Editing Table Formats and Aggregations

[Elizabeth]

This guide explains what table formats and table aggregations are, where they appear, and how to edit them.

See our webinar on this topic:

Webinar: Advanced Specify Customization in Specify 7

Table formats control which fields are shown (and in what order) for a specific table in query results, exports, and query combo boxes.
Example: In the Agent table, you can display names as “last name, first name.”

Table aggregations control how multiple related records are combined into a single string.
Example: A collecting event can have multiple collectors, so aggregation determines how those collectors are joined.

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Accessing Table Formats and Aggregations

There are two ways to get to table formats and table aggregations.

1. Navigate to the User Tools menu, then go to Schema Config
   • Choose the table you want to configure.
   • Use the picklist to select an existing table format/aggregation.
   • Click the to edit, or the to create a new one.

2. Navigate to the User Tools menu, then go to App Resources
   • Click the big App Resources button at the top.
   • Open the Record Formatters (DataObjFormatters) file for your current discipline or collection.
   • In this example, the file under Ichthyology is edited.

Note: If you do not have this file, add it in the App Resource Hierarchy.
At your chosen level, click Add Resource → App Resource → Record Formatters

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Table Formats

Conditional Formatter

At the top of the form, you can enable Conditional Formatter. This lets you display different fields based on a condition.
Choose a field to evaluate, then define the conditions.

In this example, the conditional format is current.

• If the value is true, the “true” fields and separators are used.
• If the value is false, the “false” fields are used.

Customization

Let’s walk through the Address table format:

Field

Click Add Field to add a row with a blank separator and a field picklist.
Choose the field(s) you want displayed.
Use the arrows to reorder, and :trash: to delete unwanted fields.

Separator

Use the Separator column to control how fields are joined.
In the example above, City and State use a comma, while Address2 and Postal Code use a space.

Field Formatters

Enable Customize Field Formats to choose a formatter per field.

Configure Field

Click the gear icon between the field and delete button to open Trim Leading Zeros.
When checked, leading zeros are removed from numeric fields.

Unchecked:

Checked:

Preview

Scroll down to preview the result.
Use the eyeball icon to view a specific record, or click Search to find records via the query builder.

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Table Aggregation

In this section, you define how multiple related records are combined into a single string in queries and formats.

Customization

You can customize the separator, suffix, limit, table format, and sort order.

Separator

Works the same way as in table formats: comma, space, or any text.

Suffix

The suffix is appended to the end of the combined string.

Limit

Controls how many related records are included.
A limit of 0 means “no limit” (all available records).

Table Format

If more than one table format applies to the same table, choose which one to use.

Sort Field

Controls the order of aggregated records.
The picklist includes visible and hidden fields.

Example

Consider the Collector table.
The default table format is defined by Agent as “last name, first name.”
A collection object can have multiple collectors, so aggregation determines how they are combined.