Field conversions

Learn about field conversions which control how data is displayed to the user.

On this page

Overview

All fields have a default conversion, which you can override in certain instances, such as in Reporting.

For example, the default conversion for the Classification field is [AU_CONV,CLASSIFICATION]. This means Vernon will use the Display Field that is specified in the Authority Parameter File for Classification. In this case, the Display Field is AU_ASCENDING. This means that when terms are displayed in Classification fields and in reports, you will see the ascending hierarchy. For example:

Dish, Bonbon/Dish, Candy/Dish, Serving/Serving Vessels/Food Service T&E/04 Tools.

You may wish to override this conversion with [AU_CONV,CLASSIFICATION*AU_NAME] in a report so that just the term name displays. For example: 

Dish, Bonbon

How to override field conversions

Reporting

  1. In the Reporting tool, on the Edit Report Template tab, click Select Fields.

  2. From the Available Fields list, double-click a field to move it to the Display Fields list.

  3. Highlight the field in the Display Fields list and click the Detail button.

  4. In the Conversion field (or Override Conversion field), change the conversion and click OK.

User Symbolics

In the User Symbolics window, after specifying other details such as the field, click into the Conversion field and override the conversion.

Authority field conversions

The format for this conversion is:

[AU_CONV,filename*fieldname]

In this conversion, file name is the System ID of the file and fieldname is the internal field name of the field to display.

Example authority field conversions

Conversion Description
[AU_CONV,CLASSIFICATION] The file name indicates that the default Display field should be used. The default Display field is recorded in the Authority Parameter File. For Classification, this is usually AU_ASCENDING or AU_DESCENDING (i.e. the ascending or descending hierarchy).
[AU_CONV,CLASSIFICATION*AU_NAME] When applied to a field controlled by the Classification file, this conversion will display the Name field from the Classification record.
[AU_CONV,PLACE*AU_SHORT_NAME] When applied to a field controlled by the Place file, this conversion will display the Short Name field from the Place record, e.g. 'NSW' instead of 'New South Wales'.
[AU_CONV,PERSON*USER_SYM_17] When applied to a field controlled by the Person file, this conversion will display the result of USER_SYM_17. Note that USER_SYM_17 must be a symbolic configured for the Person file.

Person field conversions

PE_SYM_NAME

This function combines fields from the Person file and will display only the first preferred name.

The format for the PE_SYM_NAME function is:

[AU_CONV,PERSON*PE_SYM_NAME_fieldcodes]

In this conversion, fieldcodes refers to any of the following codes:

Field code Description Example
F First names Jennifer Anne
L Last name Braithwaite
K Known as Jenny
N Nationality (first only) Australian
M Nationality, with multiple if they exist Australian; Greek
C Nationality city Melbourne
Y Life years b.1966
D Life dates 02 Mar 1966-
I Initials J A
T Title Ms

If none of the field conversions can supply the desired affect, you may wish to consider creating a User Symbolic field, using the PERSON.NAME subroutine.

Date field conversions

There are two types of conversions available for date fields:

  • Precise dates

  • Imprecise dates

Precise dates

Apply the conversion [UT_CONV_DATE] to have the date display exactly as it does in the field.

The format is:

[UT_CONV_DATE,yc.opt!month.format!DOW.format]

Part of conversion Required or optional? Explanation
yc.opt Optional

Indicates the number of digits in the year. 0 (zero) indicates that no year is output. The default value is 4.

This value can be followed by a character that separates the day, month and year. For example, [UT_CONV_DATE,2/] will result in 20/Feb/01.

If no character is specified, a space (the default) will be used.
month.format Optional

Allows you to specify how completely the month is displayed.

  • SL displays the short name for the month. For example, Oct.

  • SU displays the short name for the month in upper case. For example, OCT.

  • LL displays the full month name. For example, October.

  • LU displays the full month name in upper case. For example, OCTOBER.

  • NUM displays the month as a number. For example, 10.
DOW.format Optional

DOW (Date of Week) format.

  • S for short format. For example, Mon, Tues.

  • L for long format. For example, Monday Tuesday.

Imprecise dates

Apply the conversion [DC_CONV_DATE_DISPLAY] to imprecise date fields for the date to display exactly as it does in the Vernon CMS field.