Control form
Completing the Control tab

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The settings in this tab appear when the Auto-Generated? checkbox on the HTML tab is selected. The Control tab offers an array of settings that govern how the control appears to the user and the actions the user can perform. The settings in this tab enable you to format editable and read-only values and pick from a set of pre-configured actions.

When you save a section or harness that contains the control, the system generates the control's HTML text. As you design the interface, you can use the control's parameter dialog (which emulates the Control tab layout) to change many of these settings without altering the underlying rule. When customized, the system generates the HTML according to the original settings and the ones you edited in the dialog.

As of V6.1 sp2, Process Commander provides a set of standard auto-generated control rules. See Standard auto-generated control rules for V6.1 SP2. Where applicable, use these controls in new development. Auto-generated controls offer these benefits:

• Eliminate hand-coding, which simplifies design and maintenance.
• Enable you to customize a control in a section or harness without having to make multiple copies and reconfigurations.
• Preserve custom settings when you upgrade your system.
• Eliminate inline JavaScript, which reduces cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities and improves performance.
• Ensure browser independence and compatibility.

As a best practice, copy or customize (see below) the standard auto-generated controls. These rules and their settings are optimized for most interfaces. If necessary, advanced users can create controls as non-auto-generated rules.

Customizing a control in a section

In most cases, use a standard control rule in your applications. You can configure a copy so that it represents how it will be presented in most sections or harnesses. For special cases, you can customize a control within the context of the section that contains it. These edits do not update the underlying rule.

Do the following to customize an auto-generated control in a section:

1. Open the section or harness that contains the control.
2. Select the cell containing the auto-generated control and open its Cell Properties panel.
3. In the panel, select the magnifying glass icon () next to the Control field. This displays the control Parameters dialog, which contains most of the settings in the underlying rule's Control tab. You cannot edit the Control Type, Control Modes, and UI Element settings.
4. Modify as necessary. To immediately render your changes, click OK in the dialog. If satisfactory, save the section. This creates a custom variation of your control. Your edits update the control's HTML in the section. The underlying rule is not updated.
5. If you update the underlying control rule settings, open the section and save it. This updates the control's HTML in the section (rule updates do not apply to settings that have been customized).

When you create a custom control in a section and you update a setting using the Parameters dialog, you cannot update the same setting in the rule. For example, if the Expand Options setting in the rule is Collapsed With Icon and you have customized the control's setting to Expanded With Icon, updating the rule setting to No Scrollbar does not change the custom setting. However, an update to a setting in a control rule that has not been customized updates the control in the section. For instance, the No Scrollbar update in the rule is reflected in the section's control if the Expand Options setting had not been customized.

You must manually update customized control settings if you wish to synchronize your rule edits. If you wish to revert to the underlying rule settings, delete the customized control and replace it with the rule.

Control tab settings

These following selections determine which settings are available in the Basics, Options, Format, and Behaviors areas.

The default settings in standard auto-generated controls represent how a control will likely be used in your interface design. If you copy the control and edit it, as a best practice, do not change the Control Type, Control Modes, and UI Element settings.

Field	Description
Control Type	The selection represents a property type category only and does not restrict the settings to that type only. Number xxxxxxxxxxxx Text xxxxxxxxxxxx. This is the default. Action xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Control Modes	Select one of the following: Editable/Read-only if you want to configure the control for both display and for input. The settings appear in sections under Editable and Read-Only column headings. Read-Only if you want to configure the control for display only. the settings under the Read-Only column. This option does not appear if the Control Type is Action, which is defaulted to read-only.

Basics

Field	Description
UI Element	xxxxxxxxxxxx Group/Selection Description Text Input   Text Area xxxxxxxxxxxx Text xxxxxxxxxxxx Button xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Hidden xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Value	xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Group/Selection Description Value of associated property When you add the control to a section or harness, this is the property or field value in the Properties field in the control's Cell Properties panel. In Editable mode, this setting is the default and cannot be changed. In Read-Only mode, select this or one of the two following options. Value of a different property Enter a property different from the one Constant A text string that you enter. xxxxxxxxxxHow does this work?

