Creating an Advanced Database Layout using Layout Builder

Layout Builder helps you to upload a JSON (downloaded from Advanced Database Layout manage page) file to define the layout. By default, this feature remains disabled in the product. You need to enable the Layout Builder feature before you can create an Advanced Database Layout. 

Steps to create Advanced Database Layout:

1. Click Configure > LAYOUTS > Advanced Database.
2. Click Create Advanced Database Layout.
   
3. On the Create Layout screen, select the Layout Builder option from the drop-down list of Select Layout UI Type field.
   
   
    
4. Click Next. The Create New Advanced Database screen is displayed.
   
   
   

5. Type the name and description of the new layout activity in the Name and Description fields.

   Name: Only alphanumeric and underscore are allowed and you must start the layout name with an alphabet or underscore.
   Description: Only alphanumeric and few special characters (_ - . : , @ $ ? \\ and space) are allowed and you must start the description with an Alphabet/Underscore/Number.

6. Select the definition mode for the Advanced Database Layout. You can define the layout in the following ways: 
   • Import Definition file
   • Use Database Table

   Using Import Definition File
   

   1. Select Import Definition File.
   2. Select JSON in the Definition File field.

   3. Browse and upload the JSON file in the Upload Data File field.

   4. Select the project from the Project field.

   5. Click Continue.

   Using Use Database Table

   1. Select Use Database Table.
   2. Select the database info activity from the Database Info field. You can also edit the database info by clicking  button.
   3. Select the project from the Project field.

   4. Click Continue.

   5. On the Record Definition page, in the Database Schema field, select a database Schema to create the first record.

      When you select the Database Schema, all the database tables associated with the selected schema are populated in the Database Table field.

   6. Select  the required database table from the Database Table field. Based on the selected Database Table, Column Details will be displayed.

   7. In the Column Details, select the column(s) that you want to include in Select query statement.

      You can also select the Primary Key checkbox if you want the field to be the Primary Key. Primary Key is the field on the basis of which the layout updates the target database table. You can use Primary Key only when you are using database layout activity as target database.

      As you select a column, the Select query statement is automatically defined in the Query Editor field. You can also manually define an altogether new or update an existing Select query statement in this field. You can edit the query and add the where clause with dynamic parameters as shown in the screenshot below. For all the added dynamic parameters a new field called Placeholders is added to the screen – here you can enter the values for the dynamic parameters that are used for generating the XSD for this layout.
      
      
      
      

   8. Click Save to add this record.

   The Record Definition page displays the details of created records and Records Hierarchy.
   Screenshot
   

   1. On Record Definition screen, you can
      1. Click to edit a record.
      2. Click to remove a record.
   2. The database table you selected in the previous step gets listed under the Records Hierarchy panel. You can also click  to add a root table.
      
      You can select a table under the Record Hierarchy panel and click to add a child table to it.
      

   
   

7. In the Definition panel, 
   

   1. Expand the Advanced Properties.

   2. Define the Character-set encoding for your Database layout in the Character Set Encoding field. For example UTF-8.

   3. Select the Auto Increment Key Support checkbox if you want to enable support of auto increment key in parent to be populated child as foreign key.

   4. Select schema version 2.0 checkbox if you want to create the layout without the name dependency.

   5. Select the Filter Invalid XML Characters checkbox to filter out invalid XML characters (if any) in the input data

      In case, the input data contains some characters that are invalid in XML, then this may result in the mapping getting aborted. 

   6. Select the Query Batch Update checkbox to enable the query batch update, and enter the batch size in the Query Batch Size field.
      

      Enabling the Query Batch Update checkbox leads to database updation in batches as per the positive value set in the QueryBatch Size field.
      For example, setting a value '10' in the Query Batch Size field will group 10 separate statements and submit them as a single batch. However setting the value to '0' will disable the batch execution and execution of every statement will occur simultaneously.

      You can achieve performance optimization by using batch update. The advantage of batch update is to reduce the network calls to the database by not executing every single SQL query when they are raised. By using this feature, you can send multiple queries to the database in a single instant and thereby reducing the number of JDBC calls and improving performance.
      
      This feature is available for the Insert and Update operation only.

   7. Select the Use Commit Count checkbox to enable the Commit Count field, and enter the number of statements that you want to commit to the database in a single instance in a field.

      When you set the commit count value to a positive integer value then the layout starts and commits a batch of transaction as per the number in the Commit Count text box. This helps in reducing the network traffic and in turn increases network performance. This is called as batch transaction.

   8. Select the Handle Null/Empty Element(s) checkbox to handle Null or Empty elements. 

   9. Select the Use Parent/Child DataSet checkbox to

      If this checkbox and Commit Count is enabled then this will call commit when parent record (including its hierarchy) count is equal to commit count. In case of any error rollback will not happen
      If this checkbox is enabled and Commit Count is disabled then this will call commit count for every record including its hierarchy. In case of any error in the record including its hierarchy, the complete record will be rolled back.
      If this checkbox is disabled and Commit Count is enabled  then this will call commit when count of its parent and its child record is equal to commit count. In case of any error rollback will not happen.
      
      

8. Click Save Layout to save the Advanced Database Layout.