Case metadata

Info

Mercury is a repository of metadata about objects along with definitions of GUI controls enabling the generation of GUI forms. Metadata is structured information used to describe objects (cases) - it describes the logical and physical relationship between parts of a complex object (see Describing digital objects, October 21, 2016 [accessed 2020-07-01]). Mercury DB in its structures also allows for storing the necessary data allowing for the generation of edit forms and presentation pages of stored objects. Metadata is stored in a relational database (SQL). A synonym for the definition of case metadata is the case type. Below is a description of the entity.

TypeCase

Layers used	Logic
Type	Entity
complexType	TypeCase

An entity representing a case type. An object used in the logical layer services. Below is a diagram of TypeCase relationships with other entities described in this document.

List and meaning of individual fields

Field	Description	Type	Required	Allowed values ​​
id	Type identifier. Unique value within the repository.	Long	Yes
accountNumber	Default accounting account code assigned to a given type. This data is the basis for generating a unique inventory number.	String	No
checkStoreCounter	Whether to check the counter counting the number of documents of a given type. Counting via triggers in case object modification mechanisms.	Boolean	No	Default value false
code	Type code – a simple name grouping all versions of the type	TypeCode	Yes
description	Description of the type version	String	No
fromDate	Validity of the type version – date from. Parameter used to narrow down search results (to a set of cases in types occurring in a given time period)	Calendar	No
isActive	Is the type active?	Boolean	No	Default value true
isDocumentType	Is the given type a document type? In connection with the CMIS Electronic Document Archive, information whether the type is a document type.	Boolean	No
isEditable	Is the type modifiable?. Document types are not modifiable, because they will be synchronized with the AE (Electronic Archive, a document repository in the CMIS standard). Issue types, on the other hand, can be subject to changes introduced by the user.	Boolean	No	Default value true
isLatestVersion	Is this the currently valid version of the given type.	Boolean	No
kind	Type group identifier	TypeKind	Yes
sourceOfObject	Names of data sources of the type definition origin.	List<String>	No	Data can be passed via the context object.
subTypes	List of complex types associated with appropriate parameters	Set<SubType>	No
sumControl	Checksum calculated based on the names of the definitions of all parameters - it is one of the bases for identifying the same types.	String	No
toDate	Type version validity - date to. Parameter used to narrow down search results (to a set of issues in types occurring in a given time period)	Calendar	No
typeName	Type name	String	Yes
typeParams	List of type parameters	List<TypeParam>	Yes
version	Type version number	Long	No

TypeParam

Layers used	Logic
Type	Entity
complexType	TypeParam

An object representing a type parameter. An object used in the services of the logical layer. Below is a diagram of the relationships between the TypeParam object and other entities described in this document.

List and meaning of individual fields

Field	Description	Type	Required	Allowed values ​​
id	The type parameter identifier. A unique value within the repository.	TypeParamPK	Yes
paramDefinition	Parameter identifier	ParamDefinition	Yes
label	Label of the field appearing on the GUI form	String	No
tooltip	User action tooltip associated with the field on the GUI form	String	No
updateable	Can the field be edited/changed using the GUI form	String	No	Default value true
withEmptyOption	Can a GUI form field contain an empty option?	Boolean	No
isRequired	Is it mandatory or is it required to fill in the value? Control field for form generation mechanisms.	Boolean	No	Default value false
isSearchData	Is it available in search?	Boolean	No	Default value true
hasMultiValues ​​	Can we insert multiple values ​​into a field, regardless of whether we are dealing with a regular simple field, e.g. INTEGER or a multilist.	Boolean	No	Default value false
arg1	Universal argument no. 1. Control field for GUI form generation mechanisms.	String	No
arg2	Universal argument no. 2. Control field for GUI form generation mechanisms.	String	No
arg3	Universal argument no. 3. Control field for GUI form generation mechanisms.	String	No
arg4	Universal argument no. 4. Control field for GUI form generation mechanisms.	String	No
arg5	Universal argument no. 5. Control field for GUI form generation mechanisms.	String	No
xmlId	XML identifier - a field added to XML needed to identify fields with the same names but different labels	String	Yes
actions	List of Javascript actions assigned to the field on the GUI form. Control field for form generation mechanisms	Set<TypeParamAction>	No

TypeParamPK

Layers used	Logic
Type	Entity
complexType	TypeParamPK

Primary key of the TypeParam entity (type parameter) binding the type identifier and the position where the parameter occurs.

