Configuring Siebel eBusiness Applications > Configuring Links >

Configuring the Primary ID Field

The Link and Multi Value Link object definitions have a set of properties that you can use to specify to the system how to obtain the record ID of the first record to display of the detail table each time the master record changes. These properties are Primary Id Field, Use Primary Join, and Auto Primary. Together they implement the primary ID field.

The basic concept behind a primary ID is that it is faster for a Siebel application to retrieve one primary record from the MVG business component through a join than retrieve all of them through a subquery—especially because users can see values from only one child record until they open up the MVG applet. To create a primary field for a one-to-many or many-to-many relationship, complete the following procedure.

To configure a primary field for a 1:M or M:M relationship

1. Create a Primary Id column.
2. Create a field based on that Primary Id column.
3. In a Multi-Value Link, set the Primary Id Field attribute to the new Primary Id field.
4. Set the Use Primary Join attribute to TRUE.

For example, in the Account business component the primary ID field for the Address multi-value group is called Primary Address Id. The Account Address Mvg Applet displays the corresponding multi-value group. The primary record, indicated with a check mark in the list column labeled Primary, has its row ID stored in the Primary Address Id field in the account record. Each time there is a different account record displayed, the multi-value fields for the Address load the primary Business Address record's values only. It is not necessary to query the Business Address business component for multiple rows. This can be a significant performance enhancement, especially in list applets.

NOTE:  In a multi-value group applet, the list column that displays the check mark (indicating the primary or nonprimary status of each record) obtains its data from a system field called SSA Primary Field. This field does not appear in the Object Explorer or Object List Editor, but may be referenced by a list column for this purpose.

The benefit of using a primary ID, from the system's standpoint, is that it converts a one-to-many relationship into a one-to-one relationship. This allows the row retrieval process to be simplified from a query with subqueries to a simple join query. This substantially improves performance, especially when the user is scrolling through the records of a list applet that displays the master.

The properties of Link or Multi-Value Link object types used to implement a primary ID field are as follows:

• Primary ID Field. This property specifies the name of the field in the master business component that holds the row ID values pointing to primary records in the detail business component.
• Use Primary Join. The Use Primary Join property is a TRUE or FALSE property that turns the Primary Join feature on or off. If TRUE, the primary detail record is obtained for each master record through a join on the primary ID field. If FALSE, the detail table is queried again with each master record change.
• Auto Primary. This property setting determines how row ID values are populated in the primary ID field, based on a system-supplied list column labeled Primary in the multi-value group applet. The user can manually select the primary. Auto Primary determines how, if at all, the primary selection is defaulted. The possible values for Auto Primary are DEFAULT, SELECTED, or NONE as follows:
  • DEFAULT. The first record automatically becomes the primary.
  • SELECTED. The highlighted record becomes the primary when the user views the multi-value group applet and then exits.
  • NONE. The user must manually specify the primary.

    SELECTED only pertains when there are several multi-value links pointing to the same detail business component. This is the case for the Bill To Business Address and Ship To Business Address multi-value links in a standard Siebel Sales application. These multi-value links exist under both the Order and Account business components. In this case, an example of the desired behavior is as follows: if a primary is not set for the Bill To address, then when the Siebel application does a separate query to bring back all addresses associated with the account (or order), it will check to see whether one of the addresses has already been selected as primary for the Ship To address and, if so, it will SELECT (that is, set) that address as the primary for Bill To address as well.

    When the Auto Primary property of a Multi Value Link object has a value of SELECTED, setting read-only properties at the applet level still does not force the SSA Primary Field to be read-only.

    NOTE:  If the destination business component of the Multi-Value Link is read-only, you may receive the following error message, "This operation is not available for a read-only field 'SSA Primary Field'." This is because the Primary ID field is automatically updated through the system field 'SSA Primary Field', which belongs to the destination business component. Additionally, if this business component is read-only, the field is read-only as well and cannot be updated.

Allowing Users to Set Primaries

You can set the MVG Set Primary Restricted: visibility_mvlink_name user property in the business component underlying the MVG applet to allow certain users to set primaries. Setting this user property to FALSE allows the Primary team member to be altered by someone other than the Manager or Siebel Administrator.

If this user property is not set, only Siebel Administrators (in Admin mode) and Managers (in Manager view mode) have the ability to change the Primary team member on opportunities, accounts and contacts.

For more information about user properties, see Siebel Developer's Reference.