Defining and Using Literal Properties

Copy link to this sectionDefining Literal Properties

To add a literal property to a class definition, add an element like one of the following to the class:

Property PropName as Classname;

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Property PropName as Classname [ Keywords ] ;

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Property PropName as Classname(PARAM1=value,PARAM2=value) [ Keywords ] ;

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Property PropName as Classname(PARAM1=value,PARAM2=value) ;

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Where:

• PropName is the name of the property.

• Classname is the class on which this property is based. If you omit this, Classname is assumed to be %String. To define this property as a literal property, either omit Classname or specify Classname as the name of a data type class; see “Common Data Type Classes” later in this chapter. You could also use a custom data type class.

• Keywords represents any property keywords. See “Compiler Keywords,” earlier in this book. Later sections of this chapter discuss additional keywords.

• PARAM1, PARAM2, and so on are property parameters. The available parameter depend on the class used by the property. Later sections of this chapter lists the most common property parameters.

Notice that the property parameters, if included, are enclosed in parentheses and precede any property keywords. The property keywords, if included, are enclosed in square brackets.

Copy link to this sectionExamples

For example, a class can define a Count property using the %Integer data type class:

Property Count As %Integer;

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Because %Integer is a data type class, Count is a data type property.

You can use data type parameters to place constraints on the allowed values of data type properties. For example, for a property of type %Integer, you can specify the MAXVAL parameter:

Property Count As %Integer(MAXVAL = 100);

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To set a data type property value equal to the empty string, use code of the form:

 Set object.Property = $C(0)

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Every property has a collation type, which determines how values are ordered (such as whether capitalization has effects or not). The default collation type for strings is SQLUPPER. For more details on collations, see “Data Collation” in the chapter “Caché SQL Basics” in Using Caché SQL.

Copy link to this sectionDefining an Initial Expression for a Property

By default, when a new object is created, each property equals null. You can specify an ObjectScript expression to use as the initial value for a given property instead. The expression is evaluated when the object is created.

To specify an initial expression for a property, include the InitialExpression keyword in the property definition:

Property PropName as Classname [ InitialExpression=expression ] ;

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Where expression is an ObjectScript expression (note that you cannot use any other language for this expression). For details, see InitialExpression in the Caché Class Definition Reference.

Copy link to this sectionDefining a Property As Required

This option applies only to properties in persistent classes. (Note that this option applies to any kind of property, not just literal ones.)

By default, when a new object is saved, Caché does not require it to have non-null values for its properties. You can define a property so that a non-null value is required. To do so, include the Required keyword in the property definition:

Property PropName as Classname [ Required ] ;

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Then, if you attempt to save an object that has a null value for the property, Caché issues the following error:

ERROR #5659: Property required

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The Required keyword also affects how you can insert or modify data for this class via SQL access. Specifically, an error occurs if the value is missing when you attempt to insert or update a record.

Copy link to this sectionDefining a Computed Property

In Caché, you can define computed properties, whose values are computed via ObjectScript, possibly based on other properties. The generic phrase computed properties (or computed fields) includes both of the following variations:

• Always computed — The value of this property is calculated when it is accessed. It is never stored in the database.

• Triggered computed — The value of this property is recalculated when triggered (details given below).

  If the property is defined in a persistent class, its value is stored in the database.

In both cases, the recalculation is performed whether you use object access or an SQL query.

There are five property keywords (SqlComputed, SqlComputeCode, SqlComputeOnChange, Transient, Calculated) that control if and how a property is computed. The following table summarizes the possibilities:

To define a computed property, do the following:

• Include the SqlComputed keyword in the property definition. (That is, specify the SqlComputed keyword as true.)

• Include the SqlComputeCode keyword in the property definition. For the value of this keyword, specify (in curly braces) a line of ObjectScript code that sets the value of the property, according to rules given in “SqlComputeCode” in the reference “Property Keywords” in Caché Class Definition Reference. For example:

  Property FullName As %String [ SqlComputeCode = {set {*}={FirstName}_" "_{LastName}}, SqlComputed ];

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• If you want to make the property always computed, specify the Calculated keyword as true in the property definition.

