• Auditing Level
• Conditional Formatting
• Lookup Display Column
• Lookup to a Custom SQL Query
• Include Row Selection Checkboxes
• URL Display Columns
• Filtered Lookups
• Multi-value Foreign Keys (Lookups)
• Other Examples

Auditing Level

Set the level of detail recorded in the audit log. The example below sets auditing to "DETAILED" on the Physical Exam table.

<tables xmlns="http://labkey.org/data/xml">
  <table tableName="Physical Exam" tableDbType="NOT_IN_DB">
    <auditLogging>DETAILED</auditLogging>
    <columns>  
       ...
    </columns>
  </table>
</tables>

Conditional Formatting

The following adds a yellow background color to any cells showing a value greater than 72.

<tables xmlns="http://labkey.org/data/xml">
   <table tableName="Physical Exam" tableDbType="NOT_IN_DB">
      <columns>
         <column columnName="Pulse">
            <columnTitle>Pulse</columnTitle>
            <conditionalFormats>
               <conditionalFormat>
                  <filters>
                     <filter operator="gt" value="72" />
                  </filters>
                  <backgroundColor>FFFF00</backgroundColor>
               </conditionalFormat>
            </conditionalFormats>
         </column>
   </table>
</tables>

Query Metadata on Physical Exam

<tables xmlns="http://labkey.org/data/xml">
  <table tableName="Physical Exam" tableDbType="NOT_IN_DB">
    <columns>
      <column columnName="BMI" wrappedColumnName="lsid">
        <fk>
          <fkDbSchema>study</fkDbSchema>
          <fkTable>BMI Query</fkTable>
          <fkColumnName>LSID</fkColumnName>
        </fk>
      </column>
    </columns>
  </table>
</tables>

Now that Physical Exam is linked to BMI Query via the lookup/foreign key, all of the columns in BMI Query are made available to the grid customization GUI:

Lookup Display Column

The following example shows how to specify an alternate display column for a lookup field.

<tables xmlns="http://labkey.org/data/xml">
  <table tableName="Demographics" tableDbType="NOT_IN_DB">
    <columns>
      <column columnName="Gender">
        <columnTitle>Gender Code</columnTitle>
        <fk>
          <fkDisplayColumnName>GenderCode</fkDisplayColumnName>
          <fkTable>Genders</fkTable>
          <fkDbSchema>lists</fkDbSchema>
        </fk>
      </column>
    </columns>
  </table>
</tables>

Lookup to a Custom SQL Query

If you want to lookup to a SQL Query that you have written, first annotate a column in the query as the primary key field, for example:

<tables xmlns="http://labkey.org/data/xml">
  <table tableName="MyQuery" tableDbType="NOT_IN_DB">
    <columns>
      <column columnName="MyIdColumn">
        <isKeyField>true</isKeyField>
      </column>
    </columns>
  </table>
</tables>

Include Row Selection Checkboxes

To include row selection checkboxes in a query, include this:

<tables xmlns="http://labkey.org/data/xml">
  <table tableName="Demographics" tableDbType="NOT_IN_DB">
    <columns>
      <column columnName="RowId">
        <isKeyField>true</isKeyField>
      </column>
    </columns>
  </table>
</tables>

URL Display Columns

Using query metadata provided in a module, you can display images with optional custom thumbnails in a data grid.

For example, if you have a store of PNG images and want to display them in a grid, you can put them in a fixed location and refer to them from the grid by URL. The column type in the grid would be a text string, but the grid would display the image. Further, you could provide separate custom thumbnails instead of the miniature version LabKey would generate by default.

The module code would use a displayColumnFactory similar to this example, where the properties are defined below.

