Data sources

A data source is a named SELECT statement which can be used to pull information from the ActivityHD database in an optimized way. Data sources are useful when creating custom reports and for extending the data that is available to existing reports. Data sources will make it possible to phase out the use of extended views for reports.

You can associate a data source with a data extension in the Data Extensions table on the Advanced tab of a report design window.

Add a data source

In the Navigation pane, highlight the [Company] > Administration > Setup > Data Sources folder.
Click . The New Data Source window opens.
Enter a Name for the data source.
Enter a Description for the data source.
In the Report From field, select the folder(s) which should contain a report that uses the data source. The Resource Find dialog on this field supports multi-select. You can use Ctrl and/or Shift selection to select multiple folders.

Reports are only visible to users with access to the data source.

The data source must contain a column which corresponds to the identifier (GUID) of the items in the "report from" folder.
The Select Statement field contains the skeleton of a SELECT statement as a starting point for you to write a SELECT statement to describe the data you need for the data source. Complete the SELECT statement as appropriate.
In the Order By field, list the columns from the SELECT statement to use to sort the data records. Enter the columns in the order you want the sort applied.
Click Select Test to validate the SQL SELECT statement. If there are errors, correct the SQL statement and revalidate.
When you finish, save the new data source.

Note

If a data source contains validation errors, you are warned about the error condition when you attempt to save it. Because, however, you may want to save a work-in-progress in spite of errors, you can save data sources with validation errors. As a best practice, consider removing access to a data source that has errors since users who attempt to use such a data source will see error messages.

Assign permissions to a data source

Data Source Record ID

Name

The name of the data source.

Description

A description of the data source.

Data Source tab

Report From

The folder(s) from which reports based on the data source are available. These reports will only be visible to users with access to the data source.

The data source must contain a column which corresponds to the identifier (GUID) of the items in the "report from" folder.

Select Statements

A SQL SELECT statement which returns the data records desired.

Order By

The columns from the SELECT statement to use to sort the data records returned by the SELECT statement.

Data Version

The current data version. Increment the number when report designs and other uses of the data source need to be updated due to data changes.

Select Test button

Click this button to test that the SELECT statement is valid.

Permissions tab

Access Control

The level of access assigned to the data source. Your options are:

All. The data source is available to all users, regardless of permissions.
None. The data source is unavailable to all users, regardless of permissions.
Permitted. The data source is available based on permissions. If you select this option, specify the permissions a user needs to access the data source.

Available Permissions

The list box shows the permissions available for assignment to the data source. Permissions that are flagged as "Obsolete" are not visible in the list box.

To assign a permission to the data source, double-click the permission to move it to the Assigned Permissions list box or highlight it and click to move it to the Assigned Permissions list box.

To view a permission record, highlight the permission in the list box and press F4 or right-click and select Open from the context menu.

Assigned Permissions

The list box shows the permissions currently assigned to the data source. Permissions previously assigned to a data source and subsequently flagged as "Obsolete" are visible in the list box.

To unassign a permission, double-click the permission to move it to the Available Permissions list box or highlight it and click to move it to the Available Permissions list box.

To view a permission record, highlight the permission in the list box and press F4 or right-click and select Open from the context menu.

Custom tab

This tab is visible if custom fields exist for the entity. At a minimum, if there are custom fields, a Fields subtab will be present. One or more additional categories of subtabs may also be visible.

Fields subtab

This tab prompts for values for any custom fields set up for entity records of this entity type. Respond to the prompts as appropriate.

References subtab

This tab is visible if other records reference the current record.

Reference

From the drop-down list, select the custom field to view references for. Reference custom fields have the following format: PackageName.EntityName.CustomFieldName.

Example

Suppose a custom field exists on PRCodes that references an ARCode. On the ARCode record, on the Custom > References subtab, you can view all the PRCodes which reference that ARCode.

Exchange Folder subtab

This tab is visible only if you set up a custom field with a data type of "Exchange Folder". The label on this tab is the name assigned to the custom field.

This tab shows the contents of the specified Exchange folder.

File subtab

This tab is visible only if you set up a custom field with a data type of "File". The label on the tab is the name assigned to the custom field.

This tab renders the contents of the specified file according to its file type.

Internet Address subtab

This tab is visible only if you set up a custom field with a data type of "Internet Address". The label on this tab is the name assigned to the custom field.

This tab shows the contents of the specified web page.

Network Folder subtab

This tab is visible only if you set up a custom field with a data type of "Network Folder". The label on this tab is the name assigned to the custom field.

This tab shows the contents of the specified network folder.

Attachments tab

The Attachments tab is visible if any record for a given entity has an attachment. If the Attachments tab is not visible, this implies that no record of the entity type has an attachment on it; however, once an attachment is added to any record of the entity type, the Attachments tab will become available.

Attachments

The list box shows the files which are attached to the current record. Highlight a file name to preview the file in the adjacent pane. Double-click a file name to open the file in its native editor.

Preview pane

If a file name is highlighted in the Attachments list box, this pane shows a preview of the file contents. Some file types cannot be previewed but can be double-clicked to open in their native editor.

Other tab

Memo tab

To include additional information about this record not collected elsewhere, enter it in this text box. This area supports common keyboard shortcuts such as Ctrl+C to copy and Ctrl+V to paste.

Timestamps tab

This tab shows the user who created this record and the date and time of creation as well as the user, date, and time of the latest modification to the record.

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