  Or, if you want to make the property triggered computed, do not include the Calculated and Transient keywords in the property definition. (That is, make sure both keywords are false.)

• If the property is triggered computed, optionally specify SqlComputeOnChange.

  This keyword can specify one or more properties. When any of these properties change in value, the triggered property is recomputed. Note that you must use the property names rather than the names given by SqlFieldName, which is discussed later in this chapter). For example (with artificial line breaks):

  Property messageId As %Integer [ 
  SqlComputeCode = { set {*}=$Select({Status}="":0,1:$List($List($Extract({Status},3,$Length({Status}))))) }, 
  SqlComputed, SqlComputeOnChange = Status ];

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  For another example (with artificial line breaks):

  Property Test2 As %String [ SqlComputeCode = { set {*}={Refprop1}_{Refprop2}}, SqlComputed, 
  SqlComputeOnChange = (Refprop1, Refprop2) ];

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  The value of SqlComputeOnChange can also include the values %%INSERT or %%UPDATE; for details, see SqlComputeOnChange.

If you intend to index this field, use deterministic code, rather than nondeterministic code. Caché cannot maintain an index on the results of nondeterministic code because it is not possible to reliably remove stale index key values. (Deterministic code returns the same value every time when passed the same arguments. So for example, code that returns $h is nondeterministic, because $h is modified outside of the control of the function.)

Also see the Calculated keyword in the Caché Class Definition Reference. And see “Controlling the SQL Projection of Computed Properties,” later in this chapter.

Copy link to this sectionDefining a Multidimensional Property

You can define a property to be multidimensional, which means that you intend the property to act as a multidimensional array. To do so, include the MultiDimensional keyword in the property definition:

Property PropName as Classname [ MultiDimensional ] ;

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This property is different from other properties as follows:

• Caché does not provide property methods for it (see “Using and Overriding Property Methods,” later in this book).

• It is ignored when the object is validated or saved.

• It is not saved to disk, unless your application includes code to save it specifically.

• It cannot be exposed through ActiveX or Java.

• It cannot be stored in or exposed through SQL tables.

Multidimensional properties are rare but provide a useful way to temporarily contain information about the state of an object.

Also see “Specifying Values for a Multidimensional Property,” later in this chapter.

Copy link to this sectionCommon Data Type Classes

Caché provides a large number of data type classes. Of these, the classes in most common use are as follows:

Class Name	Holds	Notes
%BigInt	A 64–bit integer	This class is similar to %Integer except for its OdbcType and ClientDataType.
%Binary	Binary data	The actual binary data is sent to and from the client without any Unicode (or other) translations.
%Boolean	A boolean value	The possible logical values are 0 (false) and 1 (true).
%Char	A fixed length character field
%Counter	An integer, meant for use as a unique counter	Any property whose type class is %Counter will be assigned a value when a new object is saved or a new record is inserted via SQL, if no value is specified for that property. For details, see %Counter in the InterSystems Class Reference.
%Currency	A currency value	This class is defined only for migrating from Sybase or SQL Server to Caché.
%Date	A date	The logical value is in Caché $HOROLOG format.
%DateTime	A date and time	This class is used mainly for T-SQL migrations and maps datetime/smalldatetime behavior to the %TimeStamp datatype. In this class, the DisplayToLogical() and OdbcToLogical() methods provide logic to handle imprecise datetime values that are supported by T-SQL applications.
%Decimal	A fixed point number	The logical value is a decimal format number. See “Numeric Computing in InterSystems Applications” in the Caché Programming Orientation Guide.
%Double	An IEEE floating-point number	The logical value is an IEEE floating-point number. See “Numeric Computing in InterSystems Applications” in the Caché Programming Orientation Guide.
%EnumString	A string	This is a specialized subclass of %String that allows you to define an enumerated set of possible values (using the DISPLAYLIST and VALUELIST parameters). Unlike %String, the display values for this property are used when columns of this type are queried via ODBC.
%ExactString	A string	A subclass of %String with the EXACT default collation.
%FilemanDate	A date in FileMan format	This class is defined for use with FileMan. See “Converting FileMan Files into Caché Classes” in Caché Specialized System Tools and Utilities.
%FilemanTimeStamp	A time stamp in FileMan format	This class is defined for use with FileMan. See “Converting FileMan Files into Caché Classes” in Caché Specialized System Tools and Utilities.
%Float	A floating-point number	This class is deprecated; use %Double or %Decimal instead.
%Integer	An integer
%List	Data in $List format	The logical value is data in $List format.
%ListOfBinary	Data in $List format, with each list item as binary data	The logical value is data in $List format.
%Name	A name in the form “Lastname,Firstname”	The %Name data type has special indexing support when used in conjunction with the %CacheStorage class. For details, see %Name in the InterSystems Class Reference.
%Numeric	A fixed-point number
%SmallInt	A small integer value	This class is the same as %Integer except for its OdbcType.
%Status	An error status code	Many methods in the Caché Class Library return values of type %Status. For information on working with these values, see %Status in the InterSystems Class Reference.
%String	A string
%Text	Searchable text	This class supports word-based searching and relevance ranking. For details, see %Text and %Text.Text in the InterSystems Class Reference.
%Time	A time value	The logical value is the number of seconds past midnight.
%TimeStamp	A value for a time and date	The logical value of the %TimeStamp data type is in YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS.nnnnnnnnn format. Note that if h is a date/time value in $H format, then you can use the $ZDATETIME as follows to obtain a valid logical value for a %TimeStamp property: $ZDATETIME(h,3)
%TinyInt	A very small integer value	This class is the same as %Integer except for its OdbcType and its maximum and minimum values.
%MV.Date	A MultiValue date	The logical value is a MultiValue date. To convert a Caché date to a MultiValue date, subtract 46385.
%MV.Numeric	A number	This data type class handles the MultiValue masked decimal (MD) conversion codes.

