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Items

What are items?​

An item is an instance of a design. The design (and any interfaces it implements) defines a set of attributes that collectively describe a type of thing, such as an asset or activity. An item represents one set of values for those attributes.

If you're familiar with conventional databases, you can think of a design as the schema that defines the columns of a table, with each item of the design being a row of values.

Continuing our toy example, the item illustrated below is a particular instance of the Minifigure design, with a value set for each colour attribute (Head, Body, Hands, Legs). It represents an actual configuration of the minifigure.

alt text
Note

You can't create an item directly from an interface. However, an item of a design can also be considered an item of any interfaces implemented by the design.

Item ID​

Every item has a unique identifier known as an Item ID, e.g. 6006bf7b3159a30066ab2754. This lets you reference a specific item in various situations, such as performing an AQS query or defining a report data source.

Details

Item IDs are a long alphanumeric code:

5f6b9c0e8163400065eae35f

The system features provided with Alloy (e.g. designs, interfaces, groups, workflows) are identified by an alphabetical code:

designs_teamMembers
designInterfaces_defects
userGroups_workflowManagers

Custom features created by your organisation are a combination - an alphabetic code suffixed with an alphanumeric code:

designs_bollardType3_5caf1493ff5c130f70760bd4
workflows_updateMeteoSensor_5ec51ec29effd8005682cd00

Title and subtitle​

Every item has Title and Subtitle attributes, which are defined by the item's design. They act as primary and secondary labels that determine how the item looks in Alloy. For example, asset items typically display their unit number and design name.

These make it easier to identify and search for items, as remembering Item IDs can be tricky 😅.

Items of the Street Lights design

Geometry​

Every item has a Geometry attribute that can store coordinate data. The item's design defines which types of geometry can be stored (e.g. point, line, polygon) and whether its optional or required.

To learn more, see Editing item geometry in Alloy Web.

An item with polygon geometry

An item can have any number of Link attributes (as defined by its design), which can store references to other items. The item containing the Link attribute is considered the parent and any stored items are its children.

This means you can link items together to represent their relationships in the real world. For example, you can:

  • link an asset item to constituent component items

  • link an asset item to related activity items

  • link related activity items, such as an inspection arising from a defect

With the power of AQS, you can perform queries that fetch qualifying items and their attribute data, plus attribute data from their linked items, plus attribute data from their linked items, and so on!

File attachments​

Some items have an Attachments Link attribute that can store references to uploaded files. When viewing an item, you can easily upload and attach new files from your device. Image attachments can be previewed directly in Alloy and are a great way to record an asset's condition or the results of a completed task!

To learn more, see Item attachments in Alloy Web.

An photo attachment of a street light asset

Item graphs​

You can visualise an item's relationships by viewing them as graphs. Each graph type displays the hierarchy of items referenced by each Link attribute of that type on the item, e.g. the Components graph shows the contents of Link attributes that have their Graph property set to "Component".

To learn more, see Item graphs in Alloy Web.

An example item graph

Context​

Every item has a Context property to indicates its origin. If set to Customer, it was created by your organisation and can be edited freely. Otherwise, it's a protected system item.

System items are included with Alloy to provide core functionality and help you get started, e.g. eight items of the Task Statuses design are included. While system items can't be edited or deleted, they can be extended with extra attributes, and you can customise their icon/colour.

Details

The possible context types are:

  • Core - the item is provided with Alloy and required for system functionality, so it can't be deleted. You can only edit the item's Colour and Icon properties, along with the values of any custom attributes that your organisation has added to the item's design.

  • Module - the item belongs to an optional module that was installed. Same restrictions as Core items.

  • Package - the item was created by our system architects as part of a custom solution for your organisation. Same restrictions as Core items.

  • Customer - the item was created by your organisation. Therefore, you can freely edit or delete it, providing your user account has permission to do so.

Note

Some modules provide Customer context items as pre-made examples, e.g. the Grounds module contains thousands of Species items. They aren't essential to the module's functionality, so you're free to use, modify or discard them.

Canvas views​

When viewing an item's details in the Alloy Apps, what you see depends on the current item canvas view. This determines which data sections are displayed and in what order.

Multiple item canvas views can be created for any design/interface. When viewing an item of that design/interface, users can switch views according to their preference or circumstance, e.g. a comprehensive view for desktops, a concise view for mobile devices.

Using permissions, you can control who has access to individual canvas views. This provides a way to limit the data and features available to certain user groups or roles, e.g. an external contractor view that only displays sections relevant to them.

To learn more, see Item canvas in the Designer app.