Data Tables

Data Tables are a powerful feature providing a fully managed hosted database to your inbound telephony services. The Data Tables can be opened in Service Designer and is accessed from the Manage -> Data Tables toolbar menu option. To use this feature your account must be granted permission using the Accounts section by your Service Provider. There are four Service Designer nodes that provide data access operations to Data Table records from within your Services. These are the Select Record, Update Record, Insert Record and Delete Record nodes. The Data Table nodes use Custom Service Variables to read and write the records in the Data Tables. There is no limit to the number of Data Tables you can create in your account but there is a storage limit of 100,000 records per Data Table. The Data Table records can also be fully managed using the Data Table manager which is available in the Service Designer. There is an import function to allow you to import existing data from a CSV file and Data Table records can be exported to a file formatted as CSV or JSON. The Data Table manager also allows you to manually create new records as well as editing and deleting individual records.

Key Field

When creating a Data Table it is not necessary to define all the required fields that you need, only a Key Field needs to be defined. The Key Field is used to sort and index the Data Table records and is also used to uniquely identify each individual record. This field is the equivalent to a primary key in a relational database. The Key Field name can not be changed once the Data Table has been created and records with duplicate values in the Key Field are not permitted. Data Table records are flexible in that they do not need to contain the same field names defined for each record. Records can be inserted with a different number of fields and/or field names for each record. Only the Key Field must always exist in each record. Data Table records are stored on on the platform in the JSON data format. It is not necessary to understand the JSON data format to use the Data Table feature but if you want to gain a better understanding, further information can be found here. The Data Table node operations are all based on the Key Field. For example, the Select Record node will search the Data Table for a record where the Key Field has a value that matches a 'Lookup Value' you provide in the settings for that node.

Data Table Manager

The Data Table manager can be accessed by selecting the 'Data Tables' item from the Manage drop down menu in Service Designer:-

The Data Table manager is shown below:-

The Data Table manager allows you to create and manage your Data Tables as well as the records contained within them. There are filter options available to allow you to quickly find individual Data Tables. Checking the 'Include Sub Accounts' option will show the Data Tables that have been created by your sub accounts.

The records contained within your sub account Data Tables are private therefore it is not possible for a parent account to view or manage these records. Only the account owner has access to the Data Table records.

Adding a New Data Table

Press the [New Data Table] button to create a new Data Table and you will get the popup shown below:-

Read Only

A Data Table can be configured to be ‘Read Only’. The read only option only restricts the Data Table nodes from making changes to the Data Table records. The Data Table Record Manager can still be used to create and modify records even when the read only option has been enabled. Pressing the [Save] button will create a new Data Table in your account and is available for immediate use by the Data Table nodes. Although the Data Table will initially be empty (no records), the Insert Record node could be used to add new records to the Data Table. To manually create and modify records in your Data Tables, see Managing Data Table Records.

Data Table Manager Context Menu

Pressing the menu button in the Data Table Manager menu column will reveal a drop down menu showing the available options for a selected Data Table. The options are contextual so only certain options will be displayed based on your permissions or the usage of the Data Table.

• Manage Records Allows Data Table records to be created, updated and deleted. There are options to import and export data in bulk. This menu option will only be shown if your account role is an Administrator and the Data Table belongs to your account and not a Sub Account. See Managing Data Table Records or Import/Export Data Table Records for more information.
• Delete Table Delete an existing Data Table from your account. The delete option is only available if the Data Table has not been used in your Services. This menu option will only be shown if your account role is an Administrator and the Data Table belongs to your account and not a Sub Account. To ensure this is not done by mistake you are requested to enter the Data Table name before the Data Table can be deleted. WARNING - DOING SO WILL PERMANENTLY DELETE THE TABLE AND ITS RECORDS

• Update Table Allows the Data Table Name, Description and Read Only settings to be updated. It is not possible to change the Key Field Name. If you need to change the Key Field Name you would need to delete the Data Table and create a new Data Table with the updated Key Field Name. This menu option will only be shown if your account role is an Administrator and the Data Table belongs to your account and not a Sub Account.

• View Usage The 'Usage' column in the Data Table Manager shows the total number of nodes that are using the Data Table within your Services. This option shows you a list of Services where the Data Table is being used. This menu option will not be shown if the Data Table has not been used within your Services.