There are many additional data type classes, intended for specialized uses; most of these types are subclasses of the classes listed here. See the InterSystems Class Reference for details.

Each data type class specifies several keywords that control how that data type is used in Caché SQL and how the data type is projected to client systems:

• SqlCategory — Specifies the SQL category to use for the data type when the Caché SQL engine performs operations upon it.

• OdbcType — Specifies the ODBC type used when the data type is accessed via ODBC.

• ClientDataType — Specifies the Java or ActiveX type used when the data type is accessed via client applications.

Therefore, when you choose a data type class, you should choose a class that has the appropriate client projection, if applicable, for your needs. Use the following subsections to help choose a suitable data type class. If there is no suitable class, you can create your own data type class, as described in the chapter “Defining Data Type Classes.”

Copy link to this sectionData Type Classes Grouped by SqlCategory

For a data type class, the SqlCategory class keyword specifies the SQL category that Caché SQL uses when operating on values of properties of that type. Operations controlled by SqlCategory include comparison operations (such as greater than, less than, or equal to); other operations may also use it. The following table shows the SqlCategory values of the data types listed in this chapter.

Data Type Classes Grouped by SqlCategory

Value	Caché Data Type
DATE	%Date
DOUBLE	%Double, %Float
FMDATE	%FilemanDate
FMTIMESTAMP	%FilemanTimeStamp
INTEGER	%BigInt, %Boolean, %Counter, %Integer, %SmallInt, %TinyInt
MVDATE	%MV.Date
NAME	%Name
NUMERIC	%Currency, %Decimal, %Numeric, %MV.Numeric
STRING	%Binary, %Char, %EnumString, %ExactString, %List, %ListOfBinary, %Status, %String, %Text
TIME	%Time
TIMESTAMP	%DateTime, %TimeStamp

For further information on how literal properties are projected to SQL types, see “Data Types” in the Caché SQL Reference.

Copy link to this sectionData Type Classes Grouped by OdbcType

For a data type class, the OdbcType class keyword controls how Caché translates logical data values to and from values used by the Caché SQL ODBC interface. The following table shows the OdbcType values of the data types listed in this chapter.

