One of the pieces of code in the library is categories, which can be used for creating drop down combos, check boxes, data lists and radio buttons. On top of these uses, you can use categories to manage site settings, emails and so much more
Category Header
The category header stores the category code which groups all the children in the category detail. In addition to the category code, there is the common name, description as well as the list and form design for the category detail. These last two pieces of information means that you can store a host of different information with in categories, depending on your application.
Category Detail
The category detail stores a lot of information, of which only some fields will be required depending on your application. In the simplest form, the category detail can just store:-
- Category - This is the code in the header that links the children together
- Code - This combined with the category form an unique index by which you can retrieve any record
- Value - This is the value that is displayed to the user
- Sequence - Order in which you want to display the records
If you are using the category to store information for a drop down combo for example then you may wish to store additional information such as:-
- Group - This offers the facility so that you can group some details together, for example in the example shown, "Numeric" is a group
- Title - Used for displaying useful information about the choice
- Alternate Code - Because the category code creates an unique key, if you need to repeat a value in the drop down box like in the example shown INT and DATE are repeated, then this can be accommodated by using an alternate value. You can also use the alternate code to disable an option
On top of the above there are three space fields to store other information as well as an alternate value and a field to store JavaScript
