Anatomy of a Document

Autoform DM stores documents as a combination of system data and user-defined key data.

The following diagram aims to provide a visual overview of the relationship between the document structure and other integral configuration elements.

For every stored document, the database holds a collection of associated values: these are separated into System Keys, which are predefined keys present for every document, and hold data such as the Document ID, Document Definition, etc.

The rest of the document data is stored within Metadata Keys: these are the user-defined keys holding business information, such as an account ID, customer name, etc. Any modifications to the document data are captured as historical revisions allowing previous versions of the document data to be retrieved at any time.

Metadata Keys are defined in such a way as to make them reusable across multiple discrete document types, allowing a common key such as Account ID to be used wherever it is appropriate. These Metadata Keys are 'bound' (linked) to a Document Definition. During the creation of a document, a Document Definition is then set as a System Key, both setting the type of document being created and allowing that document to utilize and populate any of the keys referenced through the definition.

The binary data for an accompanying file for a document is stored within the Document Archive. The storage location is determined by the associated Archive Path set for that document.