Templates

A template decides what a kind of record holds. Tenvara comes with seven, and administrators can change them or add their own for anything else you document per customer.

Open Docs and choose Templates.

Each card shows the template's description, how many fields it has and how many records use it.

The built-in templates#

Built-in templates are marked Built in. You can change them to suit you in the same way as your own.

Adding a template#

1. On Templates, press New template.
2. Choose an Icon and enter a Name.
3. Enter a Description. It is shown when people choose what to document, so say what goes in it.
4. Add fields (below).
5. Press Add template, or Cmd+S.

Editing a template#

Click a template to open it. The banner at the top tells you how many records use it.

Fields#

Press Add field to add one. For each field:

1. Enter the Field name, for example "Management URL".
2. Choose its Type.
3. Optionally add Help text, shown under the field when someone fills in a record.
4. To start a new headed part of the form, enter a heading in Starts a section, for example "Firewall".
5. Tick Required if a record cannot be saved without it.

Use the arrows to move a field up or down, and the cross to remove it.

The field types are:

Rules that protect existing records#

Templates can change while records use them, so Tenvara keeps a few rules to avoid losing data:

• A field's key never changes. Each field gets a key made from its name when it is first saved (shown in small type under the field). Renaming the field later does not change the key, so records keep their values.
• Types are fixed once records use them. If a field or column is in use, its type stays. Add a new field if you need a different type. The same goes for what a Link field links to.
• New fields start empty on existing records.
• Removing a field removes what records held in it straight away: values, links and secrets. Each secret deleted this way is written to the vault audit log.

Warning: Removing a field cannot be undone. If records use it, check you really want to lose those values first, especially for Secret fields.

Records are always shown as the template is now. Values of fields the template no longer has are not shown.

Tips for good templates#

• Keep one template per kind of thing, and one record per instance: one Network record per site rather than one for the whole customer.
• Use Secret for anything sensitive instead of text, so it is encrypted and every look is logged.
• Use Link to a credential rather than repeating a password in a record. The credential then shows the record under Used by.
• Use sections to keep long templates readable, as the built-in Network template does with Addressing, Firewall and Internet connection.