Archiving overview
The archive feature of AR System provides a convenient way to periodically store data (not definitions) from a form to an archive form. Archiving reduces the amount of data accessed during searches on the main form, thus improving system performance. Archiving applies to all types of forms (except display-only forms, vendor forms, and join forms). You can manage the production system efficiently and utilize the available infrastructure and resources optimally. When you archive your data, you can improve system performance and enable data retention.
The following video gives you an overview of data archiving:
By archiving, the main application has fewer records, which results in quicker searches and better performance, while the records are still archived. You can also reduce the database size by periodically extracting archived data.
The main form is the form on which archive is set (data is read from this form), and the archive form is the form to which data is copied. When you archive the main form, you must also archive the related forms. For providing the ability to archive related data, you can explicitly create associations between forms in the Developer Studio. For more information, see Configuring-data-archiving-associations-for-related-forms.
The following image displays the concept of archiving in AR System.
AR System does not support archiving if you have a read-only database. For more information on using read-only databases, see Using a read-only database.
AR System Archive Manager console
You can manage archive definitions through forms. The AR System Archive Manager console uses the AR System Archive Policy form to allow authorized users to enable, disable, describe, and control the age of archived records. It also allows the user to perform an archive on demand, even if the console has disabled the archive.
The Archive Manager console displays the values from the archive definition, and allows the user to override or accept those values. The archive definition controls the appearance of an archive in the console, which is an element of the form definition that can be accessed using Developer Studio.
You can also export and delete your archived data directly from your application using the AR System Archive Manager console. For more information, see Managing-the-archiving-process.
Age qualification
The Age Qualification parameter in the archive definition specifies that the records should be archived when they have reached a specific age. The definition includes the field on the form that is used to determine the record’s age, and the age in number of days after which records should be archived. You can set this definition on the archive panel for each form. For more information, see Configuring-data-archiving-for-a-form.
The age specified in the definition appears in the Archive Manager console as well. You can override the value from the console.
The existing archive definitions are updated so that they appear in the Archive Manager console with an age specified as 0. Because the qualification includes an age component, the records are archived at the greater age in the qualification and at the age specified in the console. By default, the age of the archived records are not entirely controlled from the console. To resolve this issue, you can adjust the definitions so that the age of records is not added in the qualifier.
Associations to follow
The form definition includes a list of associations that is followed when an entry on the form is archived. The associated records in other forms are archived with the original entry in a single transaction so that a parent and all of its related child records can be archived together. For more information about understanding associations, see Associations-overview.
Indirect associations with Many to Many cardinality cannot be followed for archiving. Even if you select those associations, they will be ignored during the archiving process.
Include in archive policy
The Include In Archive Policy flag indicates that an archive should be exposed in the Archive Manager console and its records are examined at the scheduled interval. Set the flag for definitions that describe the entries that will not be archived through associations from other entries.
If a form contains some records that are archived (because they are associated with other records) and others that are not associated, the form definition should include a qualifier that applies only to the unassociated records.
If records in a form are archived only because they are associated with other records, do not set the Include In Archive Policy flag.
When records in the form are archived because they are associated with other records, the qualification in the form’s archive definition is ignored.
Archive interval
Based on the single archive interval specified for all archives, the definition is removed and all archives in the policy form are archived at the same time. For more information, see Setting-a-global-archive-interval-for-forms.
Performing data operations with an AR_ARCHIVER user
The AR System has a special user called AR_ARCHIVER to perform data operations such as copying data to the Archive form and deleting data from the source form. If you run a filter log file, you can see this entry in the log file. The AR System also reserves an internal thread for archiving.