Naming Conventions for Tables (DACs) and Columns (Fields)

General Naming Conventions

When you are assigning names to tables, DACs, columns, and fields and developing naming conventions, you should consider the following suggestions:

• Make sure that table and column names are valid C# identifiers, because these names match the names of the DACs and their fields that you declare in the application. Do not start a table or column name with a digit.
• Do not use the underscore symbol (_) in a table or column name, because it is a reserved symbol in MYOB Acumatica Framework. For example, TenantType is a valid column name, while Tenant_Type is invalid.
• Use a singular noun for a table name. Typically, a table is mapped to a data access class that represents the entity. For instance, the SOShipment table contains data records that represent instances of the SOShipment entity.
  Note: MYOB Acumatica Framework generates SQL statements with table and column names in the letter case (that is, uppercase or lowercase) in which the corresponding data access classes and fields are declared in the application. Also, the Customization Project Editor produces data access class declarations in the same letter case as is used for the tables and columns in the database schema.
• Use two prefixes in each table name: a two-letter prefix that represents the functional area, and then a two-letter application module prefix. The prefix for the functional area may represent an area that exists in MYOB Acumatica (such as AR, CR, or IN) or may be a prefix that you have introduced for a custom functional area. For example, the RSSVAppointment table can be used for a custom functional area called Repair Services (which corresponds to the RS prefix) in the Services (SV) module. These prefixes help you to distinguish your application tables from MYOB Acumatica tables and tables of other vendors if you create an add-on project or extension library.
• If you add a column to an MYOB Acumatica table, start the column name with the Usr prefix so that the column will be preserved during upgrades. For instance, you could use UsrColumn. In your own application tables, you do not need to start column names with any prefixes.
• Be sure that custom indexes for MYOB Acumatica tables start with the Usr prefix so that the indexes will be preserved during upgrades.
• Be sure that the length of a DAC name, including all namespaces, does not exceed 255 symbols.
• Use only English letters for DAC names.

Column and Field Naming Conventions

We recommend that you use the following suffixes in column names and the corresponding field names:

• ID for surrogate keys, including database identity columns, such as CustomerID
• CD for natural keys, such as CustomerCD
• Nbr for numbering identifiers, such as OrderNbr
• Price for prices, such as UnitPrice
• Cost for costs, such as UnitCost
• Amt for amounts, such as FreightAmt
• Total for totals, such as OrderTotal
• Qty, QtyMin, and QtyMax for quantities, such as OrderQty
• Date for dates, such as OrderDate
• Time for time points and time spans, such as BillableTime
• Pct for percentages, such as DiscountPct

Reserved Prefixes for Column and Field Names

Certain prefixes for column and field names are forbidden because they are reserved for identity key fields. For example, the use of the Company prefix for a column name, which should be used only for a column that represents an identity key field (such as CompanyID and CompanyMask, as described in the following section). This means that you cannot have any other column with the Company prefix in your table.

Reserved Column and Field Names