Common Properties

The following properties are available for most 'Place&Valid for' combinations:

• Label

  If defined in the properties files, the Label (text) which will be displayed on the button (or in the menu) which invokes the action is shown here. Otherwise, the Label ID is shown here (the same Label can be used for different actions whilst Label ID must be unique).

• Label ID

  Label ID is the action's unique key. This key serves as action identifier for the 'Translations of Application Text' functionality which is used to provide translations of GUI elements functionally related to the action (buttons, tooltips, etc.). See topic 'Columns in the Table of Actions' for examples.

• Workflow Definition

  The name of the workflow that will be triggered by this action.

  Note: If a workflow is triggered by an action, the rights to run the workflow itself are not specifically checked at runtime.

• Icon

  An action can be assigned an icon. This is done directly in the 'Icon' column.

  1. Left-click in the 'Icon' field. A drop down list of available icons gets displayed.
  2. Select an icon and press 'Enter' to finalize the process and leave the edit mode.
• Button Style

  Select the style of the button: Plain icon, button with text only or a button with both the text and the icon.

• Object Type

  The object type with which the action can be used. If no type is selected, the action is a general action which can be used for all object types.

• Button

  Determines if a button for the action will be displayed in the window where the action is available.

  Note: Not available for 'Place=Sidebar'

• Pop-up

  Determines if the action will be available as a right-click context menu item.

  Note: An action must be selected for at least one of the options Button / Menu / Pop-up to be available from the GUI. Usually all actions are available from the menu so this option should be checked for all actions. Actions which are performed more often should be available using the pop-up context menu or buttons.

• Action Hot Key

  The keyboard shortcut calling the action as defined in the Actions dialog.

• Hot Key

  Defines a specific Hot Key (shortcut) for the action. This Hot Key is valid only within the context the action is valid for. When defined, the "primary" Action Hot Key does not work in the specified context. To define the Hot Key, proceed as described in topic 'Columns in the Table of Actions'.

• GUI Rule

  GUI rules determine the availability of the action in the GUI on the basis of a given condition. GUI rule is used in the following situations:

  1) In lists where items can be selected, some actions may be relevant only if certain selections have been made.

  Valid entries for Catalog and Relation are:

  • GroupSelected

    The catalog has to be switched to Group View.

  • GroupViewSwitchEnabled

    The Switch Group/Normal View menu item has to be active.

  • MoreThanOne

    More than one line must be selected. Some actions require more than one line e.g. Mass Move in the System Catalog.

  • NoSelection

    This action can only run if no selection has been made.

  • OneorMore

    One line or more should be selected for many multiselect actions e.g. Print operations.

  • OnlyOne

    Certain actions are restricted to one line only e.g. Delete is usually carried out for one line in a catalog at a time.

  2) In the Object Editor it can be relevant to know whether the user has made any changes in the data:

  • Modified

    The user has altered the data e.g. enable the Save button.

  • NotModified

    An action should only be enabled if the user has not changed any data.

• Default

  If enabled, the action becomes the default action, i.e. action called by double-clicking an object. For example, standard default action in catalogs and sidebars is 'Edit', 'Select' is the default action for a catalog in the select mode.

  Note that in One Cell Reference View, selecting the default action also determines the default action on the main button (the other actions being grouped and available in the drop-down menu only).

• Target Object Rule

  References a Valuemation rule (of Rule Type = 'Action Object') which is used to determine the availability of the action.

  For example, if a relation in a reference catalog of an editor points to 'Person' object type, the selected 'Action Object' rule can limit the availability of the action e.g. to persons belonging to a certain department.

• Reuse Transaction
• Commitable

  'Reuse Transaction' and 'Commitable' determine how closely functionally interconnected are an action and the editor in which the action is used. For example, if an action called from the editor of object A results in modification of object B, should these changes of object B be saved as soon as the action is performed or only after object A is saved?

  Please see topic 'Reuse Transaction and Commitable' for detailed explanation.

• Tree

  Determine whether the action will be available in the tree mode.

• On Relation

  It applies to the tree mode: determine whether the action will be available from the context menu of the relation tree mode.

• Async. Run

  Async. Run runs an action in a separate thread. By default actions are performed in the same thread as the dialog, which means that the user interface is blocked for additional work until the action has finished. Async. Run is suitable for actions which take a long time to process (e.g. complex calculations) and thus can benefit from being executed in the background.

• GUID

  GUID (Global Unique Identifier) is a generated, unique number identifying the action. This is important for actions import/export.

• Hide Controls

  Select this check box to keep the action assignment but hide the action from the GUI (menu, context menu, buttons).

  Not available for 'Place = Sidebar'.