Defining Column Fill Parameters

Fill parameters determine how a column is filled or populated with test data. You can define column fill parameters when you assign a data profile to the column, or as an independent procedure.

You can define the following fill parameters:

Value	Description
Null values	Percentage of column entries containing a null value
Distinct values	Indication of the percentage of column rows that contain unique entries. This is a maximum value, and can change automatically depending on the referential integrity parameters of primary key columns. Alternately, a specific value can be entered, without a percentage sign, to indicate the exact number of column rows that contain unique entries.

Note:

The Average Length box is only used for the Estimate data base size function. The value that is displayed by default, is the maximum length for the data type defined for a selected column.

The following column properties are indicated on the Columns sheet:

Indicator	Property	When selected, indicates that...
M	Mandatory	Column must be assigned a value. The fill parameter Null value is automatically defined as 0%
U	Unique column	Column is the only column in a primary key, alternate key, or unique index. The fill parameters Null Values and Distinct Values are automatically defined as 0% and 100% respectively
F	Foreign	Column is a foreign key column. You cannot assign a data profile to this column. It automatically takes the data profile of the corresponding primary key column in the parent table

Select Model > Tables to open the List of Tables.
Double-click a table from the list to open its property sheet, and then click the Columns tab.
Double-click a column name to open its property sheet.
Select the Detail tab.
Select or type Column fill parameters.
Select a profile from the test data parameters dropdown list box.
Click OK in each dialog box.