Using the Table Verify Feature

Table Verify allows you to check field values in the table for errors and anomalies. If any are found, a warning message displays.

The Table Verify feature is accessed via the Table Verify button in the Field List dialog. When you click this button, the Field List dialog displays an additional column named Table Verify, which displays errors, anomalies and warnings.

The Table Verify feature performs the following types of checks:

Rounding differences for numerics: An example of this is the Unit Price field below where one value in classic.prn has been modified to have three decimal places yet the precision specified for the field is two decimal places.
Data conversion errors while converting strings to numerics and dates: An example of this is the order number field below. The field is defined as numeric yet the current report includes return orders numbers that are alpha-numeric. An example of a date conversion error is for the field Report Date where the report has a date that is below the Monarch Classic minimum date.
Numeric out of bound(s) errors: An example of this is the Amount field below. One of the report values for this field has been modified to contain a huge number that is out of range for Monarch Classic.
Null values in database columns: Nulls are permitted in column values in many database formats. This is not an error as far as Monarch Classic is concerned, but the user may need to distinguish between null values from the database versus null values produced by Monarch Classic. The column will also specify whether database import options are being used to replace the null values.
Truncation of text: This check applies to fields from reports, databases, calculated fields, address blocks and lookup fields. Examples of this are creating a calculated field where the data length is too short or importing delimited text using a model where the data length is too short for the data in the file.
Loss of data due to insufficient date formatting: Dates in Monarch Classic can have both a date and time component. However, there are Monarch Classic date formats that display only the date or only the time component of a date field. In cases where the value is only the time component (the date component is 12/30/1899) or the value is only the date component (the time component is 12:00:00 AM), this is not a problem. This check highlights field values that contain a date and time component yet the format specifies either only date or only time.
Excessive field length: This is more advisory than the other types of checks, since no data is lost. It is used to highlight where data lengths may have been set very generously in the model and shows the maximum data length in the current data set, versus the defined data length. It can be useful to help reduce field sizes when the model contains a very large number of large fields and exceeds Monarch Classic’s internal record length limit.

Note: Once the Table Verify column is displayed, it remains as long as the Field List dialog is open. You may click the Table Verify button again to refresh the Table Verify column. This would be very useful if, for example, you changed the decimal precision for the Unit Price field above to 3. You would be able to see that the 8.991 value no longer causes rounding differences.

Verifying a table

Steps:

Select Field List from the Table Design ribbon.
Click the Table Verify button (located at the bottom of the list).
Select to verify the entire table or to stop verifying after n seconds.

A Table Verify column is added to the dialog. Note: You may have to enlarge the Field List dialog and scroll to the right to view the Table Verify column.