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Flat view
If you're using Oracle, SQL Server [SINCE Orbeon Forms 2016.2], or DB2 [SINCE Orbeon Forms 4.7], or PostgreSQL [SINCE Orbeon Forms 4.8], when you deploy a form created in Form Builder, Orbeon Forms can create a form-specific view of your data, with one column for each form field.
You enable this feature by setting the relevant property listed below to
true.Database | Property |
|---|---|
Oracle | oxf.fr.persistence.oracle.create-flat-view |
SQL Server | oxf.fr.persistence.sqlserver.create-flat-view |
DB2 | oxf.fr.persistence.db2.create-flat-view |
PostgreSQL | oxf.fr.persistence.postgresql.create-flat-view |
For instance, if using Oracle, you set:
<property
as="xs:boolean"
name="oxf.fr.persistence.oracle.create-flat-view"
value="true"/>
When you enable this property, upon publishing a form, the persistence layer creates a view specific to that form. The name of the view is based on the app name, form name, and [SINCE Orbeon Forms 2021.1] form version. It has the form:
[SINCE Orbeon Forms 2021.1] orbeon_f_#{app}_#{form}_#{form_version}
[UP TO Orbeon Forms 2020.1] orbeon_f_#{app}_#{form}
For instance, on Orbeon Forms 2021.1 and newer, if your app is
hr, your form is expense, and you are publishing version 2 of that form, then the view is named orbeon_f_hr_expense_2. If upon publishing, there is already a view with that name, the persistence layer deletes it before recreating a new view.The view always has the following metadata columns, with information copied from the equivalent columns in
orbeon_form_data:- [UP TO Orbeon Forms 4.3]
metadata_document_idmetadata_createdmetadata_last_modifiedmetadata_username
- [SINCE Orbeon Forms 4.4]
metadata_document_idmetadata_createdmetadata_last_modified_timemetadata_last_modified_by
Note that there is no
metadata_draft column, as drafts are not included the view. (Before 4.7 they were, incorrectly, see issue 1870.)In addition to those columns, you have one column per form field, and each column is named by combining the section name with the control name. On some databases, like Oracle, columns names are limited to 30 characters, so the persistence layer truncates column names. It also converts dashes to underscores, removes any non alphanumeric character except inner underscores, and converts the name to uppercase (so it can be used in queries without quotes).
Orbeon Forms 4.5 introduces a new truncation algorithm so names are not cut short unnecessarily, and A numerical suffix is used instead for those columns which would introduce duplicates.
Examples:
- Section name:
personal-information- Control name:
first-name⇒ column name:PERSONAL_INFORMATIO_FIRST_NAME - Control name:
last-name⇒ column name:PERSONAL_INFORMATION_LAST_NAME - Control name:
address⇒ column name:PERSONAL_INFORMATION_ADDRESS
- Section name:
company- Control name:
name⇒ column name:COMPANY_NAME - Control name:
industry⇒ column name:COMPANY_INDUSTRY
- Section name:
section-with-long-name- Control name:
my-control-with-a-pretty-long-name⇒ column name:SECTION_WITH_L_MY_CONTROL_WITH - Control name:
my-control-with-a-pretty-long-name-too⇒ column name:SECTION_WITH_L_MY_CONTROL_WIT1 - Control name:
my-control-with-a-pretty-long-name-really⇒ column name:SECTION_WITH_L_MY_CONTROL_WIT2
The section name is truncated to 14 characters, the control name to 15 characters, and both are combined with an underscore in between. In the vast majority of the cases, this will result in distinct and recognizable column names. In cases where two or more columns would end up having the same name or conflict with one of the metadata column, the persistence layer adds a number prefix of the form
001_, 002_, 003_… to each column to make it unique. If this happens, you might want to change your section and/or control names to have more recognizable column names.Examples:
Section name | Control name | Column name |
|---|---|---|
personal-information | first-name | PERSONAL_INFOR_FIRST_NAME |
| `last-name` | `PERSONAL_INFOR_LAST_NAME`
| `address` | `PERSONAL_INFOR_ADDRESS`
company | name | COMPANY_NAME | industry | COMPANY_INDUSTRY- [SINCE Orbeon Forms 2016.1] Orbeon Forms handles fields inside nested sections and nested section templates. Such fields used to be ignored with Orbeon Forms 4.10 and earlier.
Last modified 2yr ago