List and meaning of individual fields

Field	Description	Type	Required	Allowed values ​​
type	Case type identifier (reference to TypeCase entity).	TypeCase	Yes
position	Field number to which the parameter is related, default position on the GUI form in vertical configuration.	Integer	Yes	Numeric field with values ​​from 1 to 128 (maximum number of parameters).

Control fields and their value definitions for GUI presentation generation mechanisms

Below, fields whose control meaning is not apparent from the description in the table with the object description will be listed. Some generation actions are supplementary to control fields defined in the associated ParamDefinition entity.

isRequired

Control field for form generation mechanisms. The value true means that the field is required. The value false means that the field is not required. If the ParamDefinition indicates that the field represents a SELECT control (HTML tag <select> ) or MULTI (HTML tag <select multiple>) on a GUI form, and the field value is false, the option list will be expanded with an empty value of --- select ---.

arg1

The field represents universal argument no. 1. Depending on what data is contained in ParamDefinition, the field obtains different control meanings:

• For SELECT or MULTI controls, this is information whether the value or name should be extracted from the option element. The value true means getting the value attribute.
• For a control representing TEXTAREA, this is the number of columns (characters in the horizontal direction).
• For a control representing a simple input, this is its type: text or password
• For a control representing an entered date, this is the JavaScript date format, e.g. yyyy MM dd
• For a control representing an entered number, this is the number format.
• For a control representing a file, this is the value representing the type of the loaded file. Possible values ​​are [img|doc|xls|pdf|unknown]

arg2

The field represents universal argument no. 2. Depending on what data is contained in ParamDefinition, the field obtains different control meaning:

• For SELECT or MULTI controls, this is information representing the size attribute.
• For a control representing TEXTAREA, this is the number of lines (characters vertically).
• For a control representing simple input, this is the size of this field.
• For a control representing an entered date, this is the position of the calendar icon (value left – on the left side of the form field, right – on the right side)
• For a control representing a file, this is the size of the field

arg3

The field represents universal argument no. 3. Depending on what data is contained in ParamDefinition, the field obtains a different control meaning:

• For SELECT or MULTI controls, this is information whether the concatenation of value and name (value{separator}name, where the value {separator} defaults to the value of the stick character |) should be extracted from the list, the value true means that yes.
• For a control representing a simple input, this is the maximum number of characters.

arg4

The field represents universal argument no. 4. Depending on what data is included in the ParamDefinition, the field obtains different control meanings:

• For controls representing LOB type data, these are data concerning metadata describing this object (used to present the object preview): JSON, ANY, FILE, XML, HTML, TEXT.

arg5

The field represents universal argument no. 5. Depending on what data is included in the ParamDefinition, the field obtains different control meanings:

• For controls representing LOB type data, these are the object's mimeType data (used to present the object preview):

public String getDefaultContentType() {
    switch (this) {
    case JSON:
        return "application/json";
    case XML:
        return "application/xml";
    case HTML:
        return "text/html";
    case FILE:
        return "application/octet-stream";
    default:
        return "text/plain";
    }
}

actions

A list of JavaScript actions/functions assigned to a field on a GUI form. See the description of the TypeParamAction entity.

TypeCode

Layers used in	Logic
Type	Entity
complexType	TypeCode

Code that groups different versions of the same type.

