6 Character Sets

This chapter provides information about how to customize and configure character sets.

6.1 Available Character Sets

The Character Sets node lets you view and create sets of valid characters in Agile PLM.

Character sets are lists of valid characters that are used to manage the Include Characters property of Text and MultiText attributes. You can create and delete character sets. Any language supported by Agile PLM can be supported by character sets.

The following table lists character sets provided with Agile PLM. They are all enabled by default and cannot be modified.

Table 6-1 Available Character Sets

Name	Included characters
All	All valid characters
All Characters with space and Lower Case	Only lowercase characters, and including: Space character
All Characters with space and Mixed Case	All upper- and lowercase characters, and including: Space character
All Characters with space and Upper Case	Only uppercase characters, and including: Space character
All Characters without space and Lower Case	Only lowercase characters and no space character
All Characters without space and Mixed Case	All upper- and lowercase characters and no space character
All Characters without space and Upper Case	Only uppercase characters and no space character
Alpha All	Upper- and lowercase alphabet only
Alpha All & Space	Same as Alpha All plus: Space character
Alpha Lower Case	Lowercase alphabet only
Alpha Lower Case & Space	Same as Alpha Lower Case plus: Space character
Alpha Upper Case	Uppercase alphabet only
Alpha Upper Case & Space	Same as Alpha Upper Case plus: Space character
AlphaNumeric All	Upper- and lowercase alphabet and: Numerals 0 through 9 Period (.) Hyphen (-)
AlphaNumeric All& Space	Same as AlphaNumeric All plus: Space character
AlphaNumeric Lower Case	Lowercase alphabet and: Numerals 0 through 9 Period (.) Hyphen (-)
AlphaNumeric Lower Case & Space	Same as AlphaNumeric Lower Case plus: Space character
AlphaNumeric Upper Case	Uppercase alphabet and: Numerals 0 through 9 Period (.) Hyphen (-)
AlphaNumeric Upper Case & Space	Same as AlphaNumeric Upper Case plus: Space character
Numeric	Numerals 0 through 9, and also: Period (.) Hyphen (-)
Numeric & Space	Numerals 0 through 9, and also: Period (.) Hyphen (-) Space character

6.2 Creating a Character Set

You can create a character set that is tailored to your company's requirements. Each character set is limited to 100 characters.

Caution: Although all characters are supported within Agile PLM, and should not create issues within Agile's clients, it is recommended that you avoid using the following characters when naming or renaming objects (for instance, subclasses or attributes), due to issues that could potentially arise in integrations or custom applications written on the SDK: , (comma) .(period)

Previously, Agile experienced issues with certain Unicode characters, specifically katakana characters, as they were not valid XML name characters. Agile PLM has addressed these issues within aXML.

Regarding the "slash" character (/), the SDK makes use of certain characters within its query language, but the recommended practice is to refer to classes and fields by ID, rather than by name. For easy access to folders (e.g., search folders), the SDK permits indication of folders like this: "folder/folder/folder/object" – thus, slashes in folder names could cause issues; however, you can use the escape sequence (with "\").

To create a new character set:

1. Under Data Settings, double-click Character Sets. The Character Sets window appears.

2. Click the New button. The Define Character Set dialog box appears.

3. In the Name, API Name and Description fields, type a unique name and a description, respectively.

4. In the Enabled list, select Yes.

5. In the Valid Character Set field, enter up to 100 characters to include in the set. Duplicate characters are not allowed.

6. To add special characters, click the Special Character button and select space (^s), new line/carriage return (^p), or caret (^^).

7. When you have finished, click OK.

Note: Custom character sets can affect the performance of your system if very large character sets are defined and many attributes use them.

6.3 Modifying a Character Set

You can modify the contents, name, and description of a character set that you have created from the Character Sets window. The default character sets provided with Agile PLM are read-only.

To modify a character set:

1. Under Data Settings, double-click the Character Sets node. The Character Sets window appears.

2. Double-click a character set to open it.

3. In the Name and Description fields, type a unique name and a description, respectively.

4. In the Valid Character Set field, add or remove characters.

5. When you have finished, click Save.

To delete a character set:

1. Under Data Settings, double-click the Character Sets node. The Character Sets window appears.

2. Select a character set.

3. Click the Delete button, and then click Yes to confirm.

Note: If the character set is currently assigned to any Text or MultiText attributes in the Agile PLM system, it cannot be deleted. Make sure you choose appropriate character sets where required. There is a potential problem when adding files or URLs from a business object to a file folder object. If the file folder's File Description attribute has a Character Set = Numeric, but the business object's File Description attribute has a Character Set = Alpha or AlphaNumeric, the latter will override the former, meaning whatever control you wanted to impose in the file folder's File Description (being numeric) will be lost, the system will save the original character set.