Figure 0.1 Generic Values
Generic values are user entered data values, stored in a category that is assigned to one or more columns for the generation of Insert or Update SQL statements. For example, flag columns could have the generic values of 'Y' and 'N'. They can also be used for more specific values, for example, post codes within the city of Toronto, or status values for a bank loan. This is particularly useful for creating very realistic test data.
TurboData comes with a number of generic value categories such as Countries, First Names, Last Names and Cities. You can create generic value categories within TurboData, and add generic values to the category. All the values in one file are of the same data type. Assign the generic value category to a column from the Alternate Data Source for Generated Data dialog by pressing the Value Category push button. From then on the set of generic values saved in that category will be used to selected a generic value at random or in sequence by TurboData for column values in the generated Insert SQL statements.
Generic value categories are used to create a test bed of very realistic test data. For example, a Customer table has the columns; first name, last name, city, status, date of birth. A generic value category can be assigned to each of these columns. A value from each category will then be selected at random for each column each time the table is generated.
Select a category in the top grid to view it's values in the bottom grid.
The more values you add to a generic value category will greatly increase the variety of rows of test data that is generated.
