The data dictionary is a non-visual component designed to provide the data workspace with the capability to replace the table names and field names retrieved from the database with more readable aliases that you provide. The most commonly used properties of the data dictionary are described below:
| Property | Description |
| FieldFieldNames | The names of the fields to be used in accessing the field aliases. |
| FieldPipeline | The name of the data pipeline that has access to the field aliases. |
| TableFieldNames | The names of the fields to be used in accessing the table aliases. |
| TablePipeline | The name of the data pipeline that has access to the table aliases. |
The data model for the database tables underlying the data dictionary is shown below:
The TableName is the key field of the table. The TableName and FieldName are the key fields of the field table. The Selectable field determines whether the field can be selected within the Query Wizard and Query Designer. The Searchable field determines whether the field can be used in search criteria. The Sortable field determines whether the field can be used to order the data.
Once the data dictionary tables have been created and populated, they can be assigned to a standard Delphi TTable or TQuery component, which can then be assigned to a data pipeline via a TDataSource. The pipelines are then assigned to the TablePipeline and FieldPipeline properties of the data dictionary. The diagram below shows a fully configured data dictionary component. The data dictionary component is assigned to the data workspace via the DataDictionary property of the designer component.
