Control form
Completing the Control tab

Field

Description

• Editable/Read-only if you want to configure the associated property for both edit and read-only modes. The options appear in the Basics, Format, Options, and Behaviors areas under Editable and Read-Only column headings. You can configure the following UI Elements:
  • Text Input
  • Text Area
  • Date Picker
  • Check Box
  • Radio Buttons
  • Dropdown
  • Autocomplete
  • Rich Text Editor
• Read-Only if you want a control that always appears as non-editable text. The Editable column does not appear.
• Action to set the UI Element to Button, Icon, or Link. Only one column of settings appears, which applies to both editable and read-only control modes as defined in other parameter settings in this form.

Note: The Control Modes field does not appear in the Parameters dialog when customizing the control in a section.

Field

Description

Note: You cannot edit the UI Element field in the Parameters dialog.

Field

Description

Optional. Enter a value that determines the minimum and maximum number of characters that can be entered in the text field or text area. You can designate either value as unlimited by leaving it blank.

Appears if the UI Element is Text Area and you specify Max Chars.

Determines whether a count of remaining characters displays at runtime. The counter decrements as the user types. Once the character limit is reached, additional characters are not accepted.

Placeholder

The text disappears when the user enters a value. If no value is entered, the placeholder text reappears when the field loses focus. You can style Placeholder Text in the Skin.

Enter a positive integer that is a pixel count, a percentage of the cell area, or a number of columns (Text Area only). In the pull-down list to the right of this field, select the unit of measure:

• px — pixels
• % — percentage
• columns — number of columns

Appears if the UI Element is Text Area or Rich Text Area.

Appears when you select Customin the Specify Height field for Text Area or Rich Text Area.

Enter a positive integer that is a pixel count or number of rows. In the pull-down list to the right of this field, select the unit of measure. To ensure uniform text area heights within a layout, do not mix row and pixel settings.

Select to display a scrollbar to the right of the area if the content exceeds the number of rows or pixels.

Enter a positive integer that is a pixel count or number of rows. In the pull-down list to the right of this field, select the unit of measure.

Select one of the following:

Appears when the UI Element is Date Picker.

Enables date and time selections in the Calendar control. Select one of the following:

As a best practice, use the non-auto options only with DateTime properties or dates stored as valid text strings. Using an option that is unsuitable for the property type may present an incorrect read value at run-time. For example, enabling the Date option for a TimeOfDay property will not display a result.

Determines the presentation of the control to the user. Select either:

Appears when the UI element is Date Picker and the Display Mode is Text Input + Calendar.

Click Yes (default) to enable the user to enter a text value in the field. Click No to prevent text entry.

Appears when the UI Element is Date Picker and the Display Mode is Dropdown Lists.

Click Yes to display a calendar icon with the drop-down lists in the field. This enables the user to use the lists or the pop-up calendar to pick dates and times. No is the default.

Required. Appears when the UI Element is Date Picker and the Display Mode is Dropdowns.

Enter a numerical value indicating the date range (in years) in the Year drop-down list. The list contains an equal number of years forward and backwards from the current year. For example, if the current year is 2011, a value of 10 displays a range of 2007 to 2016 . If the value is an odd number, the odd date is counted as a future year. For instance, a value of 11 displays a range of 2007 to 2017.

Appears when the UI Element is Checkbox.

Enter text describing the purpose of the control. The user can click this text to select or deselect the check box.

Appears when the UI Element is Checkbox.

Select Left or Right to indicate where you want the caption text to appear in relation to the check box image.

Appears when the UI Element is Button (optional), or Link.

Enter text or select a property or field value that contains brief text, which appears on the button or as a text link.

Configuring labels

As a best practice, start the text with a verb. Consider the collection of controls that appear at runtime collectively; provide each control with a clear and distinctive label. For example, Cancel order.

To allow users to execute an action 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 item history with ALT + h. At runtime, the label appears with the shortcut key underscored, as in Visual Basic applications.

If you use shortcut keys in your application, be careful to choose distinct letters for each control; for example, 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.)

Localization

Use SmartPrompt to select a field value rule if you plan to localize the text. Enter no more than 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. When practical, choose a caption already included in a language pack, to simplify later localization. See About the Localization wizard.

