Defining the Basic Attributes

List of Basic Attributes

• Type
• Name
• Policy
• Vault
• Owner

These basic attribute fields display on the create page in the above order. If you configure any of these fields explicitly as described in Form Fields, then those fields will display in the order in which you configured them. If you explicitly configure all of the basic attributes, then none of the generic fields display at the top of the create page.

If you explicitly configure any of these fields, you cannot use the Update Program and Update Function settings for those fields.

See Parameters Supported by emxCreate.jsp and Settings Supported by emxCreate.jsp for more details about the parameters and settings used to configure fields for the create page.

Type Field

To define the type of object being created, you can configure the page to create a specific type, or to allow the user to select the type of object to create.

To define a specific type of object:

• Pass a single value to the type parameter, such as type=type_Part
• Set typeChooser=false

If you pass multiple types but set the typeChooser to false, the first type passed in is used to create the object. When the typeChooser is false, Type is a read-only field.

If you set the typeChooser to true, then the browse button displays after the type field. When clicked, the typeChooser displays all passed types and their subtypes. The default type will be the first type passed into the create form.

You can restrict the user to a specific set of types. To do so:

• Pass a comma-separated list of types, using symbolic names
• set typeChooser=false

The type field is displayed as a combo box listing the passed-in types.

You can also explicitly configure a Type field in the form. Then, if you pass a type parameter, that type is the default value for the field; if you do not pass a type parameter, no value is entered in the field until the user enters it. When you configure a field, the type chooser is the one you configure.

You can configure the Type field as a combo box using a Range Program or Range Function setting. The Range Program/Function returns the list of types to populate the combo box. If you also pass a type parameter, that value is used as the default, otherwise the first type returned from the Range Program/Function is the default.

See the guidelines in Form Fields for more information on configured fields.

In all cases, the type chooser does not permit the user to select an abstract type, and does not show hidden types.

Name Field

The Name field supports these formats:

• autoName
• keyin (default)
• both

The autoName and Both options use an eService Number Generator object configured for the type of object being created. To select the eService Number Generator object, the system first searches on the specified type. If none are found, the system continues to search up the type hierarchy until one is found, and if none are found, uses the global name generator.

When nameField=keyin, the page shows a textbox for the name field and the user must type the name.

When nameField= autoName, then the create component checks whether or not an eService Number Generator object has been configured for the Type being created. The number of generator objects found determines how the Type field appears.

When using nameField=both, you can also provide a value for the autoNameChecked URL parameter. When autoNameChecked=true, the Autoname checkbox is already checked when the create form opens. When set to false (the default value), the checkbox is not selected when the create form opens.

When nameField=both, the page shows a type field for text entry and an autoName check box. If the user does not select the check box, the text entered in the text box is used to name the object. If the user selects the check box, then the create component uses this logic to name the object being created:

To display the name field in a different location, configure at as described in Configuring Automatic Business Object Naming, and use the values described above (autoName, keyin, or both).

Policy Field

If the type of object being created is governed by only one policy, then this field is not shown to the user and the governing policy is automatically used. If you want to show the field to the user anyway, configure the field as normal for a web form to show the policy in read-only mode. See the description of the Editable setting in Settings for Fields in Web Form Objects for instructions.

If the type of object can be governed by more than one policy, then the policy field shows as a drop-down list with the policy names. To choose a default policy, pass the policy parameter with the default policy name to the emxCreate.jsp page. If no policy is passed, then the drop-down defaults to the first policy in the list. The list only contains policies for which the context user has create access.

Vault Field

To configure the vault field on the create page, you have these options:

• No vault field
• Use the default vault chooser (emxVaultChooser.jsp)
• Explicitly configure a vault field

When the vaultChooser parameter is not passed, the field is not shown on the page and the create page uses the context user's default vault.

When vaultChooser=true, the page shows the ellipsis button that accesses the vault chooser. If a vault parameter is passed, that value is used as the default vault. If no vault parameter is passed, the context user's default vault is used as the default vault.

If you pass a vault name as a URL parameter and set vaultChooser=false, the specified vault shows as a read-only field.

You can also explicitly define the vault field to show the context user's default vault as a read-only value. Or, you can define the vault field as a drop-down list and use a range program to populate the list. See Implementing Range Helpers for Choosers or Custom Pages for more information.

Owner Field

Normally, the owner field does not display and the context user is used as the value for this field. If the owner of the object needs to be a user other than the context user, you can pass the owner parameter to the create page and that value shows as read-only.

If the user needs to select an owner, you must configure the Owner field to use the person chooser. In this case, the page uses the value passed by the owner parameter as the initial value for this field, or, if no value is passed, it uses the context user.

See Implementing Range Helpers for Choosers or Custom Pages for instructions on configuring the person chooser.