<column columnName="image"> 
    <displayColumnFactory>
        <className>org.labkey.api.data.URLDisplayColumn$Factory</className>
        <properties>
            <property name="thumbnailImageWidth">55px</property>
            <property name="thumbnailImageUrl">_webdav/my%20studies/%40files/${image}</property>
            <property name="popupImageUrl">_webdav/my%20studies/%40files/${popup}</property>
            <property name="popupImageWidth">250px</property>
        </properties>
    </displayColumnFactory>
    <url>/labkey/_webdav/my%20studies/%40files/${popup}</url>
      </column>

Properties available in a displayColumnFactory:

• thumbnailImageUrl (optional) - The URL string expression for the image that will be displayed inline in the grid. If the string expression evaluates to null, the column URL will be used instead. Defaults to the column URL.
• thumbnailImageWidth (optional) - The size of the image that will be displayed in the grid. If the property is present but the value is empty (or “native”), no css scaling will be applied to the image. Defaults to “32px”.
• thumbnailImageHeight (optional) - The image height
• popupImageHeight (optional) - The image height
• popupImageUrl (optional) - The URL string expression for the popup image that is displayed on mouse over. If not provided, the thumbnail image URL will be used if the thumbnail image is not displayed at native resolution, otherwise the column URL will be used.
• popupImageWidth (optional) - The size of the popup image that will be displayed. If the property is present but the value is empty (or “native”), no css scaling will be applied to the image. Defaults to “300px”.

Filtered Lookups

If you want to filter a lookup column during an insert or update operation, you can do so using XML metadata.

For example, consider a list of instruments shared across many departments, each one associated with a specific type of assay (such as elispot) and marked as either in use or not. If your department wants an input form to draw from this shared list, but avoid having an endless menu of irrelevant instruments, you can limit insert choices for an "Instrument" column to only those for the 'elispot' assay that are currently in use by using a filterGroup:

<column columnName="Instrument">
  <fk>
    <fkColumnName>key</fkColumnName>
    <fkTable>sharedInstrumentList</fkTable>
    <fkDbSchema>lists</fkDbSchema>
    <filters>
      <filterGroup>
        <filter column="assay" value="elispot" operator="eq"/>
        <filter column="inuse" value="true" operator="eq"/>
      </filterGroup>
    </filters>
  </fk>
</column>

In the above example, the same filter is applied to both insert and update. If you wanted to have different behavior for these two operations, you could separate them like this:

<column columnName="Instrument">
  <fk>
    <fkColumnName>key</fkColumnName>
    <fkTable>sharedInstrumentList</fkTable>
    <fkDbSchema>lists</fkDbSchema>
    <filters>
      <filterGroup operation="insert">
        <filter column="assay" value="elispot" operator="eq"/>
        <filter column="inuse" value="true" operator="eq"/>
      </filterGroup>
      <filterGroup operation="update">
        <filter column="inuse" value="true" operator="eq"/>
      </filterGroup>
    </filters>
  </fk>
</column>

Filter groups like this can be applied to a list, dataset, or any other table that can accept an XML metadata override.

Multi-Value Foreign Keys (Lookups)

LabKey has basic support for multi-value foreign keys. The multi-valued column renders as a comma separated list in the grid and as a JSON array when using the client API. To set up a multi-value foreign key you need a source table, a junction table, and a target value table. The junction table needs to have a foreign key pointing at the source table and another pointing at the target value table.

For example, you can create a Reagent DataClass table as the source, a ReagentSpecies List as the junction table, and a Species List as the lookup target table. Once the tables have been created, edit the metadata XML of the source table to add a new wrapped column over the primary key of the source table and create a lookup that targets the junction table. The wrapped column has a foreign key with these characteristics:

1. Annotated as multi-valued (<fkMultiValued>junction</fkMultiValued>).
2. Points to the junction table's column with a foreign key back to the source table (fkColumnName).
3. Indicates which foreign key of the junction table should be followed to the target value table (fkJunctionLookup).
4. This example shows the wrappedColumnName "Key", which is the default used for a list. If you are wrapping a column in a DataClass, the wrappedColumnName will be "RowId".

