Include objects that depend on referenced objects: Also include the dependent objects of the referenced objects. E.g. the rules of a modification set or the rules in an application model version.
Include implicit created objects: Implicit created objects are tasks or workflows which were automatically created for execution. These objects won’t be exported by default, but can be included by setting this flag. When exporting implicit objects, make sure that the Include dependent objects flag is also enabled.

Objects on which the user does not have READ permission are not exported. This includes dependent and referenced objects. However, the reference to an object will be exported.

For example a connection object would refer to the credential, even if the user does not have READ permission on the credential. The definition of the credential object itself will not be part of the export file. This can lead to issues during the import, because the connection cannot be created without an existing credential.

The following permissions are required on the list:

READ

The history list tracks all modifications made to objects within it. A new record is added each time an object is created, edited, or deleted. A record indicates who made the change, which object was affected, and when the change was made.

For more information about the concept of the history refer to the history concepts.

The following permissions are required on the list:

READ

Object Actions

The following actions are available on specific user defined primary keys. In order to execute the action, the user must possess the necessary permissions for the object. The permissions required for each action are described individually. If the user does not have these permissions, the action will be disabled and the tooltip will provide the exact reason for the deactivation.

The copy action creates an identical copy of the object. A new entry is created in the object list and all properties in the new object are set identical to the copied object.