DataSplice Glossary
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This document describes the following terms that are used frequently in the DataSplice documentation:
- AMR
- Automated Meter Reading or AMR is a means of gathering utility customer’s meter reads using wireless technology.
- Attribute
- Attributes define variables that act as information placeholders that can be referenced throughout the application to provide dynamic behavior.
- CMMS
- Computerized Maintenance Management System - A CMMS is a software system designed to track information relevant to facility maintenance. This can include work order management, stocking and inventory data, planned maintenance scheduling, and much more.
- Conflict
- Conflicts occur when multiple users attempt to edit the same record in a database. With DataSplice conflicts usually arise in offline scenarios when multiple users are modifying the same data.
- Criteria
- Data Source
- DataSplice does not host any actual data itself, all the enterprise data used by the server is stored in external data sources that operate independently from DataSplice. Typical a data source can be viewed as a database server, such as Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle, and an application hosted on that database, such as MAXIMO® software from MRO Software Inc. or DataStream®.
- Event
- DataSplice events correspond to data modification events. These are Insert, Update, and Delete.
Events are fired on the server when the remote application attempts to commit a change to a piece of data. This can occur either when the user makes the modification (online) or when the remote client is synchronizing multiple modifications at reconnect (offline).
- Field
- DataSplice views consist of a collection of fields that represent the data in the view. Fields typically correspond to columns in a database table, though they can be the results of function calls or other complex SQL statements depending on the definition of the view. DataSplice fields also specify additional information related to how the user can interact with the data of the field, such as is it is read only, how the data should be formatted, or what list of values can be used to edit the data.
- Filter
- Filters correspond to SQL Where clauses, which are used to narrow down records in a view to find a specific subset of information.
- Master Application
- Master Applications are the host applications that define the data available from a data source, such as a CMMS or ERP package. DataSplice does not define what the enterprise data looks like, but rather can be configured to access existing data managed by an external Master Application.
- ODBC
- Open Database Connectivity
ODBC enables DataSplice to connection to a variety of database in a similar fashion. Connections to the database are provided by ODBC drivers, which translate common requests to and from the proprietary formats and protocols supported by the target database. ODBC is provided through the Microsoft Data Access Components. More information can be found on Microsoft's web site: http://www.microsoft.com/data - Relationship
- Relationships are used to define views
This can include parent-child relationships, as well as weaker many-to-many relationships.
Relationships use attributes to create filters based on contextual information. For instance, to find equipment at the user's default location, or job plans for the selected work order.
- RFID
- Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a method of remotely storing and retrieving data using devices called RFID tags. An RFID tag is a small object that can be attached to or incorporated into a product. RFID tags contain antennae to enable them to receive and respond to radio-frequency queries from an RFID transceiver.
- Session
- Every time a client connects to the server a unique session is created to identify that particular connection. This allows the same user account to be logged in to the system multiple times without causing problems; if this happens multiple sessions are created. Sessions are also used to improve offline behavior by allowing the server to track the data currently stored by the client and only send data that has changed rather than resending all available information.
- View
- As far as DataSplice is concerned, a view is the basic object that users see. In essence, a view is a configurable "window" into a database. This basically consists of a SQL statement defining the target data for the view as well as additional meta-information relating to how the view should be accessed and manipulated be the user.
Unfortunately view is a fairly overloaded word in the context of databases. It is also usually used to describe a pre-configured statement in a database to provide a view of data that is not explicitly stored in a single table. In this context it is similar to a DataSplice view (a SQL Statement) except it does not define any of the additional information present in DataSplice views.
In fact, DataSplice views can certainly be set up to access database views simply by providing a SQL statement that queries the latter. In many cases where complex SQL is needed to provide the desired data this is necessary for DataSplice to be able to perform the correct query.
- View Permission
- DataSplice views:DataSpliceGlossary#View can be made available to both users and groups. In addition, certain details about the view, such as data permissions, attribute settings, etc. can be overridden on a per-user or per-group basis to further customize the system.
- Worker Thread
- The DataSplice server is multi-threaded to provide maximum performance for all connected clients. This ensures that long running database operations for one user do not impact the rest of the system. The server has a pool of worker threads which it dispatches to perform various tasks. This size of the pool is configurable through the Administration Client.
