The term qualifier is used to refer to the facility that allows you to extend many of the Match-IT databases with fields that are specific and meaningful to you. These fields are propagated internally and are available for printing and for manipulation by scripts but have no inherent meaning to Match-IT itself.

Refer to the QA module overview for more information.

To attach a qualifier to a record, first you must define the name of the qualifier, the type of information it will hold and the Match-IT database (or file) the information will be attached to. Once you've done this, whenever you select the Qualifiers tab in a form for the file, the qualifier(s) you defined will be available for editing. You can then edit their value just like any other Match-IT field.

Steps to add a new qualifier

1.Navigate to the form where you wish to add a qualifier. You can only add qualifiers to forms that have aQualifiers tab. Select the qualifiers tab. Initially the tab will be blank except for a Specify button in the bottom right.

2.Press the Specify button. You will be shown the list of qualifiers attached to the record. Initially the list will be empty.

3.Press the New button. You will be shown a form to allow you to specify a qualifier value for a qualifier name.

4.Press the Qualifier ID . You will be shown a list of qualifier names. Initially the list will be empty.

5.Press the New button. You will be shown a form to allow you to specify a new qualifier name.

6.Enter the name you wish to see on your forms for this qualifier in the Prompt Text: field. This name must be different to any other qualifier name you have created and also different to any built-in field name for the record.

7.Press the Type . You will be shown a list of field types.

8.Select the type of information you want your field to hold. For simple textual information, choose the String type. For a link to an external document, choose the Document link type.

9.Press »Save« and then Close. You will be returned to the list of qualifier names, which will now show your new name.

10.Press Select on your new name. You will be returned to your qualifier value form and your new name will have been entered in the Qualifier ID field and its type in the Type field.

11.Press the This Value . You will be shown the usual form or selector for the type of information the qualifier is assigned to. Fill in or select as usual. Then return to the qualifier value form. You have now assigned a value to your qualifier.

12.Press »Save« and then Close. You will be returned to the list qualifier values attached to the record you started out from. Your new qualifier will now be shown in the list.

13.Press Close. You will be returned to the Qualifiers tab that you started out from. It will now show the new qualifier name and value in the usual way.

Notes

Once you define a new qualifier name and associate it with records for a particular file, every record in that file will show the name in the qualifiers tab. This qualifier value can be edited like any other Match-IT field and saved with the record.