Data Type Classes Grouped by OdbcType

Value	Caché Data Type
BIGINT	%BigInt
BIT	%Boolean
DATE	%Date, %FilemanDate, %MV.Date
DOUBLE	%Double, %Float
INTEGER	%Counter, %Integer
NUMERIC	%Currency, %Decimal, %Numeric, %MV.Numeric
TIME	%Time
TIMESTAMP	%DateTime, %FilemanTimeStamp, %TimeStamp
VARBINARY	%Binary
VARCHAR	%Char, %EnumString, %ExactString, %List, %ListOfBinary, %Name, %Status, %String, %Text

Copy link to this sectionData Type Classes Grouped by ClientDataType

For a data type class, the ClientDataType class keyword controls how Caché projects a property (of that type) to Java or Active X. The following table show the ClientDataType values of the data types listed in this chapter.

Data Type Classes Grouped by ClientDataType

Value	Used for
BIGINT	%BigInt
BINARY	%Binary (or any property requiring that there is no Unicode conversion of data)
CURRENCY	%Currency
DATE	%Date
DOUBLE	%Double and %Float
DECIMAL	%Decimal
FDATE	%FilemanDate
FTIMESTAMP	%FilemanTimeStamp
INTEGER	%Counter, %Integer, %SmallInt, %TinyInt
LIST	%List, %ListOfBinary
MVDATE	%MV.Date
NUMERIC	%Numeric, %MV.Numeric
TIME	%Time
TIMESTAMP	%DateTime, %TimeStamp
VARCHAR	%Char, %EnumString, %ExactString, %Name, %String, %Text

Copy link to this sectionCore Property Parameters

Depending on the property, you can specify parameters of that property, to affect its behavior. For example, parameters can specify minimum and maximum values, formatting for use in display, collation, delimiters for use in specific scenarios, and so on. You can specify parameters either in the Inspector or by directly typing into the class definition. The following shows an example:

Property MyProperty as MyType (MYPARAMETER="some value");

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Some parameters are available for all properties, of any type. These parameters are as follows:

• CALCSELECTIVITY — Controls whether the Tune Table facility calculates the selectivity for a property. Usually it is best to leave this parameter as the default (1). For details, see “Tune Table” in the Caché SQL Optimization Guide.

• CAPTION — Caption to use for this property in client applications.

• EXTERNALSQLNAME — Used in linked tables, this parameter specifies the name of the field in the external table to which this property is linked. The Link Table wizard specifies this parameter for each property when it generates a class. The name of the SQL field on the remote database may need to differ from property name on the Caché server for various reason, such as because the remote database field name is a reserved word in Caché. For information on linked tables, see “The Link Table Wizard” in Using Caché SQL.

  Note that the property parameter EXTERNALSQLNAME has a different purpose than the SQLFieldName compiler keyword, and these items can have different values. SQLFieldName specifies the projected SQL field name in the Caché database, and EXTERNALSQLNAME is the field name in the remote database.

• EXTERNALSQLTYPE — Used in linked tables, this parameter specifies the SQL type of the field in the external table to which this property is linked. The Link Table wizard specifies this parameter for each property when it generates a class. See EXTERNALSQLNAME.

• JAVATYPE — The Java data type to which this property is projected.

Most property parameters are defined in data type classes and thus are class-specific; see the next section.

Copy link to this sectionClass-Specific Property Parameters

The previous section lists the parameters that are available for all properties. The other available parameters depend on the class used by the property. The following table lists the parameters supported by the data type classes listed in this chapter. The parameters are grouped into three columns: 1) parameters that are found in many data type classes or that are otherwise commonly encountered, 2) parameters that have meaning only in XML and SOAP contexts, and 3) parameters that occur in only a few data type classes and that are rarely encountered.

