Property

A property describes an attribute that can be assigned to nearly all data model types. The value of a property can only be assigned at run time.

Each referenced property is displayed with its property value, if it is available, in the Property view when the referencing object is selected.

The display names of elements in the Application Explorer view are also property values that have been referenced with special attributes in the relationship "Element Type has Property", as shown in the following figure:

Display names of Elements in the tree view

All the elements (blue dashed framed) are derived from the element type (blue framed) and share properties (green framed). The property values can be different. The element display name is defined via the relationship with the Tree View Label attribute.

Different attributes can be set when defining a property. One is the type of the property. This attribute defines how a property value is interpreted at run time. Its main impact is how a modeled dialog field is displayed and how input fields are validated. The definition of boolean properties have an impact on the enabled condition checking.

Note: The type attribute specified in the model does not constrain the AWM managed property value to be this type at run time. For example, a property is defined as numeric but at run time the tool returns a character string value which AWM accepts.

The following property types are supported:

Type	Description
String	This is the default type. The property value can contain a text string which can be entered at run time in a modeled input dialog.
Boolean	At run time a control box is displayed in modeled dialogs.
Select_Value	At run time a selection box is displayed for modeled input dialogs and the user can only select a value which has been specified in the AWM model. The values that the user can select are defined by key values. Optionally, key labels can be specified which overwrite the display text of the key values in the selection box. If key labels are used, the number of specified labels must match with the number of key values.
Date	In modeled input dialogs with date fields, the date can be chosen from a graphical calendar. The stored date format can be configured in the AWM model. The default format is yyyyddMM.
Time	Time properties are used to support time specifications in a modeled input dialog. The property value is stored using the format HHmmSS.
Password	Password properties are used to mask passwords in the UI. In modeled AWM dialogs, they are represented as non-readable password fields. They do not offer encrypted password security. Depending on the modeled scenario, values of password properties can be displayed as unmasked in the UI or Eclipse workspace. AWM does not persist values of password properties in the workspace cache. In order to save passwords between sessions, you can use the tools Save To Secure Storage and Read From Secure Storage from the Eclipse function package.
Numeric	Numeric properties are used to support numeric values. A modeled dialog validates numeric input fields and adds leading zeros, if necessary, corresponding to the minimum value length attribute.
Text Area	A text area property can be used to enter formatted text in a modeled input dialog. It can be modeled using the maximum lines attribute and the maximum characters per line attribute. Depending on their values, the Input dialog box generates a multi-line text field. At run time a non-empty line is filled with trailing blanks.
Text Array	Text array properties can be used to store a variable number of values. There are two ways to set the values of a text array property: If the text array should always be empty when the dialog is opened (instead of showing cached array values), a space character can be specified as a static value of the corresponding modeled dialog input parameter. Using a text array property as an input parameter in a modeled input dialog. A retrieve all values action must be referenced in the property definition to retrieve valid values. Both scenarios generate a selection table within a modeled input dialog box so the user can choose which values to apply.
HTML	A property of type HTML is presented in modeled dialogs as a two page HTML editor: Source page Enables you to enter HTML formatted text. View page Provides you with a preview of the HTML formatted source text.

See Input Dialog and Output Dialog for more information.

A further property attribute used in context with dialog boxes is Retrieve_Values. You can specify an action descriptor to reference and associate with a tool which returns a list of all the valid values for that property. The action is called by clicking a Retrieve button in the input dialog box, which returns the valid values as a selection list in the combo box field. The tools of the referenced action descriptor has access to all the input fields of the dialog box. User inputs in those fields can be used as input parameters.

The selection list is populated with the returned values when the Retrieve action executes. Any field values entered in the dialog box can be used as tool input parameters for the retrieve action.

Note: Depending on the Property's type and selected options attributes from the list below will be visible or not.

