Site Types and Site Alternative Name Types
Overview
A site, person, or organization record can be assigned one or more site types to help classify records for reporting.
Site types can be added to a site manually by an internal user from the Site Details page, or automatically through form integration configuration. For more information, see the nCORE - nFORM Data Integration Tags page.
Searching Site Types
To view all available site types, navigate to Admin > Lookups > Site Types.
Adding or Editing a Site Type
On the Site Types page, click the Add New Site Type button to add a new site type or click an existing site type to edit it. Fields available on the Edit Site Type page are described below.
To save changes, click the Save button. To cancel changes or return to the list after saving, click the Cancel button.
Field | Description | Notes |
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Site Type Code | A unique identifier for the site type. |
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Site Type Description | A text description of the site type. |
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Applicable Category | The site category (site, person, or organization) for which the site type should be available. | If the site type is valid for all site categories, set this field to “Unassigned.” The selected category is used to restrict the availability of site types during site creation. For example, if a user is creating a new organization site, only site types with an Applicable Category of “Organization” or “Unassigned” are available for selection. |
Site Alternative Name Types
Site alternative name types are used to classify alternative names for a site.
Site alternative name types are managed directly in the database and cannot be configured through the user interface. Database columns used to manage site alternative name types are described below.
Column | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|
CODE | A unique identifier for the site alternative name type. |
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DESCR | The site alternative name type description.
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PREFIX_CODE | The prefix used when auto-generating a site alternative name. | For more information, see the next section. |
TTL_NUM_CHARS | The total number of characters used when auto-generating a site alternative name. | For more information, see the next section. |
SEQ_LAST_USED | The last number used in an auto-generated site alternative name. | For more information, see the next section. |
IS_UNIQUE | An indicator that the site alternative name can only be added once to a site. |
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IS_SYS_GNRTD | An indicator that the site alternative name is auto-generated. |
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IS_DISP_SITE_SEARCH | An indicator that the site alternative name is indexed as part of the Site Search. |
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IS_NFORM_LOOKUP | An indicator that the site alternative name is available as a lookup option in nFORM form design, such as in dropdown and type-ahead fields. |
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Auto-Generating Site Alternative Names
Site alternative names can be generated automatically when a site type is added to a site.
To enable auto-generation, the following columns must be populated in the REF_SITE_ALT_NAME_TYPE database table:
PREFIX_CODE
TTL_NUM_CHARS
SEQ_LAST_USED
When these values are set, the system auto-generates an alternative name using the specified prefix and a sequence number formatted to match the total number of characters specified.
For example, imagine an agency wants to auto-generate a National Inventory of Dams (NID) number whenever a site type of “Dam” is added to a site. The format should be “D-1000,” where “1000” is a sequence number that increments with each new dam.
To enable this:
Create a site type with Site Type Code “DAM” and Site Type Description “Dam.”
Add a site alternative name type to the database with CODE “NID” and DESCR “NID Number.” Set PREFIX_CODE to “D-,” TTL_NUM_CHARS to “6,” and SEQ_LAST_USED to “1000.”
Link the site type to the site alternative name by adding a linking record to REF_SITE_ALT_NAME_TYPE_TO_REF_SITE_TYPE in the database.