Catalog Info Area

Variable catalog values in all languages are stored in the Catalog info area.

Languages are defined in the Language info area, see Languages. Catalog values can be edited, deleted and added in catalog infoarea.

Information including the following is saved for each catalog value:

  • Catalog No.: The catalog number (corresponds to the No. column in the data model). For example, the Country field in the Company info area accesses the Country catalog (number 2).
    Note: The Catalog No. is displayed in square brackets after the catalog name in the drop-down list.
  • Language No.: The number of the language the catalog value was added in. The catalog base language always uses language number 0 in the Catalog info area.
  • Code: The number of the catalog value.
  • Text: The text of the catalog value.
  • Ext. Key: Key of the catalog value in an external system.
  • KA-TenNo: The number of the tenant the catalog value was added for, see Tenants and Catalog Maintenance.

The following combinations are unique keys for catalog values:

  • Catalog No. + Language No. + Code
  • Catalog No. + Text (in the base language) + KA-TenNo

Only the catalog value's code is stored in records. You can display the codes by clicking on (Number) in dialogs containing catalog values. Catalog values are displayed in the current language, see Multi-Language Catalogs.

Catalog values in formats are saved using the tenant number and catalog text in the catalog base language. The catalog base language is defined in the Language info area (Rights module), see Defining Languages.

Communication and CRM.cockpit match up catalog values by the tenant number and catalog text in the catalog base language. On the target station the codes are generated again, i.e. they may differ between stations.

It may be necessary to use absolute references (reports, additional programming) to catalog values in distributed systems (separate development, test and live systems). As the value in the catalog base language may be changed, you can use the Ext. Key in the catalog base language to reference the catalog value. The external key can be created automatically using a configuration entry, see Unique System-wide Identification of Catalog Values.

When importing catalog values into the Catalog info area, you can either match up values directly using the Language No. field (see Selecting Fields in the Aurea CRM win Administrator Guide) or using the external key(see Importing Catalog Values using External Keys in the Aurea CRM win Administrator Guide). When importing values into other info areas, catalog values can be matched up using the text in the catalog base language and/or using the external key.

Unique System-wide Identification of Catalog Values

The combination of Catalog No. + Text (in the catalog base language) + KA-TenNo serves as the system-wide key for catalog values (e.g. when communicating). As the catalog base language is generally a language that is used in the system, the catalog text may be prone to changes.

To uniquely identify catalog values you can use the external key in the base language. The external keys remain unchanged when transferring data between development and live systems (e.g. using CRM.cockpit), so that for example reports that query specific catalog values work on all stations.

You can prevent users of the live system from editing or deleting these external keys in the access rights, see Defining Access Rights for Variable Catalogs. You can thus ensure that no keys are overwritten when communicating between the live and development systems.

To automatically create external keys for the catalog base language when adding catalog values:

  1. Enable the Automatically enter external keys configuration entry, see Catalogs.

To create external keys for the catalog base language for existing catalog values:

  1. Start mmba.exe on the catalog maintenance station using the --genextkey parameter, see mmba.exe Parameters.

    Existing external keys are not overwritten.

External keys are generated using the following format: <station>_<catno>_<code> or <station>_<catno>_<code (parent)>_<code>.

Examples:

1_2_37: Station 1, Country catalog, catalog value with code 37

100_46_1_2: Station 100, Interests catalog, parent catalog code 1, catalog value with code 2

If an external key is already present in the database as the external key of another catalog value, no key is created for the current catalog value. In this case, the following message is written to the active module's log file: Catalogs ;Warning ;Generated external key already exists: '1_18_2'. In this case, you need to enter the external key manually, see Editing Variable Catalogs.