List and meaning of individual fields

Field	Description	Type	Required	Allowed values ​​
name	Identifier, name of the type code.	String	Yes
alias	For presentation on forms or to show that a type is derived from another type - most useful for codes describing packages.	String	No
color	Background color. For presentation on forms or lists: color presented in RGB hexadecimal	String	No	HTML color in RGB hexadecimal, e.g. ffdecc
fgcolor	Text color. For presentation on forms or lists: color presented in RGB hexadecimal	String	No	HTML color in RGB hexadecimal, e.g. 010101
icoSrc	Logo/icon representing the given issue type. For presentation on forms or lists: HTML source (for SRC tag). Can be presented as URL or appropriate base64	String	No	Indication of http source.
label	Label representing the given issue type. For presentation on forms. Can be empty.	String	No
publishVersion	The version is changed with each update - needed to identify whether a given entry has already been published.	String	No	Generated value
uniqueConstraintParamName	Field name that contains unique values ​​within a given type	String	No	Field name that appears in the set of parameters for the representation of the case type.
retentionTimeMilis	Time, expressed in milliseconds, after which the case object of a given type will be deleted, counted from the time/date of its creation.	Long	No
useArchivization	Flag indicating whether the case archiving method should be used when deleting a case of a given type.	Boolean	No	true or false
subjectFormula	Formula for building the subject of a case of a given type. This formula is a definition of the concatenation of field names of a given type.	String	No
partitionName	The name of the root partition of the Case entity, where case data of a given type is stored.	String	No

Control fields and their value definitions for GUI presentation generation mechanisms

The TypeCode entity contains control fields that can be used to create GUI presentation mechanisms.

The above illustration shows how issue types can be presented in a presentation layer application. It also shows how the values ​​of the color, fgcolor, icoSrc and label fields can be used when building a GUI.

Field icoSrc

A logo/icon representing a given issue type used for presentation on forms. The GUI implementation, which was presented in the previous illustration, uses iconography from the Font Awesome version 4 collection. The field accepts sample values: fa-thumbs-o-up, fa-bars, fa-address-book, fa-gavel, fa-user-secret etc. On the GUI side, the field value is retrieved to generate the following code:

Example of using Font Awesome

<html>
<head> 
<link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="/mercury-gui-portal/static/css/font-awesome.min.css"/>
</head>
<body>
<i class="fa fa-thumbs-o-up fa-3x" aria-hidden="true"></i>
</body>
</html>

Field subjectFormula

Formula for building a value representing the subject of a case of a given type. This formula is a definition of concatenation of fields of a given type and literal values. The formula is used to present the value of the subject field of the CaseNarrative object, which is an element used in the presentation of search results in the GUI presentation layer.

Below are examples of values that the field can take to present teasers¹ of cases:

Example 1: Teaser of stored cases representing tasks (activities) of the BPM (Business Process Manager) process instance

activityName||':'||bpmProcessInstanceId||'<br/>'||bpmGroupDisplayName||'<br/>'||bpmTaskStatus||'<br/>'||userFullName

Example 2: Teaser of a case representing an address object.

city||' '||street

Example 3: Teaser of a case representing an address object.

county||' '||community||' '||city||' '||street||' '||buildingNumber

Example 4: Teaser of a case representing an invoice object.

'FV:'||invoceNo||'<br/>'||documentNo||' '||category

TypeKind

Layers used	Logic
Type	Entity
complexType	TypeKind

Kind of type / category of type.

List and meaning of individual fields

Field	Description	Type	Required	Allowed values ​​
name	The identifier, name of the type type.	String	Yes
description	A description of the type.	String	No

Examples of types:

• INW - Inventory
• ASSETS - Fixed assets
• GEN - Generated type definitions

SubType

Layers used	Logic
Type	Entity
complexType	SubType

Data about the dependent case type and the dependent case form position on the main form (parent case).

