Harness, Section, and Flow Action forms

Show all

A cell in a layout can present the value of a property, as display-only or as an input field. Follow these instructions to control the presentation of a property value in a HTML TextArea, which provides multi-line input or display.

1. Drag and drop the TextArea control

Click the down-arrow () at the right end of the Basic control group () and select the TextArea control (). Drag the control to the cell or header that is to contain the property value. When the pointer changes shape to indicate that a single cell is selected, release the mouse button to drop the control.

If the cell is not empty, the dropped control replaces the current contents of the cell.

2. Complete the Cell properties panel — Top fields

Click the magnifying glass icon () to open the Cell Properties panel. Complete the top fields that appear.

If the panel is pinned (), the wireframe presentation on the rule form changes immediately to reflect of your inputs. If the panel is not pinned (), click Apply to apply your inputs.

Field

Description

(Appears only when this field is in a section included within the current open rule.) Click to open the section that immediately contains the field.

Property

Select or type a property reference that identifies a single text value. (If you are only prototyping a form and the property you want to reference is not yet defined, use the template property .pyTemplateTextArea.)

Alternatively, you can drag a property name from the lists of properties visible in the Application Explorer. Typically, this works for Single Value properties belonging to in the Applies to class of the current rule (or a higher class). If the container in which this field sits has a non-blank Using Page value, you can drag a Single Value property from within that embedded page property.

Click the pencil icon () to review the property rule (if the reference is to an existing property in the Applies To class of this rule or a parent of that class). If the property is not found, the New dialog box for the property form appears.

You can reference properties on any page identified on the Pages & Classes tab, using the normal notation pagename.propertyname for pages other than the page corresponding to the Applies To class of the rule.

If this field is in a cell of a section that includes parameter declarations on the Parameters tab, you can enter the notation param.NAME here, to use a parameter value for the field, where NAME identifies a string parameter. Make sure that the NAME parameter is declared on the Parameters tab, and that your application provides a non-blank value for the parameter value in all possible situations where the section appears. See Section rules — Completing the Parameter tab.

Display As

To present the field as a multiline textarea, use the standard HTML property rule TextArea. Click the magnifying glass icon ( ) to supply parameters for this rule:

Parameter	Description
`Rows`	Enter a positive integer to control the number of lines in the textarea.
`Columns`	Enter a positive integer to control the width of each line in characters.
`ExpandOptions`	Select: `ExpandedWithIcon` — The text area is initially presented in expanded mode at a size determined by the `Rows` and Columns parameters. The user clicks the Collapse control () to collapse the text area. `CollapsedWithIcon` — The text area is initially presented in display-only mode, with only a few characters visible. The user clicks the Expand control () to expand the area. `AutoExpanding` — Expands to match the value. `NoScrollBar` — Expanded, no scrollbar.
`ReadOnlySmartInfo`	Optional. Identify the Purpose key part of a section to present as a SmartInfo pop-up for this control when the field is read-only.
`ReadWriteSmartInfo`	Optional. Optional. Identify Purpose key part of a section to present as a SmartInfo pop-up for this control when the field is read-only.
`Width`	Enter a positive integer to control the width of the control in pixels.

Behavior

Optional. Leave blank if no dynamic form actions to other parts of the form are to occur based on user updates or values for this field.

To establish a dynamic form action, click the magnifying glass icon () to open the Client Event Editor in a new dialog window. Complete the Client Event Editor to select an event (OnBlur, OnChange, or OnClick) and the resulting form action.

Click the help icon ( ) on the Client Event Editor for assistance. For general information on this capability, see Implementing dynamic form actions and the Client Event Editor.

Client event support is not available for harness, section, or flow action rules that use directives.

3. Complete the Cell properties panel — General tab

Complete the General tab.

The General tab for a TextArea is identical to the General tab for an Input box. See Adding an Input Box — Complete the Cell Properties Panel — General tab.

4. Complete the Cell properties panel — Advanced tab

Complete the Advanced tab.

The Advanced tab for a TextArea is identical to the Advanced tab for an Input box. See Adding an Input Box — Complete the Cell Properties Panel — Advanced tab.

Copying, deleting, duplicating, or moving a TextArea

Use these Windows operations to speed development:

To reorder rows or columns within a layout, you can select and drag a single row or column using the dots above or to the left of the table; these act as handles.
To duplicate rows or columns within a layout, select by handle but also hold the Ctrl key. Release the Ctrl key to drop a duplicate row or column.
To move a cell containing a TextArea, hold down the SHIFT key, select the cell, drag and drop it in another cell, in the same one layout or another layout.
To cut, copy, or paste a TextArea in a cell, right-click in the cell to access a context-menu.

About Flow Action rules

About Harness rules

About Section rules

Harness, Section, and Flow Action forms Fields — Adding a TextArea

Field

Description

Parameter

Description

Harness, Section, and Flow Action forms
Fields — Adding a TextArea