Data Type Class	Common Parameters	Parameters for XML and SOAP	Less Common Parameters
%BigInt	DISPLAYLIST, FORMAT, MAXVAL, MINVAL, VALUELIST	XSDTYPE
%Binary	MAXLEN, MINLEN	CANONICALXML, MTOM, XSDTYPE
%Boolean		XSDTYPE
%Char	COLLATION, CONTENT, DISPLAYLIST, ESCAPE, MAXLEN, MINLEN, PATTERN, TRUNCATE, VALUELIST	XMLLISTPARAMETER, XSDTYPE
%Counter	DISPLAYLIST, FORMAT, MAXVAL, MINVAL, VALUELIST	XSDTYPE
%Currency*	DISPLAYLIST, FORMAT, MAXVAL, MINVAL, SCALE, VALUELIST	XSDTYPE
%Date	DISPLAYLIST, FORMAT, MAXVAL, MINVAL, VALUELIST	XSDTYPE
%DateTime	DISPLAYLIST, MAXVAL, MINVAL, VALUELIST	XMLDEFAULTVALUE, XMLTIMEZONE, XSDTYPE	DATEFORMAT
%Decimal	DISPLAYLIST, FORMAT, MAXVAL, MINVAL, SCALE, VALUELIST	XSDTYPE
%Double	DISPLAYLIST, FORMAT, MAXVAL, MINVAL, SCALE, VALUELIST	XSDTYPE
%EnumString	COLLATION, CONTENT, DISPLAYLIST, ESCAPE, MAXLEN, MINLEN, PATTERN, TRUNCATE, VALUELIST	XSDTYPE
%ExactString	COLLATION, CONTENT, DISPLAYLIST, ESCAPE, MAXLEN, MINLEN, PATTERN, TRUNCATE, VALUELIST	XSDLISTPARAMETER, XSDTYPE
%FilemanDate		XSDTYPE	STRICTDATA
%FilemanTimeStamp		XSDTYPE	STRICTDATA
%Float	DISPLAYLIST, FORMAT, MAXVAL, MINVAL, SCALE, VALUELIST	XSDTYPE
%Integer	DISPLAYLIST, FORMAT, MAXVAL, MINVAL, VALUELIST	XSDTYPE	STRICT
%List	ODBCDELIMITER	XSDTYPE
%ListOfBinary	ODBCDELIMITER	XSDTYPE
%Name	COLLATION,MAXLEN	XSDTYPE	INDEXSUBSCRIPTS
%Numeric	DISPLAYLIST, FORMAT, MAXVAL, MINVAL, SCALE, VALUELIST	XSDTYPE
%SmallInt	DISPLAYLIST, FORMAT, MAXVAL, MINVAL, VALUELIST	XSDTYPE
%Status		XSDTYPE
%String	COLLATION, CONTENT, DISPLAYLIST, ESCAPE, MAXLEN, MINLEN, PATTERN, TRUNCATE, VALUELIST	XMLLISTPARAMETER, XSDTYPE
%Text	COLLATION, CONTENT, DISPLAYLIST, ESCAPE, MAXLEN, MINLEN, PATTERN, TRUNCATE, VALUELIST	XMLLISTPARAMETER, XSDTYPE	LANGUAGECLASS, SIMILARITYINDEX
%Time	DISPLAYLIST, FORMAT, MAXVAL, MINVAL, VALUELIST	XMLTIMEZONE, XSDTYPE	PRECISION
%TimeStamp	DISPLAYLIST, MAXVAL, MINVAL, VALUELIST	XMLDEFAULTVALUE, XMLTIMEZONE, XSDTYPE
%TinyInt	DISPLAYLIST, FORMAT, MAXVAL, MINVAL, VALUELIST	XSDTYPE
%MV.Date	DISPLAYLIST, FORMAT, MAXVAL, MINVAL, VALUELIST	XSDTYPE
%MV.Numeric	DISPLAYLIST, FORMAT, MAXVAL, MINVAL, SCALE, VALUELIST	XSDTYPE	DESCALE

*This special-purpose class is only for use in migrations to Caché.

Copy link to this sectionDefining Enumerated Properties

Many properties support the parameters VALUELIST and DISPLAYLIST. You use these to define enumerated properties.

To specify a list of valid values for a property, use its VALUELIST parameter. The form of VALUELIST is a delimiter-separated list of logical values, where the delimiter is the first character. For instance:

Property Color As %String(VALUELIST = ",red,green,blue");

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In this example, VALUELIST specifies that valid possible values are “red”, “green”, and “blue”, with a comma as its delimiter. Similarly,

Property Color As %String(VALUELIST = " red green blue");

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specifies the same list, but with a space as its delimiter.

