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Property definitions

Properties are the data fields that appear on entities in MatStream. Your administrator defines which properties are available in the workspace and assigns them to categories. Users fill in property values when creating and editing entities.

What a property definition controls

Setting What it controls
Name The label shown to users on the entity detail page
Data type The kind of value the property holds (text, number, date, etc.)
Required Whether users must fill in this property before saving
Searchable Whether this property is available as a filter criterion in Library search
Enabled Whether this property is active and visible

Data types

MatStream supports the following property data types:

Type Description Example
Text Short free-form text, up to 255 characters Manufacturer, Surface finish
Memo Long free-form text, no length limit Description, Notes, Comments
Number Numeric value, optionally linked to a unit of measure Mass, Length, Quantity
Date A calendar date Effective date, Expiry date
Boolean A yes/no toggle RoHS compliant, Approved for reuse
List A dropdown with a controlled list of allowed values Status, Category, Material

Choosing the right data type matters — it determines how the value is stored, validated, and displayed. A date field enforces a valid date format; a list field ensures users select from approved values rather than typing free text.

System properties

Some properties are marked as system properties. These are created automatically by MatStream and are available in every workspace. System properties cannot be deleted but can be assigned to categories like any other property.

Derived system properties

A second kind of system property is not stored at all — it is calculated when the entity is read. Stock figures are the clearest example: a purchase-order line's Ordered Qty, Received Qty and Line Total are summed from the stock ledger every time you look at the line, and cannot be typed into.

Which derived properties an entity has depends on its category's behaviour:

Behaviour Derived properties
Stock Line Ordered Qty, Received Qty, Reserved Qty, Shipped Qty, Unit Price, Line Total
Material Requirement Reserved Qty, Ordered Qty, Open Qty
Stock Location On Hand, Reserved, Available, On Order

These appear in the property browser and the column chooser like any other property, but are read-only.

System keys

Every system property has a stable system key — a short identifier such as RequiredQty or OnHandQty — used internally to find that property regardless of its display name or which workspace it is in.

A stored property definition can also carry a system key. That is how a normal, editable property becomes something the platform can locate reliably: Required Qty on a Material Requirement Line is an ordinary decimal property that a buyer can change, but it carries the system key RequiredQty so the procurement process knows where to write the quantity.

A system key must be unique across the workspace

A key can belong to a derived system property or to a stored property definition, never both. Two properties sharing a key will cause the column chooser to fail to open. If the column chooser reports an error mentioning a duplicate key, this is the cause — find the two properties sharing that key and clear it from one of them.

Managing property definitions

Navigate to Configuration → Property definitions to manage your workspace properties.

Creating a property

  1. Click New in the toolbar
  2. Enter a Name — this is the label users will see
  3. Select a Data type
  4. Set Required if users must fill in this field before saving
  5. Set Searchable if you want this property available as a filter in Library
  6. Click Save

Editing a property

Select a property and click Edit, or double-click it. You can change the name, required flag, and searchable flag. Changing the data type of an existing property is not supported — create a new property instead.

Deleting a property

Select a property and click Delete. A property that is assigned to one or more categories cannot be deleted until it is unassigned from all categories.

Warning

Deleting a property permanently removes it and all values stored against it across all entities. This action cannot be undone. Always verify a property is no longer needed before deleting it.

Assigning properties to categories

Defining a property makes it available in the workspace, but it does not appear on any entity until it is assigned to a category. Properties are assigned in the Properties tab of the category configuration.

For each property assigned to a category you can configure:

  • Sort order — the order in which the property appears on the entity detail page
  • Group — optionally group related properties under a heading
  • Read-only groups — restrict which user groups can edit this property

→ See Categories for details on assigning properties.

List values

When a property uses the List data type, you define the allowed values in the property definition. Users can only select from these values — they cannot type free text.

To manage list values, open the property definition and navigate to the Values tab. Add, reorder, or remove values as needed.

Note

Removing a list value does not affect entities that already have that value stored. Existing values are preserved but will appear as unrecognised if the value is removed from the list.

Base properties

When your workspace is created, MatStream seeds the following properties automatically:

Property Type Searchable
Description Memo Yes
Birth Date Date No
Comments Memo Yes

These are available immediately and can be assigned to any category.