Configuring an attribute with an indexing specification can help to decrease search time by creating index values that can be searched quickly.
The Allow Duplicate and Unique indexing settings should be used only for attributes that are frequently searched.
Indexing options are not available for the following data types: Relationship, Text, Formatted Text, and Boolean.
To configure an index specification:
- Select the class that contains the attribute in the Repositories pane.
- Select the Attributes tab.
- Double-click on the attribute for which you want to configure an index. The Attribute Configuration dialog box is displayed.
- Select the Advanced tab.
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Select the appropriate option from the Index drop-down list. The following options are available:
Option
Description
None
No special indexing settings are specified. Searching will not be optimized for the attribute.
Allow duplicates
Speeds up searching time. The values for an attribute may not always be unique; therefore, duplicates are permitted.
Note:This option is not available for attributes that belong to an external class.
Unique
Speeds up searching time. The values for an attribute must be unique. When this setting is set for an attribute, users will not be able to create an object using a value in an attribute configured to be unique that already exists within the class.
Note:Configurations using Date or Date/Time attributes as a Unique index are not supported.
Note:It is possible that duplicate values can be created if objects with the same value are created at the same time. In order to ensure a value is unique, utilize a WorkView sequence to populate the value.
Note:Indexing is automatically set for attributes using the Relationship, Text, Alphanumeric(greater than 256 characters), Boolean, and Encrypted Alphanumeric data types. Relationship attributes are set to Allow duplicates and this setting is read-only. Text attributes and Alphanumeric attributes with more than 256 characters are set to None and this setting is read-only.
Note:If you need to change the length of an Alphanumeric attribute, you must remove the index for the attribute before modifying the length.