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Posted to issues@fineract.apache.org by "Aman-Mittal (via GitHub)" <gi...@apache.org> on 2026/08/08 18:49:01 UTC

[I] Data table columns cannot be marked unique or indexed, so every custom-field lookup is a full table scan [fineract-backoffice-ui]

Aman-Mittal opened a new issue, #281:
URL: https://github.com/apache/fineract-backoffice-ui/issues/281

## Business value

A data table is how an institution adds its own fields to clients, loans and savings accounts — a national ID, a branch-specific reference, a survey answer. Two properties decide whether those fields are usable at scale, and neither can be set from the UI.

`src/app/features/system/data-tables/datatables-form.component.ts` binds four column properties — `name`, `type`, `length`/`code`, and `mandatory` (`:183-190`). The request model supports six. From `src/app/api/model/postColumnHeaderData.ts`:

```ts
export interface PostColumnHeaderData {
code?: string;
indexed?: boolean; // ← not bound
length?: number;
mandatory?: boolean;
name: string;
type: string;
unique?: boolean; // ← not bound
}
```

The read side is equally ready — `ResultsetColumnHeaderData` returns `isColumnIndexed` and `isColumnUnique`, and `loadDatatableData()` (`:330-336`) currently drops both on the floor.

What that costs:

- **No index.** Fineract indexes the foreign key automatically, but a custom column gets nothing. A "find the client with this national ID" query becomes a full scan of the data table. On a few hundred rows nobody notices; on a few hundred thousand, the screen that uses it becomes unusable, and the only remedy is a hand-written `ALTER TABLE` against production by someone with database access.
- **No unique constraint.** Nothing stops two clients being registered against the same national ID. Duplicate-identity prevention is exactly what a field like that exists for, and the constraint has to be declared when the column is created — the platform will not add it retroactively once duplicates are already in the table.

Both are one checkbox each. The gap is only in the form.

## Reproducing it

```
grep -n "unique\|indexed" src/app/features/system/data-tables/datatables-form.component.ts # nothing
grep -n "unique\|indexed" src/app/api/model/postColumnHeaderData.ts # both present
```

## Describing the change

Two checkboxes in the column row next to the existing `mandatory` one (`:181-190`), bound to `column.unique` and `column.indexed`. The form's signal is already typed `PostDataTablesRequest` (`:303`), so the properties are there and type-check without any model change.

Three small pieces:

1. **The template** — add to the `.column-checkboxes` block. Note the grid at `:256` is `grid-template-columns: 2fr 1.5fr 1.5fr 1fr auto`; two more checkboxes in the existing cell will need the widths looking at, which is the only fiddly part of this issue.
2. **`addColumn()` (`:341`)** — seed `unique: false, indexed: false` so a new row starts defined rather than `undefined`.
3. **`loadDatatableData()` (`:330`)** — read them back:
```ts
unique: col.isColumnUnique,
indexed: col.isColumnIndexed,
```
Without this the edit screen shows every existing column as neither unique nor indexed, which is worse than not showing it at all.

Two i18n keys under `SYSTEM.*`, alongside `SYSTEM.MANDATORY`. `npm run i18n:check` is a CI gate and will catch a missing one.

**One thing to be careful about.** Every field in this form is `[disabled]="isEditMode"`, because Fineract only permits narrow kinds of change to an existing table. Follow that — the new checkboxes should be disabled in edit mode too. Declaring a column unique *after* rows exist is not something the platform will honour, and a control that looks editable but silently does nothing is worse than a disabled one. Read them back for display; do not make them editable.

## Testing

The platform's own acceptance tests specify this behaviour precisely. From `fineract-e2e-tests-runner/src/test/resources/features/Datatables.feature` in `apache/fineract` (`develop`):

**Read C3008 carefully — it is the interesting case.** The column is submitted `Unique: true, Indexed: false` and comes back `Unique: true, Indexed: true`. The platform indexes a unique column implicitly. So a round-trip test that asserts "what I sent is what I get back" will fail on a correct implementation, and the edit screen will legitimately show `indexed` ticked for a column the user never ticked it on. Do not "fix" that.

What to write:

- **A unit spec** on the form asserting the submitted body carries `unique` and `indexed` per column, and that `loadDatatableData()` maps `isColumnUnique`/`isColumnIndexed` back onto the signal. There is no spec file for this component yet.
- **A mocked e2e** that fills a column, ticks both boxes, and asserts the intercepted `POST /datatables` body — the `Probe` pattern in `e2e/client-servicing-gaps.spec.ts` is the model.

For ticking an `ion-checkbox` inside a form, and especially for any `ion-select`, use the helpers in `e2e/utils/` rather than clicking directly — `select-in-dialog.ts` documents at length why the obvious approach fails against Ionic overlays.

## Scope

In scope: the two checkboxes, seeding them, reading them back, and the i18n keys.

Out of scope: making the edit screen genuinely editable (it currently disables everything and PUTs an unchanged body — a real gap, but a separate and much larger one), and the datatable query/filter screen.

## Getting started

- Form: `src/app/features/system/data-tables/datatables-form.component.ts`
- Request model: `src/app/api/model/postColumnHeaderData.ts`
- Response model: `src/app/api/model/resultsetColumnHeaderData.ts`
- `npm test`, `npm run lint:prune`, `npm run i18n:check` and `npm run build` must pass.
- Do not edit anything under `src/app/api` — it is generated, and a CI job fails if it drifts from the spec.

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Re: [I] Data table columns cannot be marked unique or indexed, so every custom-field lookup is a full table scan [fineract-backoffice-ui]

Posted by "Aman-Mittal (via GitHub)" <gi...@apache.org>.

Aman-Mittal closed issue #281: Data table columns cannot be marked unique or indexed, so every custom-field lookup is a full table scan
URL: https://github.com/apache/fineract-backoffice-ui/issues/281


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