List and meaning of individual fields

Field	Description	Type	Required	Allowed values ​​
id	Subtype identifier. Unique value within the repository.	Long	Yes
parentType	Case type identifier	TypeCase	Yes
code	Type code	TypeCode	Yes
isSearchData	Available in search?	Boolean	No	true or false
label	Header of dependent case form presentation.	String	No
isList	Are dependent cases presented as a list?	Boolean	No	true or false
fieldName	Name of the parent case field to which the given dependent case form is associated.	String	No
tooltip	User action tooltip associated with a field on the GUI form	String	No
updateable	Is the dependent case form (data) changeable?	String	No	true or false

TypeParamAction

Layers used	Logic
Type	Entity
complexType	TypeParamAction

A collection of actions along with JavaScript code that are associated with GUI form fields.

List and meaning of individual fields

Field	Description	Type	Required	Allowed values ​​
id	Action identifier. Unique value within the repository.	Long	Yes
typeParam	Pointer to type parameter	TypeParam	Yes
jsEventName	The name of the JavaScript event associated with the field of the given type.	String	Yes	HTML event names2
jsFunctionBody	JavaScript code implementing the function.	LOB	Yes

ParamDefinition

Layers used	Logic
Type	Entity
complexType	ParamDefinition

An entity representing basic information about the name of a field, its simple or complex type. ParamDefinition is an element that is used repeatedly as a definition of a case type parameter, and can appear in many different types. It is a definition of a case type parameter. For example, a field named name can be used in many different types defining a user object, car, plane, computer.

List and meaning of individual fields

Field	Description	Type	Required	Allowed values ​​
id	Parameter definition identifier. Unique value within the repository. Composite key.	ParamDefinitionPK	Yes
description	Parameter description	String	No
alternateName	Alternative name of the parameter.	String	No
recommendedLabel	Recommended label describing the given definition.	String	No
isLatestVersion	Is this the latest version of the field definition?	Boolean	Yes	true or false
isIndexable	Is the field indexed in the Lucene index, or is it possible to search for this field using Lucene mechanisms.	Boolean	No	true or false
htmlControlName	Name of the HTML control type, a field on a GUI form.	String	Yes	Values ​​representing the HtmlSupportedControl object described later in the document.
paramType	Parameter type, value	String	Yes	Values ​​representing the AttributeType object described later in the document.
subType	Information for complex types and what type the element is.	String	No	Name of the case type (TypeCase object) representing the dependent case assigned to the field.
timeToLiveSeconds	The parameter is optionally defined and defines the expiration time of the attribute cache.	Long	No	Numeric value
valueDefinition	Optional definition of the parameter value (when dealing with dictionary values).	String	No
sourceType	Optional field for dictionary types - information about what type the value definition is.	String	No	Value representing the SourceType object described later in the document.
source	The name/definition of the source from which the dictionary data for the select fields comes.	String	No
sourceJndiName	The general JNDI name of the source with exceptions.	String	No
sourceJ2CName	Name indicating the identity and password of users used by the Java(TM) 2 Connector technology link security architecture.	String	No
presentationUrlPrefix	URL prefix (HTTP, HTTPS paths) that is generated during value presentation (the field value is appended to the end of the URL).	String	No
complexClass	The name of the Java class that represents the complex object stored in the given field.	String	No
defaultValue	The default value of the parameter field	String	No
fromDate	Type version validity – date from. Parameter used to narrow down search results (to a set of issues in types occurring in a given time period)	Calendar	No
toDate	Type version validity – date to, Parameter used to narrow down search results (to a set of issues in types occurring in a given time period)	Calendar	No
isEditable	Whether the field data (of the ParamDefinition object) can be modified	Boolean	No	true or false
sourceOfObject	The name of the source from which the field name comes.	String	No
mimeType	Additional information about mimeType. A value supplementing the data about the LOB field, stored in the knownLobMetadata field	String	No	mimeType definitions e.g.: application/json, application/xml, text/html, application/octet-stream, text/plain

ParamDefinitionPK

Layers used	Logic
Type	Entity
complexType	ParamDefinitionPK

Definition of the primary key of the ParamDefinition entity.