The property is restricted to values in the list, and the data type validation code simply checks to see if the value is in the list. If no list is present, there are no special restrictions on values.

DISPLAYLIST is an additional list that, if present, represents the corresponding display values to be returned by the LogicalToDisplay() method of the property.

For an example that shows how to obtain the display values, see the section “Using Property Methods,” later in this chapter.

Copy link to this sectionSpecifying Values for Literal Properties

To specify a value for a literal property, use the SET command, an OREF, and dot syntax as follows:

 SET oref.MyProp=value

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Where oref is an OREF, MyProp is a property of the corresponding object, and value is an ObjectScript expression that evaluates to a literal value. For example:

 SET patient.LastName="Muggles"
 SET patient.HomeAddress.City="Carver"
 SET mrn=##class(MyApp.MyClass).GetNewMRN()
 set patient.MRN=mrn

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The literal value must be a valid logical value for the property type. For example, use 1 or 0 for a property based on %Boolean. For another example, for an enumerated property, the value must be one of the items specified by the VALUELIST parameter.

Copy link to this sectionSpecifying Values for a Multidimensional Property

For a multidimensional property, you can specify values for any subscripts of the property. For example:

 set oref.MyStateProp("temp1")=value1
 set oref.MyStateProp("temp2")=value2
 set oref.MyStateProp("temp3")=value3

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Multidimensional properties are useful for holding temporary information for use by the object. These properties are not saved to disk.

Copy link to this sectionUsing Property Methods

Each property adds a set of generated class methods to the class. These methods include propnameIsValid(), propnameLogicalToDisplay(), propnameDisplayToLogical(), propnameLogicalToODBC(), propnameODBCToLogical(), and others, where propname is the property name. Some of these methods are inherited from the %Property class and others are inherited from the data type class on which the property is based. For details and a list of the methods, see the chapter “Defining Data Type Classes.”

Caché uses these methods internally, and you can call them directly as well. In each case, the argument is a property value. For example:

SAMPLES>set p=##class(DeepSee.Study.Patient).%OpenId(1)
 
SAMPLES>w p.Gender
M
SAMPLES>w ##class(DeepSee.Study.Patient).GenderLogicalToDisplay(p.Gender)
Male

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Copy link to this sectionControlling the SQL Projection of Literal Properties

A persistent class is projected as an SQL table, as described earlier in this book. For that class, all properties are projected to SQL, aside from the following exceptions:

• Transient properties (but see the subsection “Controlling the SQL Projection of Computed Properties”)

• Calculated properties (but see the subsection “Controlling the SQL Projection of Computed Properties”)

• Private properties

• Multidimensional properties

This section discusses the details for literal properties.

Copy link to this sectionSpecifying the Field Names

By default, a property (if projected to SQL) is projected as an SQL field with the same name as the property. To specify a different field name, use the property keyword SqlFieldName. (Note that it is necessary to use this keyword if the property name is an SQL reserved word). For instance, if there is a %String property called “select,” you would define its projected name with the following syntax:

Property select As %String [ SqlFieldName = selectfield ];

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If the name of a property is an SQL reserved word, you need to specify a different name for its projection.

Copy link to this sectionSpecifying the Column Numbers

The system automatically assigns a unique column number for each field. To control column number assignments, specify the property keyword SqlColumnNumber, as in the following example:

Property RGBValue As %String [ SqlColumnNumber = 3 ];

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The value you specify for SqlColumnNumber must be an integer greater than 1. If you use the SqlColumnNumber keyword without an argument, Caché assigns a column number that is not preserved and that has no permanent position in the table.

If any property has an SQL column number specified, then Caché assigns column numbers for the other properties. The starting value for the assigned column numbers is the number following the highest SQL column number specified.

The value of the SqlColumnNumber keyword is inherited.

Copy link to this sectionEffect of the Data Type Class and Property Parameters

The data type class used by a given property has an effect on the SQL projection. Specifically, the SQL category of the data type (defined with the SqlCategory keyword) control how the property is projected. Where applicable, the property parameters also have an effect:

For example, consider the following property definition:

Property Name As %String(MAXLEN = 30);

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This property is projected as a string field with a maximum length of 30 characters.