Use extensions with reference tables

You can define extensions for a reference table's set of reference codes. This allows each reference table to have a different definition of what the user-defined fields on the reference code represent.

For example, Aspen uses the REF-GRADE-LEVELS extension to define the user-defined field Numeric Grade Level for the Grade Levels reference table. By using an extension to define that field, the field is only seen when appropriate:

For the REF-GRADE-LEVELS extension, the Reference Code – Common table has FieldA005 defined as Numeric Grade Level, with the alias NumericGradeLevel.

The Grade Levels reference table is attached to that Extended Dictionary. As a result, when the Grade Levels reference table is in use, users see the field NumericGradeLevel instead of FieldA005:

You can create field sets for reference codes for a specified reference table. Doing so means that when you look at the codes for that table, you see fields appropriate for the table.

The Grade Levels reference table has a field set called Grade Levels that includes the Numeric Grade Level field defined in the Extended Dictionary:

The methods in Aspen that work with the Grade Levels reference table calculating a student’s grade level will use the NumericGradeLevel alias to find the field containing the numeric value of each reference code.

For custom procedures and reports, fields defined with these extensions can be programmatically accessed via the alias using the following method:

ReferenceCode.getFieldValueByAlias()

public Object getFieldValueByAlias(String fieldAlias)