Options

Field	Description
Specify Size	Group/Selection Description Auto Select if you want the layout to determine the height or width of the control area. This is the default. Custom Select if you want to specify these values.
Min/Max Chars	Appears if the UI Element is Text Input. Optional. Enter a value that determines the minimum and maximum number of characters that can be entered in the text field. You can designate either value as unlimited by leaving it blank.
Width	Appears if the UI Element is Text Area or Text Input and you select Custom. Enter a positive integer that is either a pixel count or a percentage. Define the unit of measure by the selecting in the pull-down list to the right of this field. Select px if you want to specify the value in pixels. Select % if you want to specify the value as a percentage of the cell area.xxxxxxxxxxx
Height	Appears if the UI Element is Text Area and you select Custom. Enter a positive integer that is a pixel count or a percentage. Define the unit of measure by the selecting in the pull-down list to the right of this field. Select px if you want to specify the value in pixels. Select % if you want to specify the value as a percentage of the cell area.xxxxxxxxxxx
Expand Options	Appears if the UI Element is Text Area. Select one of the following: Group/Selection Description Auto Expanding Text area automatically expands to the dimensions of the layout . Collapsed With Icon The text area is initially presented in display-only mode, with only a few characters visible. The user clicks the Expand icon () to expand the area. Expand No Icon The text area is initially presented in expanded mode at a size determined by the Width and Height settings. The user cannot collapse the text area. Expand With Icon The text area is initially presented in expanded mode at a size determined by the Width and Height settings. The user clicks the Collapse icon () to collapse the text area. No Scrollbar Expanded, no scrollbar.
Label	Enter brief text that is to appear on the button. As a best practice, start the text with a verb. Consider the collection of buttons that appear at runtime collectively; provide button each with a clear and distinctive label. For example, Cancel order. To allow users to execute the button activity using a shortcut key combination, include an ampersand character (&) immediately before a letter in the caption text. At runtime, users can press the ALT key and the letter key together to execute the activity. For example, enter &History as a caption text to allow users to access work object history with ALT + h. At runtime, the button label appears with the shortcut key underscored, as in Visual Basic applications. 5.2 11/27/06 GROVS BUG-1703 If you use shortcut keys in your application, be careful to choose distinct letters for each button; you can't have ALT + c as the label for both the Contents button and Close button. (To include an ampersand in a label as text, follow the ampersand by a space character.) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxStill true in Control tab?(If this text is to be localized, click the pencil icon () to review or create the field value rule supporting localization.) Proj-212 Optionally, if this button is within 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 button caption, 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. Proj-1424 When you plan to localize the application that includes this rule, so the application can support users in various languages or locales, choose the text carefully and limit text length to 64 characters. A field value rule with pyButtonLabel as the second key part and this text as the final key part is needed for each locale. You can define a shortcut key in each language by including an ampersand character before a letter in the Localized Label field. When practical, choose a caption already included in a language pack, to simplify later localization. See About the Localization wizard.
Tooltip	Optional. Enter a sentence or phrase identifying to users the purpose and function of the button. As a best practice, start the ToolTip text for an input field with a verb; for example, Cancel the order. If this text is to be localized. enter no more than 64 characters. Click the pencil icon to review or create the field value rule supporting localization. As a best practice, start the ToolTip text for an input field with a verb; for example, "Click to cancel the order." If this text is to be localized. enter no more than 64 characters. Click the pencil icon to review or create the field value rule supporting localization.
Image	Select one of the following: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Format

The options in this section are only for Editable/Read-Only control mode.

Field	Description
Type	xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Group/Selection Description None xxxxxxxxxxxx Text xxxxxxxxxxxx Number xxxxxxxxxxxx Date/Time xxxxxxxxxxxx True/False xxxxxxxxxxxx
Obfuscated	Appears if the Type is Text. Select Yes if you want the text characters to appear as a series of dots to the user. This option is typically used in password fields. Is The text is not encrypted on the database?. The default is No.
Decimal Places	Appears if the Type is Number. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Scale	Appears if the Type is Number. xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Negative Format	Appears if the Type is Number. xxxxxxxxxxxx
Symbol	Appears if the Type is Number. xxxxxxxxxxxx
Separators	Appears if the Type is Number. xxxxxxxxxxx
Auto Prepend Auto Append	Appears if the Type is Text and the control is not obfuscated. xxxxxxxxx
DateTime Format	Appears if the Type is Date/Time. xxxxxxxxxxxxx
True Label False Label	Appear if the Type is True/False. xxxxxxxxxx

Behaviors

Three factors determine control behavior:

• Event — An action performed by the user such as click, hover, or change.
• Action — An action performed by the system as a result of the user event. For example, clicking a button may save, cancel, or update a work object.
• Conditions — Restrictions that can be applied to the event or action. For example, hovering over a field displays a tool tip only if the field contains a property value.

The Behaviors area contains a grid layout in the Editable and Read-Only columns. To define the control's behavior, click the add row icon . This opens the Behavior dialog, which contains an area for each of the above factors. The dialog contains the following fields and options ( the system filters the options based upon the selected UI Element and Event):

Field	Description
Behavior	Select to indicate what the user must do to invoke the action.
Event	Group/Selection Description Hover Hover the mouse over the control. Text Input, Text Area, and Text. xxxxxxxx Focus Select or click the control. Text Area and Text Input.xxxxxxxxxxxx Change Text Area and Text Input.xxxxxxxxxxxx Included? Click Click a button control. Used to invoke actions as described in the Action section below. Button.
Action	Click Select... to display an action menu organized into the following categories:
Process Work	xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Group/Selection Description Add New Work xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Cancel xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Contents xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Enable Action Section xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Explore xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Finish Assignment xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Review xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Save xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Show Flow Location xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Show Re-Open Screen xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Update xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx View Attachments xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx View History xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Get Work	xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Group/Selection Description Creat Work xxxxxxxxxx Get Next Work xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Open Assignment xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Open Work by Handle xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Open Work Item xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Re-Open Work Item xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Handle List Items	xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Group/Selection Description Add Child xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Add Item xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Delete Item xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Open Local Action xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Open Selected Item xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Display	xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Group/Selection Description Change Style xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Expand/Collapse xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Print xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Show SmartInfo xxxxxxxxxxxxx Spellcheck xxxxxxxxxxx Set Style xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Launch	xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Group/Selection Description Harness xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Landing Page xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx List View xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Local Action xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Report Definition xxxxxxxxxxxx Wizard xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Advanced	xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Group/Selection Description Open Rule xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Open Rule By Name xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Open Rule By Keys xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Conditions	xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
When	xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Group/Selection Description   xxxxxxxxxxxxx   xxxxxxxxxxxx Click xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

About Control rules