Considerations for Managing Key Flexfields
Consider the plans for a key flexfield, security, and resulting run time pages when configuring key flexfields.
Planning
Plan structures carefully and enable them for future needs. Don't change the number, order, and maximum length of segments once you have acquired flexfield data.
Structure Delimiters
A delimiter separates the segments when they appear to users. The delimiter value of a structure specifies the character used to visually separate segment values when the key flexfield is displayed as a string of concatenated segments in the UI.
Identify the delimiter value of your key flexfield carefully so that it doesn't conflict with the flexfield data. For example, if your data frequently contains periods, such as in monetary or numeric values, don't use a period as your segment separator. Any character you expect to appear frequently in your segment values or descriptions isn't a good choice for the delimiter. If you change the configuration of a key flexfield, such as the delimiter, the change affects the previously stored key flexfields with that structure.
Security
Oracle data security enforces value set security.
Within key flexfields, value set security applies to the selection of the individual segment values in the segment list of values. When selecting a key flexfield segment value from the combinations table, data security permits display of only the combinations whose segment values you have access to. Applications development controls whether or not value set security rules propagate to the foreign key table. By default they do.
Run Time Pages
Application development determines the user interface (UI) pages used to render flexfields. The types of key flexfield UI pages are as follows:
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Combinations pages where the underlying entity objects use the combinations table itself
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Foreign key pages where the underlying entity objects contain a foreign key reference to the combinations table
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Partial usage pages where some or all of the key flexfield's segment columns are in a product table
The same key flexfield can be used in different ways on different pages.
A page with a foreign key reference has a base table or view that contains a foreign key reference to a combinations table with the actual flexfield segment columns. This lets you manipulate rows containing account combination IDs (account combination).
A page with partial usage of a key flexfield presents segments that are defined on a product's transactional table in addition to being defined on a combinations table. In the case of a partial usage page, only a part of the configuration is likely to be visible. This enables the key flexfield to act more like a descriptive flexfield.
An account combination maintenance page or combinations page presents the combinations table. This enables directly creating and maintaining account combinations. The combinations table contains all key flexfield segment columns and a unique ID column.
A typical application has only one combinations page. An application might not have a combinations page if it doesn't support maintenance by administrators.
A page containing a search region enables users to select which attributes of the key flexfield view object to use as criteria to search for flexfield metadata.
For example, you can configure seven segments for the Account key flexfield. In a foreign key reference page, users see the typical key flexfield picker with all seven segments where they can search for combinations. In a partial usage page using the same key flexfield, users potentially could see only a single segment such as the Cost Center labeled segment, or they might see multiple segments but displayed as individual segments rather than options for selecting combinations.