Attribute	Type	Description
ID *	ID *	The ID of the property.
Default_Value [O]	String	The standard value of the property serves as the default entry for input fields or input parameters. As soon as a tool has assigned a property value to this property the default value is no longer used.
Special_Property	Selection	Indicates whether this property has a special meaning. See Special Properties for more information. Valid values are: NONE (default) Element_Type Element_Suffix MarkerLineNumber Property Group
Resource Identifier * (if visible)	Selection	Only relevant for linked properties which require an additional link to a property which identifies a corresponding linked element. It is not displayed in the model editor's property view if it is not relevant. For example, all linked properties specified in the Eclipse function package need a resource identifier to the modelled property which identifies an Eclipse resource (project, folder, or file). Otherwise, the function package would not be able to get or set a linked property value.
Label [O]	String	The display text of the property in the Properties view and the default display text, if the property is used in modeled dialogs. If not specified, the property ID is used as the display text.
Value_Keys [D]	String []	The permitted property values for a property if it has the type SelectValue. If no labels are defined for the key values, the key values are used at run time to create the selection list for this property in the input dialog box. Value_Keys can also be used in combination with Label_Keys for properties of type String in order to map key values of a property to corresponding label values to be shown in AWM dialog fields. This means instead of the value key the corresponding label key is displayed in the dialog field. The value must not contain any white spaces.
Label_Keys [D]	String []	Specifies the display text for each value key. This attribute is only relevant if the property has the type SelectValue or String and is optional. If labels are specified, the number of labels must match the number of the key value. Note: The labels must not contain any white spaces. Underscore characters (_) can be used instead as they are converted to white spaces at run time.
Label Property [O]	Property	Specifies which property returned by the Retrieve Values or Retrieve Labels action is used as the label property. This attribute is only relevant if the Value From attribute is set to Matching Property.
Mode [O]	Selection	Specifies how the Retrieve Values action is triggered in modelled dialog fields. Possible values: Manual The dialog field is provided by clicking the Retrieve button which then triggers the Retrieve Values action. On Demand The retrieve action is executed as soon as the dialog field is selected.
Retrieve Button Label [O]	String	Specifies the label for the Retrieve Values button. If no value is set, the label is taken from the specific attribute defined under Application Options. If this is not set, then the default label Retrieve is used for the button.
Retrieve Labels [O]	Action Descriptor	Specifies a reference to an action descriptor that dynamically returns labels for property values at run time. See Retrieve Labels for more information.
Retrieve Values [O]	Action Descriptor	Specifies a reference to an action descriptor that returns the valid values of this property. See Retrieve Values for more information.
Value Property [O]	Property	Specifies which property returned by the Retrieve Values or Retrieve Labels actions is used as the value property. This attribute is only relevant if the Value From attribute is set to Matching Property.
Values From [O]	Selection	Specifies in which way values and labels are retrieved by the Retrieve Values or Retrieve Labels action. Valid values: Matching Property Depending on the property This is the default value. Output Table Depending on the position See Retrieve Values for more information.
Upper case [O]	Boolean	Specifies if this property is converted to upper case if entered in a modeled dialog box. The default value is `false`.
Type	Selection	The type of the property. Valid values include: String Boolean SelectValue Date Time Password Numeric Text Area Text Array HTML
Max Lines	Integer	Limits the number of lines of a text area property. The default value is `0` (unlimited).
Chars Per Line	Integer	Specifies the length of every line of a text area property. Non-empty lines are populated with blanks on the dialog box confirmation. The default value is `80`.
Value Max Length [O]	Integer	Limits the permitted length of a value within an input field for this property. The default value is `0` (unlimited).
Value Min Length [O]	Integer	Specifies a minimum length for a value within an input field for this property. The default value is `0` (unlimited).
False Value [O]	String	Only relevant for properties of type boolean. Specifies the value returned from dialog boxes when the property value is `false`. In addition, this is the value used to check an enabled condition, if the operator `false` has been used.
True Value [O]	String	Only relevant for properties of type boolean. Specifies the value returned from dialog boxes when the property value is `true`. In addition, this is the value used to check an enabled condition, if the operator `true` has been used.
Date Format [O]	String	Only relevant for properties of type date. Specifies the format of the date for creation and validation in dialog boxes. See Date format for more information. The default value is `yyyyMMdd`. For example, `MM/dd/yyyy`.
String Delimiter	String	Only relevant for properties of type TextArray. This value is used to delimit the values of a text array when passed as parameter values to a tool.