<tables xmlns="http://labkey.org/data/xml">
  <table tableName="Book" tableDbType="NOT_IN_DB">
    <columns>
      <column columnName="Authors" wrappedColumnName="Key"> 
        <isHidden>false</isHidden>
        <isUserEditable>true</isUserEditable>
        <shownInInsertView>true</shownInInsertView>
        <shownInUpdateView>true</shownInUpdateView>
        <fk>
          <fkDbSchema>lists</fkDbSchema>
          <fkTable>BookAuthorJunction</fkTable>
          <fkColumnName>BookId</fkColumnName>
          <fkMultiValued>junction</fkMultiValued>
          <fkJunctionLookup>AuthorId</fkJunctionLookup>
        </fk>
      </column>
    </columns>
  </table>
</tables>

When viewing the multi-value foreign key in the grid, the values will be separated by commas. When using the query APIs such as LABKEY.Query.selectRows, set requiredVersion to 16.2 or greater:

LABKEY.Query.selectRows({
  schemaName: 'lists',
  queryName: 'Book',
  requiredVersion: 17.1
});

The response format will indicate the lookup is multi-valued in the metaData section and render the values as a JSON array. The example below has been trimmed for brevity:

{
  "schemaName" : [ "lists" ],
  "queryName" : "Book",
  "metaData" : {
    "id" : "Key",
    "fields" : [ {
      "fieldKey" : [ "Key" ]
    }, {
      "fieldKey" : [ "Name" ]
    }, {
      "fieldKey" : [ "Authors" ],
      "lookup" : {
        "keyColumn" : "Key",
        "displayColumn" : "AuthorId/Name",
        "junctionLookup" : "AuthorId",
        "queryName" : "Author",
        "schemaName" : [ "lists" ],
        "multiValued" : "junction"
      }
    } ]
  },
  "rows" : [ {
    "data" : {
      "Key" : { "value" : 1 },
      "Authors" : [ {
        "value" : 1, "displayValue" : "Terry Pratchett"
       }, {
        "value" : 2, "displayValue" : "Neil Gaiman"
       } ],
      "Name" : { "value" : "Good Omens" }
    }
  }, {
    "data" : {
      "Key" : { "value" : 2 },
      "Authors" : [ {
        "value" : 3, "displayValue" : "Stephen King"
      }, {
        "value" : 4, "displayValue" : "Peter Straub"
      } ],
      "Name" : { "value" : "The Talisman" }
    }
  } ],
  "rowCount" : 2
}

There are some limitations of the multi-value foreign keys, however. Inserts, updates, and deletes must be performed on the junction table separately from the insert into either the source or target table. In future versions of LabKey Server, it may be possible to perform an insert on the source table with a list of values and have the junction table populated for you. Another limitation is that lookups on the target value are not supported. For example, if the Author had a lookup column named "Nationality", you will not be able to traverse the Book.Author.Nationality lookup.

Other Examples

• kinship.query.xml
• Disables the standard insert, update, and delete buttons/links with the empty <insertUrl /> and other tags.
• Configures lookups on a couple of columns and hides the RowId column in some views.
• Adds a custom button "More Actions" with a child menu item "Limit To Animals In Selection" that calls a JavaScript method provided in a referenced .js file.
• Data.query.xml
• Configures columns with custom formatting for some numeric columns, and color coding for the QCFlag column.
• Adds multiple menu options under the "More Actions" button at the end of the button bar.
• Formulations.query.xml
• Sends users to custom URLs for the insert, update, and grid views.
• Retains some of the default buttons on the grid, and adds a "Delete Formulations" button between the "Paging" and "Print" buttons.
• encounter_participants.query.xml
• AssignmentOverlaps.query.xml
• Aliquots.query.xml & performCellSort.html
• Adds a button to the Sample Types web part. When the user selects samples and clicks the button, the page performCallSort.html is shown, where the user can review the selected records before exporting the records to an Excel file.
• To use this sample, place Aliquots.query.xml in a module's ./resources/queries/Samples directory. Rename Aliquots.query.xml it to match your sample type's name. Edit the tableName attribute in the Aliquots.query.xml to match your sample type's name. Replace the MODULE_NAME placeholder with the name of your module. Place the HTML file in your module's ./resources/views directory. Edit the queryName config parameter to match the sample type's name.

Related Topics

• Query Metadata
• Override Column Metadata with SQL Annotations
• Query Metadata XML Reference