Functionality

Managing Databases

The Content Central configuration page has four sections: Import Database From FFDB, Download Database, Upload Database, New Database and Edit Records. Only New Database and Edit Records are normally visible.

New Database

‘Database Name’ - enter the name of the newly created database.

‘Column Names’ - enter the list of column names (headings) for the new database separated by commas. The column headings must match the respective form filling fields exactly including spacing and capitalisation, in order for the columns to map to the fields in the form filling. Do not add the ‘Section’ column, it will be added to the database automatically.

Edit Records

Once a database has been uploaded it will need a dropdown key and dropdown description which are then used on form filling page in the main dropdown. These two values are found in the ‘Edit Records’ section. Select the database from the dropdown list, both fields will be available to edit.

The ‘Sort By’ value is what the user sees in the dropdown list on the form filling page. For this field enter the column header in between two # tags, for example: #Firstname# #Lastname# where Firstname and Lastname are the column headers.

The ‘Filter By’ is the configurable section value. This allows you to limit which records users will see on the form filling page. This drop down lists all user profile fields - any of these fields can be used for filtering database records. If you have a user profile field ‘Office’, this can be used to show a user only records for one office. Originally this was fixed to the ‘FormFillingDatabaseSection’ field and this is the default option if nothing is selected. There is also an option to use ‘No Filter’ value.

Once ‘Sort By’ and ‘Filter By’ values have been entered, click the ‘Save Database Settings’ button.

The name of a database can be changed by clicking the ‘Rename this database’ button. When this is clicked, the database name will become editable. When you are happy click Save the new name. A database can be deleted by selecting the database from the list and clicking ‘Delete this database’. It automatically checks if the database is currently in use before performing the deletion. Click the confirmation to delete the database. Once deleted, the data cannot be restored.

Individual records can be edited or deleted by selecting either of the two buttons on the left of the table. ‘Delete’ will remove this row and ‘Edit’ will make the contents of the row editable. Once edited click update for the changes to take effect. Add records by clicking the ‘Add Record’ button.

A new column can be added to all records in the currently selected database by clicking the ‘Add Column’ button. This opens a modal dialog where you can enter a name for the new column. Column names may only contain letters, numbers, and underscores, and must not already exist in the database. Once confirmed, the new column will be added to every record in the database with an empty value. The column will then be available for mapping to form filling fields.

Import Database From FFDB

In situations when Content Central discovers databases from the Form Filling Database extension on the system, it enables the import function. The ‘FFDB Database Name’ drop down contains the list of importable databases. A new unique name has to be assigned to the imported database so that it does not conflict with an existing Content Central database.

Download Database

Previously uploaded databases can be downloaded in this section by selecting the database name from the dropdown list and clicking the download button.

Upload Database

A database in CSV format can be uploaded in this section to update an existing database or to create a new one. Select the name of the database to update then click ‘choose file’ to select the data to upload. It is advisable to back up a database before uploading it. To add a new database, select New database > provide name from the dropdown and enter a name in the field on the right, then click choose file.

The database must be a in a valid CSV file format and the column headings must match the respective form filling fields exactly including spacing and capitalisation, in order for the columns to map to the fields in the form filling. All leading and trailing spaces are removed from column headings at upload time. The section column must also be present in the database (can be empty).

Sections

Each database can be filtered into sections, so that only users with a matching value in the user profile field selected in the ‘Filter By’ area will be able to see matching database records (e.g. showing only some records to certain office locations). Each database must have a filtering (section) column. See the image below for an example of how sections might work.

The default user profile fieldused for filtering is ‘FormFillingDatabaseSection’ - it determines which section a user is in. In the example below, the user will only see records relating to a Watford branch, whereas a user whose section was ‘BirminghamOffice” might instead see records for branches in Smethwick or Solihull. If left blank the user will see all records. The field is named ‘FormFillingDatabaseSection’ on systems with previous installations of the ‘Form Filling Database’ extension.

On systems without previous ‘Form Filling Database’ extension installations the field is named ‘Content Central Section’.