Getting Familiar with the View Designer

The View Designer allows the user to design a View using fields and methods of an existing SmartObject or design a View using out of the box controls. The View Designer Layout screen contains the following sections as indicated in the image below:

  1. Design Canvas - Blank space where the View will be designed.
  2. Toolbar - The toolbar provides various functions for use on the canvas.
  3. Fields, Methods and Controls - The View Designer allows the user to drop these three components onto the canvas to design a View.
  4. Properties and Rules - The properties of the controls and Rules applicable to the View or controls. These can be edited.

The user can drag and drop fields and methods of an existing SmartObject and/or out of the box controls onto the canvas.

 The following toolbar options are available when selecting a control:

Feature Icon Description
Create Labels and Controls Creates Labels and Controls using the selected data source
Create Layout Table Only Clears the canvas and inserts a table with the specified number of columns and rows
Clear Canvas Clears the canvas
Unbind Control Unbinds the Control from the current Field
Fit Control to Cell Fits the control to the cell, i.e. removes the width setting
Change Control Changes the control of the field
Control Expression Opens the Calculation Expression Form. Adds an expression to the control. More than one expression can be added
Edit Styles Opens the Style Builder

When designing a View and clicking on the Create Labels and Controls toolbar button, the View that was designed will be lost and the View will reset to the selection on the Settings step. To preserve the already designed View, Save or Finish the View. The Create Labels and Controls button can then be executed and if not satisfied with the results, Cancel to revert back to the saved version.

 The following toolbar options are available when selecting a cell:

Feature Icon Description
Create Labels and Controls Creates Labels and Controls using the selected data source
Create Layout Table Only  Clears the canvas and inserts a table with the specified number of columns and rows
Clear Canvas Clears the canvas
Insert Row Above Inserts a row above the current cell
Insert Row Below  Inserts a row below the current cell
Insert Column to the Left  Inserts a column to the left of the current cell
Insert Column to the Right  Inserts a column to the right of the current cell
Merge Cell to the Right  Merges the current cell with the one on the right 
Merge Cell Below  Merges the current cell with the one below 
Clear Cell  Clears the cell
Clear Row  Clears the row
Remove Column  Removes the column
Remove Row  Removes the row
Left Align  Aligns the content of the cell to the left
Center Align  Aligns the content of the cell in the center
Right Align  Aligns the content of the cell to the right
Top Align  Aligns the content of the cell to the top
Middle Align  Aligns the content of the cell in the middle
Bottom Align  Aligns the content of the cell to the bottom

The View Designer allows the user to drop three different components onto the canvas. These components can be found on the right hand side of the Designer.

  • Fields - The SmartObject properties are listed on the Fields tab and the associated data type is indicated with an icon. When you drag a field onto the canvas, the appropriate control based on the data type will display
  • Methods - The SmartObject methods are listed on the Methods tab and include only those methods that match the View type. For example, on an Item View, only the Scalar methods (i.e., methods that deal with a single record) will display, such as Load, Create, Update, or Delete
  • Controls - The Controls tab includes common user interface controls such as Buttons, Text boxes, Attachment controls, and so forth. These controls can either be bound to SmartObject properties (Fields), or they can be unbound controls

Each control has unique properties that can be configured. In addition, rules can be applied on these controls. See the Controls and Rules topics for more information.

The following generic properties can be found on some of the controls:

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