Working With Collections Component Interface

Working With Collections 


A collection is a property that points to a scroll, rather than a field, in the underlying
component for a component interface. A collection groups multiple fields in a scroll. All the
fields in the scroll are mapped to a property. These properties are part of the collection.
You create collections the same way you create properties—drag the scroll from the
component view into the component interface view. Consider these points when creating
collections:

• When dragging a scroll into the component interface view, all child scrolls come with
it.

This is the same behavior that you would expect when creating a property. Child
properties are always added automatically when you drag a field from the component
view to the component interface view. After the property or collection has been created,
you can delete individual child properties or collections manually, if necessary.

• When dragging a scroll into the component interface view, all record fields contained
in that scroll come with it—not just those from the record that defines the scroll.
The fields from all records at that scroll level are exposed as part of the same collection.

• Keys that appear in parent and child scrolls are not added to child collections.
For the component interface to function as expected, the keys must remain synchronized
at all levels of the component. Having keys at lower levels makes it possible to
compromise this synchronization. Therefore, lower-level keys are not introduced into the
component interface and are not exposed to the user because those keys have already been
set at the parent level.

• When dragging a child scroll into the component interface view, parent collections are
created automatically.

For example, if you drag just the level-two scroll from the component view into the
component interface view, a level-zero collection and a level-one collection are created
automatically in the component interface. This hierarchy of collections is necessary so
that it’s possible to navigate to the child collection at runtime.