List and meaning of individual fields

Field	Description	Type	Required	Allowed values ​​
definitionName	Unique field name.	String	Yes
version	Field version.	Long	Yes	Value generated automatically after identifying a parameter definition change.

Control fields and their value definitions for GUI presentation generation mechanisms

Below is a description of enumerators, whose data is included in the ParamDefinition entity description, and on which the rules for building HTML controls during form generation are based.

HtmlSupportedControl

The htmlControlName control field describes a single HTML control associated with a given form field. Below is a list of values ​​that influence the selection of the appropriate GUI form control:

Value	Description
TEXT	long text, presented in TEXTAREA
INTEGER	Integer. Input field with integer format validation
CURRENCY	Floating-point number with additional information about the currency (currency code, e.g. PLN, USD, GBP, etc.)
NUMBER	Floating-point number. Input field with integer format validation
STRING	short text, presented in a regular INPUT TYPE="text" field
CHECK	type presented as a CHECKBOX field
RADIO	Type presented as a RADIO field
DATE	Date type, field with datePicker
URL	Text field to which a link can be entered.
FILE	Text field to which the location of a local (workstation) file can be entered.
SELECT	Single-select drop-down list, but it can be made a multi-select field by setting the appropriate value.
MULTI	Multiple-select drop-down list
GROUPEDSELECT	Single-select drop-down list, but the list presents grouped name-value pairs
GROUPEDMULTI	Drop-down list with multiple selections, but the list displays grouped name-value pairs, but you can make it a multi-select field by setting the appropriate value.
LOVSELECT	Drop-down list field with single selection, but the list is displayed in a separate window (LOV - List OF Values)
LOVMULTI	Drop-down list field with multiple selections, but the list is displayed in a separate window (LOV - List OF Values), but you can make it a multi-select field by setting the appropriate value.
GROUPEDLOVSELECT	Drop-down list field with single selection, but the list is displayed in a separate window (LOV - List OF Values), but the list displays grouped name-value pairs, but you can make it a multi-select field by setting the appropriate value.
GROUPEDLOVMULTI	Field with a drop-down list, with the option to select multiple values, but the list is presented in a separate window (LOV - List OF Values), but the list presents grouped name-value pairs
SUBFORM	Generation of a GUI subform/dependent case presentation. For the paramType field with the value SUBCASE - see the description AttributeType.
SUBTABLE	Generation of lists/tables, for dependent case lists. For the paramType field with the value SUBCASE - see the description AttributeType.

AttributeType

The attributeType control field defining the types of form fields. It can be the basis for building a value validator. Below is a list of values ​​that affect the construction of the appropriate GUI form control.

