The Properties dialog always shows properties for the active window or the active component within a window. The dialog has three main forms depending on the component involved.
Drawings, Images, Labels, Maps and Surfaces
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Name |
The name of the component. Cannot be changed in this dialog. |
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Description |
Any text description desired. |
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[Status info] |
Shows Local or Linked or Shared. For Shared components the dialog shows the Enterprise server involved and whether the component is cached or not cached. Shared status information is available only if Enterprise Edition is being used with components linked in from Enterprise servers. For Linked components, the [...] browse button shows the data source of a linked component, the link technology and the name of the rowset, if the component is linked from a table or query. |
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Precision |
Sets the location precision parameter. See the View - Properties - Precision topic. |
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Projection |
Projection in use. See Edit - Change Projection and Edit - Assign Projection topics to change the projection. The Properties dialog shortens the name of the coordinate system (projection) in use. To see the full definition of the coordinate system, use the Projection dialog. |
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Zooms |
Appears for components other than maps. Allows specification of zoom ranges , which are the zoom scales over which the component will appear or disappear when seen in maps. Click the […] button to the right of the Zooms caption to specify zoom ranges. |
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Use custom background color |
Background color for all components is set by default in the Tools - Options dialog. Each individual component can have its background color set to a custom color that overrides the system default. |
The Link / Share dialog accessed from the [...] browse button for linked or shared components will provide a summary of the link or share properties. This will show the status of a shared component and whether or not changes in a linked component will propagate back to the data source.
Queries
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Name |
The name of the component. Cannot be changed in this dialog. |
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Description |
Any text description desired. |
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[Status info] |
Shows Local or Shared, with additional status information if Shared showing the Enterprise server involved and whether the component is cached or not cached. Status information other than Local is available only if Enterprise Edition is being used with components linked in from Enterprise servers. |
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Use ANSI-compatible Syntax |
If checked, specifies usage of ANSI syntax in the SQL query. See the Queries and the SQL in Manifold System topics. |
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Use cache |
If not checked (default), will forcefully re-compute the query each time it is run. Check to caches results of table queries, such as SELECT and TRANSFORM, between invocations. See the Queries topic. |
All Other Components
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Name |
The name of the component. Cannot be changed in this dialog. |
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Description |
Any text description desired. |
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[Status info] |
Shows Local or Shared, with additional status information if Shared showing the Enterprise server involved and whether the component is cached or not cached. Status information other than Local is available only if Enterprise Edition is being used with components linked in from Enterprise servers. |
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Use custom background color |
Background color for all components is set by default in the Tools - Options dialog. Each individual component can have its background color set to a custom color that overrides the system default. |
Manifold SQL and ANSI Syntax Option
Manifold's SQL (used in Queries) is designed to be compatible with Microsoft SQL as implemented in the Microsoft "Jet" database engine. Manifold SQL is intended to be a superset of Jet SQL with features supporting ANSI SQL as well. SQL syntax as documented within the Microsoft Jet SQL Reference for Access 2000 is a practical approach to Manifold SQL.
In addition to being Microsoft-like, Manifold's SQL engine may be switched into an alternate mode where it parses SQL queries using pure ANSI syntax. To do so, open the query and in the View - Properties dialog check the Use ANSI-compatible syntax box.
When the ANSI option is turned off (the default), line comments start after an apostrophe (') or double dashes (--), the names of tables and columns can be enclosed in square brackets ([ ]) or backward apostrophes (`), strings are enclosed in quotes (") and times are enclosed in quotes (") or hashes (#).
When the ANSI option is turned on, line comments start after double dashes (--), the names of tables and columns can be enclosed in square brackets ([ ]) or quotes (") or backward apostrophes (`), strings are enclosed in apostrophes (') and times are enclosed in apostrophes (') or hashes (#).
Clearly, the safest course given that users might change the settings is to use double dashes (--) to mark line comments and to enclose the names of tables and columns in square brackets ([ ]) and to enclose times with hashes (#).. The main difference between having the ANSI option off or on is that with it off strings are enclosed in quotes (") and with the ANSI option on strings are enclosed in apostrophes (').