Optional. Appears when Control Modes is Action or Editable/Read-Only (all UI Elements except Date Picker).

Select a property value or enter a constant that contains a sentence or phrase identifying to users the purpose and function of the control.

As a best practice, start the sentence with verb either in the imperative ("Enter price of item here") or as an infinitive ("To cancel the order, click here").

Note: When UI Element is Icon, the system enters a default value here based upon the value selected in the Icon field.

Localization

Use SmartPrompt to select a field value rule if you plan to localize the text. Enter no more than 64 characters. A field value rule with pyActionPrompt as the second key part and this text as the final key part is needed for each locale. When practical, choose a caption already included in a language pack, to simplify later localization. See About the Localization wizard.

Appears when the UI Element is Button or Link. Select a pre-defined format (Standard, Simple, Strong), which is configured in the Skin rule. The default selection is Standard. Use the Skin rule to modify the settings for these formats.

Alternatively, select Other to reference a custom format created in the Skin rule. A blank field appears when you select this option. Enter the format name.

Select the Privilege Name key part of a privilege rule that controls the availability of this control at runtime. During rule resolution at runtime, the system uses the Applies To key part of the current rule as the first key part.

If there is a privilege and a when rule (see Disabled field), both rules must evaluate to true for the button to be available to the user.

Appears when you enter a privilege. Select Hide or Disable (the button) if the user fails the privilege rule.

Optional. Appears when the UI Element is Button or Link.

Insert an icon next to the label by clicking the Show Image Viewer icon . This opens the Image Viewer. Select the binary file you wish to use.

If the button or link Format, for example, Standard, contains an image in the background, then that image overlays the image specified here. Button and link formats are defined in the Skin rule.

Appears when you enter an image in the Image field.

Select Left or Right to indicate where you want the image to appear in relation to the label.

Optional. Appears when the Control Mode is Action.

Select Yes if you want to apply a when condition that tests whether the user can use the control. If selected, the following options appear:

Appears when UI Element is Icon. Select a standard icon from the drop-down list. By default, the Blank icon is selected when pxIcon is entered in the Control field on the Cell Properties dialog.

If you specify a standard pxIcon variation such as pxIconPrint or pxIconReview, the system selects a standard icon for that rule. For example, if the control is pxIconAddItem, the Add Item icon is selected. See Section, and Flow Action forms — Adding an Icon Control for icon descriptions.

To use a custom icon, select Other.

Appears when you enter Other in the Icon field. Click the Show Image Viewer icon to open the Image Viewer. Select the binary file you wish to use.

As a best practice, use sprites rather than individual images for Icon controls.

Appears when the file you select in the Image field is defined as a sprite on the Binary File rule form. See Binary File — Completing the Main tab.

The numbers in the drop-down reflect the number of columns in the sprite. Select the number you wish to use for this control's action. The value in the Tooltip field applies to this position.

For information about icon positions, hover the mouse pointer on the help icon next to this field.

Field

Description

Select a format (read-only) used with this property. Your selection filters the format options.

Appears if Type is Text.

For read-only, select Yes if you want to display to the user the characters as a string of bullets.

For Editable (Text Input), select Yes if you want the characters entered by the user to appear as a string of bullets. The input characters are initially added to the clipboard as unencrypted, clear text values. The system computes the hashed value only as the page is committed to the PegaRULES database. Thereafter, the hashed value appears in both the clipboard and the database row.

Appears if Type is Number.

A non-negative integer to control the number of digits presented after the decimal place. The default is Auto, which displays a maximum of three decimal places (placeholder zeroes are not added). Select to remove all digits after the decimal point and round to the nearest integer. Select All to include all digits.

Appears if Type is Number.

Select a label indicating the scaling you wish to apply to the number. The scales are K for thousands, M for millions, B for billions, and T for trillions. For instance, if you select Thousands, a value of 20,000 appears as "20 K." If Percentage, the value appears as a percentage sign (.8 appears as "80%").

Appears if the Type is Number.

Select a format (minus sign or parenthesis) for displaying negative numbers.

You can also specify a CSS class if you select one of the Style Ref options. By default, the class name is NegativeNumber.

