Adding new fields and forms to the linked universe

Use the procedures in this topic to customize the linked universe by adding a new field to an existing form or adding a new form.

To add a new field to an existing form

1. Import the linked universe into the Universe Design Tool.
2. Refresh the universe structure to ensure that the logical structure is refreshed with the new fields that are added to the existing form. From the View menu, select Refresh Structure.
3. Identify the fields that are new and also the logical location in the class structure on the user model where these forms need to be added.
4. Create a new object with the appropriate name in the class that is identified in step 3, and create the new object with the prefix of the company name or another way to identify the same.
   
   For example, if the form name is HPD_HELP_DESK and the new field name is Incident Originator:
   • Prefix the object name with an identifier to help you recognize that this is a customized object. In the following example, BMC is added as an identifier.
   • Ensure that the description has a string called CUSTOM before the description followed by a delimiter "-" and then followed by the actual Help text for the object.
     
     
5. Follow the same rules of any new entities in the universe which might include, conditions, hierarchies, contexts, classes.
   All these entities have descriptions and all descriptions should be prefixed with the string CUSTOM and the delimiter "-".
6. Parse the object and ensure that there are no errors.
7. Save and export the universe.

To add a new table

In this procedure, a new table named HPD_HELP_DESK_SLA is added to the universe logical structure.

1. Import the linked universe into the Universe Design Tool.
2. Insert the new table into the universe logical model by selecting Insert > Table and selecting the table from the Table Browser dialog box.
3. Create an alias of the new table that is added to the universe, and prefix the alias with the identifier as suggested in the earlier section for the objects and conditions. In this example this is "BMC".
   
   
4. Move the new table added to a separate location in the logical structure under the header "NEW TABLES IN THE UNIVERSE", as shown in the image below.
   All of these tables will be stand-alone without any connections to the existing tables; the alias is used to join as suggested in the next step.
   
   
5. Create a join between the alias that was created in step 3 and the existing table as shown in the following figure:
   
   
6. Use the recommendations specified in the preceding section for creating new classes, objects, conditions, hierarchies, contexts in the universe corresponding to the new table.

After you add the new objects to the universe, you should now be able to include the new object in an ad hoc report or a copy of a preconfigured report.