What can you view in the Data Dictionary?

Note: If you use a third-party tool to edit PolicyCenter configuration files, Guidewire recommends that you work with one that fully supports UTF-8 file encoding. If the editing tool does not handle UTF-8 characters correctly, it can create errors that you then see in the Guidewire Data Dictionary. This is not an issue with the Data Dictionary. It occurs only if the third-party tool cannot handle UTF-8 values correctly.

After you open the Data Dictionary (at PolicyCenter/build/dictionary/data/index.html), Guidewire presents you with multiple choices. You can choose to view either Data Entities, Data Entities (Database View), Data Entities (Migration View), or Typelists.

The standard, database, and migration views of data entities are similar but not identical. You use each for a different purpose. In general:

  • Use the standard view to view a full set of entities associated with the PolicyCenter application and the columns, typekeys, arrays, and foreign keys associated with each entity.
  • Use the database view to view all persistent, non-virtual entities associated with the PolicyCenter application and the persistent columns, typekeys, arrays, and foreign keys associated with each persistent entity.
  • Use the migration view to assist you in converting data from a legacy application. This view provides a subset of the information in the standard view of the application entities that is more useful for those working on the conversion of legacy data.
  • Use the typelists view to view all typelists associated with the PolicyCenter application and the typecodes associated with each typelist.

The migration view of the Data Dictionary

The standard Data Dictionary view separates out entity subtypes from the main entity supertype. In brief, a supertype relates to a subtype in a parent-child relationship. For example, if a Contact data entity is the supertype, then Person and Company are examples of its subtypes. Thus, an entity subtype inherits the characteristics of its supertype and adds individual variations particular to it.

This separation into supertype and subtype is not particularly useful for data conversion (the process of importing data into PolicyCenter from an external legacy application). Therefore, the migration view of the Data Dictionary differs from the standard view in the following respects:

  • The migration view displays subtype fields interspersed with supertype fields. For example:
    • fieldA
    • fieldB (only for subtype XYX)
    • fieldC (only for subtype DFG)
    • fieldD
  • The migration view does not show virtual fields or virtual arrays.
  • The migration view does not show non-loadable columns. For example, it does not show createUserID or createTime.
  • The migration view omits any non-persistent entities.
  • The migration view omits entities that are persistent but non-loadable. For example, Group is not loadable. Therefore, the migration view does not display it.