Customizing › Schema Customization

Schema Customization

You can use the Web Screen Painter Schema Designer to modify the flexible database schema of CA Service Desk Manager to meet your needs. The Schema Designer provides an easy-to-use graphical user interface to review and modify the CA Service Desk Manager schema. The Web Screen Painter also allows you to test your schema changes on your own web forms before updating the physical DBMS schema or affecting other users.

Here are the kinds of schema changes you can make and use in your own forms and reports:

• Add new tables to the database
• Add new columns to existing tables
• Make a column required
• Change a table or column display name or function group

Consider the following before using Web Screen Painter:

• You cannot use the Web Screen Painter to change the length of an existing column, and we strongly recommend that you do not use other tools to do so. Changes to the length of an existing column are not supported, and may cause other applications accessing the CA Service Desk Manager database to fail.

  Important! Do not shorten a field or delete an existing field, because these actions could cause CA Service Desk Manager to fail.

• Be careful when adding columns to an existing table, because you can inadvertently exceed the record length capacity of the underlying database. Check the specifications for the database that you are using with CA Service Desk Manager and make modifications within the limits of that database.
• Publishing changes to the database schema could require limited or considerable downtime, depending on the changes you make and the capabilities of your underlying database.
• If you are a new user of CA Service Desk Manager, it is easier to make all of your changes during testing instead of waiting until you are in production.
• Review general procedures you must complete before and after changing the database schema.
• Use specific procedures to customize your schema. Most of these procedures are followed by an example of a change you might want to make to the standard database schema.

Important! The Web Screen Painter verifies that the first letter of a new table or column name is “z”, and inserts a “z” if necessary. This verification helps ensure that your user-defined field names do not conflict with field names used by CA Service Desk Manager, now or in future releases.