Appears if Type is Number. When a symbol is specified an additional character(s) is prepended to the value. Currency automatically uses the localized currency symbol, constant uses a string, and reference uses a property value.

Select an option for representing the number as

• Currency — Formats the number as a currency using the default locale.
• Constant — A text string or character (for example, "%") ASCII character that you enter.
• Reference — A property value.

Appears if Type is Number.

Select to use a thousands' separator. Depending upon the default locale, a comma or period is used.

Appears if Type is Number.

Select left, right, or center alignment.

Appears if Type is Text and the control is not obfuscated.

Select a property or constant that you want to add either before or after the displayed property value. For example, when the user name appears, the system can automatically append the full mail extension to the name or prepend the user's title.

Appears if Type is Date/Time or Date.

Select one of the following:

• A DateTime format (for example: 1/1/01 1:00 AM), or a Date format (for example: 1/1/01). Both the DD/MM/YYYY and MM/DD/YYYY formats can be selected from the Date format drop-down control. The number of characters displayed is the same regardless of the date inputted (for example, 1/1/2014 displays as 01/01/2014).
  You can also create a custom date when using either of these formats. For example, entering EEE, MMM D, YY H:MM A in the "Custom" field displays as Sat, May 1, '99 2:00 PM.
• The elapsed time format (2 days, 5 hours ago or 2d, 5h ago). The system displays the value calculated as the difference between the current system date/time and the date/time value of the property. For example:

Current = 3/21/2011

Property value of 3/20/2011 = 1 day ago

Property value of 3/22/2011 = 1 day from now

The units of measure are minutes, hours, days, and years. If greater than 59 minutes, the value is represented in two units (unless the difference is exactly one unit). For example:

1 hour, 10 minutes

2 days, 20 hours

1 month, 4 days

1 year, 3 months

If less than a minute, the value is displayed as "less than a minute ago" (or from now). For the 2d, 5h ago date/time format, the past and future indications such as ago or from now can be excluded from the time stamp by selecting the Do not display past or future text check box.

To calculate months and days, the system uses today's numerical day in the previous month(s). For example, if today is March 21, one month ago was February 21, not one month, six days ago.

If the property is a Date type or the format is Date, minutes are excluded.

Use a custom display by selecting "Custom" from the format drop-down list. Enter the appropriate symbols in the field to the right of the drop-down menu to customize the format. For example, if you enter:

EEE, MMM d, yy h:mm a

it will display as:

Sat, May 1, '99 2:00 PM

Note that symbols are case-sensitive. Common symbols include:

• y - the year number

• M - the month in a year (text or number)
• d - the day number in a month
• E - the day name in a week
• Y - the year
• H - the hour in the day (0-23)
• h - the hour in AM/PM (1-12)
• m - the minute number in an hour
• s - the second number in a minute
• a - indicates AM or PM

Additionally, the number of symbols used determines the display format (when applicable):

Consult the online Java tutorial on SimpleDateFormat for a complete list of custom symbols.

Appears if DateTime Format is 2 days, 5 hours ago (elapsed time).

Enter a numerical value for the first unit, which determines when the second unit is truncated in the display. When the first unit number reaches or exceeds this value, the second unit does not appear.

For instance, if you set the cutoff value to 5, here is how these dates and times will appear to the user:

1 hour, 45 minutes ago
2 hours, 45 minutes ago
3 hours, 45 minutes ago
4 hours, 45 minutes ago
5 hours
6 hours
etc.

Enter a value of 0 to always display a single unit.

Appears if the Type is True/False.

Enter a text string to label either outcome. Used with a boolean type.

If the Localize? check box is selected on the section's HTML tab, a SmartPromptAppears in the Constant field in the Parameters dialog. Select a field value rule if you plan to localize the text. If this text is to be localized. enter no more than 64 characters. A field value rule with pyCaption as the second key part and this text as the final key part is needed for each locale.

Check this option to display validation errors to users at runtime. When enabled for auto-generated controls in read-only mode, if the control's validation fails, the validation message displays to the user. This option is available in the Presentation tab under Read-only Format. It is also available in the control ruleform. When enabled on the control ruleform, all controls using that ruleform will have the option enabled. Show validation messages in read-only mode is disabled by default.