About Data Pickers

Data pickers are designed to work with business process logs (including master logs), shells, planning items, and configurable managers that function across a shell hierarchy.

Note: User data pickers are designed for a different purpose. See About User Data Pickers for details.

The purpose of a data picker is to make it easier for users to choose records:

From a business process log
From a class in a configurable manager that operates across shells
From a planning item type that resides across shells
For auto-creation across shells
Note: The data displayed on data pickers is not restricted by permissions. Users will see all business processes, manager classes, or shells, regardless of their permissions.

Data pickers are designed in uDesigner and set up to query the database by the Administrator in Unifier. See Data Picker for more information about configuring a data picker. In operation, a data picker navigates to a specific business process, shell, planning item, or configurable manager and then extracts the records to display on the list by using a query the Unifier administrator sets up.

Data pickers work differently from the other pickers. Most pickers display a flat list of records for users to choose from.

A data picker, instead, can display a navigation structure to guide users to the correct location where a record resides, such as a specific shell, a specific class in a configurable manager, a specific planning item, or a specific business process. A data picker helps to prevent users from inadvertently choosing the wrong record from a picker list. It is also useful for filtering large amounts of records into more manageable lists to choose from.

Data Pickers Use an Advanced Log or a Picker Log

To help ensure that the user navigates to the correct record, data pickers work with the Advanced Log feature or the Picker Log feature. These features are optional, but highly recommended, as they create the tree or hierarchy structures that make data pickers easily navigable and more likely to ensure that the user selects the correct record.

An Advanced Log should be designed for any shell, planning item, or configurable manager class that contains records that will be displayed on a data picker. A Picker Log should be designed for any business process that contains records that will be displayed on a data picker.

A data picker with no Advanced Log or Picker Log shows only a flat list of all the records. There are no arrows to expand or collapse records.

A data picker with an Advanced Log or Picker Log displays a tree structure where users can drill down to more specific records. Each group can be expanded to reveal lower level items by clicking the arrow next to the record.

Data Pickers Use an Advanced Log or a Picker Log

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