The Source Types Management Page

Purpose

This screen is used to list, create, view, update and delete Source Type records. "Source Types" appear as choices in a drop-down select control on the Sources Edition Page and allow the user to qualify the kind of source he's dealing with. Depending on the historical context being investigated, examples of source types may include manuscripts, epigraphy, oral sources or manually filled-in printed forms.

The Project Hirtius application comes with a ready-made list of Source Types, but you are free to modify this list as you see fit.

Please note that contrary to most other object management screens, the list and edition features have been implemented in the same screen in this case.

Getting There...

The Source Types management screen is not available straight from the Main Application Menu. To reach it:

From the Main Application Menu (or indeed almost any other Project Hirtius page), click on the "Manage Sources" icon in the header ().
Scroll to the bottom of the page. Click on the Source Types link located between the Sources List and the page footer. This gets you to the Source Types Management Page.

Supported actions

The Source Types Management Page supports the following actions:

List: displays a table listing all existing Source Type records. This is the default mode when you first reach the page.
Add: the form to fill in and submit in order to create a new Source Type record.
Insert: creating the new Source Type record in the database (post Add action).
Edit: modifying an existing Source Type record through a form populated based on the current database contents.
Update: storing the modified data in the database, updating the appropriate Source Type record (post Edit action).
View: display the current database contents for the selected Source Type record. No form in this case.
DelCon: first step when requesting the deletion of a record -- issues a prompt for confirmation.
Del: the actual removal of the selected record from the database (post DelCon action). Only Source Types that are no longer referenced by any Source records can be deleted.
That action will be recorded: a new entry will be added to the Event Log.

Of these, only List is an entry point (typically reached from the Sources List).

Fields

Here below are the fields that you can expect to find on the Source Type Edition Page. The goal here is not to simply duplicate the database layout information. If this is what interests you, please refer to the database creation script or the database itself. The purpose is rather to explain what each field is meant for [D], what format it is expected to follow [F] and what are the conditions for its validity (if applicable) [V].

A star (*) after the name of the field denotes a mandatory field (the star is shown in red with the same meaning in the application user interface).

Object ID*	D	Sequential ID, automatically assigned by the DB during record creation. Displayed read-only once available.
Source Type*	D	Name (description) for the source type. Make it short, but as explicit as possible.
	F	Free text.
	V	Has to be unique.
Code*	D	Mnemonic for the source type. Will appear in lists, search results, etc.
	F	Max. 4 characters.
	V	Has to be unique.
Display date	D	Whether or not references to sources of this kind attached to Project Hirtius objects should include the source date information (if available).
Display date	F	Checkbox.

In addition to these, when in 'list' mode, some extra computed columns are displayed:

#:: The number of Source records that currently reference this Source Type.

Controls

In List mode

For each Source Type in the list, the first and last columns of its row contain links that correspond to actions to be performed on the Source Type object.

object ID: the object ID (left-most column) is a link that opens the Source Types Management Page in view mode for the selected Source Type.
Edit: opens the Source Types Management Page in edit mode for the selected Source Type.
Del: opens the Source Types Management Page in delete confirmation mode for the selected Source Type. You can then confirm to proceed with the deletion or cancel it and return to the list. If there are still Source records that reference the selected Source Type, the confirmation message says so and doesn't let you proceed with deletion. You should first change the type on said sources, then try again. You can use the Advanced Search Page to easily find out which Source records still use this Source Type.

In addition to this, a global action is available on the last row (bottom right corner) of the list:

Add: opens the Source Types Management Page in add mode (displays a blank HTML form to be filled in order to create a new Source Type record).

In View mode

Switch to edit mode link: Located at the bottom of the page, just above the footer. Click on this link to edit the current object (switches the view from a R/O rendering of the contents to an HTML form that allows you to modify that contents and submit it afterward).
Back to list link: Located at the bottom of the page, just above the footer. Click on this link to return to the list of defined Source Types.

In Edit mode

Submit button: (Also in "Add" mode). Commits the locally modified HTML form fields contents to the database that stores Project Hirtius data. Use it to save your latest modifications.
Reset button: (Also in "Add" mode). Cancels any un-committed change, and returns all HTML form fields to their initial value (i.e. the one they had when the page was last loaded in the browser). Use this button to revert any erroneous edit you might have done (Beware: this only works on local changes that have not been saved to the database yet, i.e. for which you've not clicked on Submit yet).
Switch to view mode link: Located at the bottom of the page, just above the footer. Click on this link to view the current object (switches from the current HTML form that allows you to modify the object contents and submit it afterward to a R/O rendering of that contents).
Back to list link: Located at the bottom of the page, just above the footer. Click on this link to return to the list of defined Source Types.