The Insertion Rule dialog box exists to construct new Insertion rules. Insertion rules are designed to create new data rows by populating a single column with realistic looking data.

The choice of the inserted data is configurable by associating a Data Set with the rule. A variety of Data Sets are available to provide a wide range of realistic looking data. An Insertion rule will create new rows by inserting into a single specified column. This implies that the remaining columns in the table will contain NULL values. Typically further Substitution rules are used to populate the remaining columns in the table.

General information on Masking Rules can be found in the About Data Masker Rules help file. Detailed information on Insertion rules (what they are, how and when they can be used) can be found in the About Insertion Rules help file.

The Data Masker New Insertion Rule Dialog Box

Insertion rules do use options. Options are associated with the rule when it is created and can be adjusted at any time using the Options panel on the Set Rules tab.

The available options for Insertion rules are discussed in detail in the following help files.

Data Set Options

Choose the replacement data from amongst a wide selection of pre-packaged values.

Insertion Options

This option configures the number of rows the Insertion rule will create in the table.

UserDef Proc Options

Call a User Defined (and written) Procedure with the substitution data instead of the standard internally generated Data Masker Procedure.

How to Create a New Insertion Rule

The panel on the top left hand side of the dialog box lists all of the tables in the schemas that the Data Masker application currently knows about. If the required table is not present in the list then the schema information will probably need to be refreshed again. Use the "Refresh Schema Information from DB" button on the Misc Setup tab to reload this information.

Note:A right mouse button click on any table name will cause a small menu to appear offering the option to see the columns, foreign keys and indexes for a particular table.

To use the New Insertion Rule dialog box, select the table which contains the column on which you wish to perform the insertion operation. Once a table has been selected, the columns for that table will appear in the top right hand Table Columns list view. Choose the column to be inserted and the information will be summarized (as shown in the image above) in the bottom right hand panel area.

Beside the Column Name field is an icon containing a large letter I. A green icon indicates that the column present is used in an index, a red icon indicates that the column is not used in an index. Insertion rules on columns used in a Unique or Primary Key or in a Foreign Key will require that the constraint to be dropped before the Insertion rule can be executed.

Rule options can be configured using the panel on the bottom left hand side of the dialog box. Detailed information on these options can be found on the About Insertion Rules and the About Rule Options help pages.

To save the Insertion rule click on the Save Insertion Rule button with the mouse.

At this point the construction of the rule is complete. A new rule can be added by selecting a new table (or column). Pressing the Done button will close the New Insertion Rule dialog box.