Value	Type name	Java implementation	Description
BOOLEAN	Boolean	java.lang.Boolean	List of values ​​corresponding to true and false;
BOOLEAN_INTEGER	BooleanInteger	java.lang.Integer	List of values ​​corresponding to true and false with a numeric value;
TEXT	Text	java.lang.String	Long text - characters (words, sentences, etc.);
STRING	String	java.lang.String	Short text - characters (word, sentence, etc.)
PASSWORD	Password	java.lang.String	short text, presented in a regular field with a mask hiding the entered value
NUMBER	Number	java.lang.Double	Floating-point number; #########0.####
DECIMAL	Decimal	java.lang.Double	Floating-point number; #########0.####
DOUBLE	Double	java.lang.Double	Floating-point number; #########0.####
FLOAT	Float	java.lang.Float	Floating-point number; ########0.####
CURRENCY	Currency	pro.ibpm.mercury.attrs.javax .CurrencyValue	Number in currency format, with two decimal places; #########0.##
INTEGER	Integer	java.lang.Long	Integer
DATE	Date	pro.ibpm.mercury.attrs.javax .DateInString	Simple date in DD-MM-YYYY format
DATE_LONG	DateLong	pro.ibpm.mercury.attrs.javax .DateInString	Date with time (hour) in DD-MM-YYYY HH24:MI:SS format
TIME	Time	pro.ibpm.mercury.attrs.javax .DateInString	Date with time (hour) in the format DD-MM-YYYY HH24:MI:SS
URL	URL	pro.ibpm.mercury.attrs.javax .URLValue	HTTP address
SELECT	n/a	java.util.Collection	Attribute with lists. Multi-valued field.
COMPLEX	n/a	java.lang.Object	Complex type, for a field of this type a form will be generated based on data defined in an object meeting the ComplexValue interface. The complex type can also be supported by an HTML control of the SELECT type - then value contains an appropriately prepared form representing the value (based on the implementation of the ComplexValue#encode(Object, String, String) method)
LOB	Lob	java.lang.String	Large object
SUBCASE	n/a	java.lang.Object	dependent case
JSON_NVP	JSONNameValuePair	pro.ibpm.mercury.attrs.sub .JSONNameValuePairSubType	Subtype representing a JSON object with fields name and value obsolete, currently in use is NameValuePair
NVP	NameValuePair	pro.ibpm.mercury.attrs.sub .NameValuePairSubType	Subtype representing an object with a pair of name and value (with fields name and value)
ENTRY	Entry	pro.ibpm.mercury.attrs.sub .EntrySubType	Subtype representing an Entry object with a pair of key and value (with key and value fields)
MAP	Map	pro.ibpm.mercury.attrs.sub .MapSubType	Subtype representing a list of Entry objects
ANY	ANY	pro.ibpm.mercury.attrs.sub .AnySubType	Subtype representing any object

SourceType

The sourceType control field defining the origin of the dictionary data for the field value. Data source types for GUI form drop-down list controls.

Value	Description
DEFAULT	Default data origin - for fields of type Integer, Number, Date
JSON	A JSON-formatted list in the valueDefinition field of the ParamDefinition entity.
WS	The field in the valueDefinition field of the ParamDefinition entity contains the name of the class interpreting the result, and the SOURCE field contains the WebService address using the HTTPS protocol
HTTP	The field in the valueDefinition field of the ParamDefinition entity contains an intermediate path to a protected list of elements defined as a file, and the SOURCE field contains a URL directing to a page with the appropriate XML or JSON format - using the HTTP and HTTPS protocols. The page is not secured, or is secured with the BASIC, OAuth mechanism.
WEB	In the field valueDefinition of the ParamDefinition entity there is an intermediate path leading to a protected list of elements defined as a file, and in the SOURCE there is a URL directing to a page with the appropriate XML or JSON format - using the HTTP and HTTPS protocols. The server page where the data is located is secured with the FORM mechanism
FILE	In the field valueDefinition of the ParamDefinition entity there is an intermediate path leading to a list of elements defined as a file, and in the SOURCE field there is a URL directing to a file with the appropriate XML or JSON format
JNDI_RESOURCE	In the field in the valueDefinition field of the ParamDefinition entity there is an intermediate path leading to a list of elements defined as a file, and in the field in the SOURCE field there is a URL directing to a page with the appropriate XML or JSON format - using the HTTP/HTTPS protocol
SAVEDVALS	values ​​saved in the database in an array. The array contains rows with fields for the attribute name and the saved value, and its data is completed with the entered, various values ​​from the GUI form.
LOCALDAO	using local DAO classes (the DAO class name will be built based on the name of the ParamDefinition parameter)
QUERY	SQL query in the valueDefinition field of the ParamDefinition entity. The JNDI data source should be in the sourceJndiName field or the JDBC URL in the source field

Footnotes

1. Teaser - a short description of the case, which is used to present the case in the search results. ↩

2. A list of available HTML event names can be found at https://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_eventattributes.asp. ↩