You can add a section to a layout, a region, another section, or a cell in a layout.
Reusing sections achieves modularity, ensures a uniform appearance, and reduces the number of rules you need to maintain and update when you revise user forms or portals.
You can add a section in one of the following ways, as:
To embed a section in a layout cell:
- Click the Layout control group and select the Section control, and drag and drop the section onto the layout cell.
- Select a section from the Application Explorer. Drag and drop the rule onto a layout cell.
Section |
Select or confirm the section you want to include. You can specify an existing section or type a new section name and click the Open icon to create or open the section. A section include can be referenced by property. At runtime, the section referenced in the property is added at to the UI. Select By Property Reference from the dropdown menu to refer to an existing property for the section. |
Standard Parameters |
If standard parameters are:
Alternatively, you can select the Pass current parameter page to pass the current parameter page to the section. |
Page Context |
Select or confirm the page context for the section.
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Refresh Condition |
Optional: Enter a simple expression based on the comparison of a pair of constants, properties, or both, combined by Boolean operators. As a best practice, use the Condition Builder to edit expressions, or to trigger a refresh based on a property change or the addition or deletion of a row or column in a repeating layout. The editor also enables you to specify a pre-activity or data transform. Click the Gear icon to open the tool. See Using the Condition Builder to configure dynamic form actions. |
Visibility |
To control the visibility of the container, select one of the following:
If this section is to become part of navigation in a composite portal, you can make the header visible only when a specific space is the current space. Enter an expression here similar to the following: pyCurrentSpace=="ASpaceName" Then select the Run visibility condition on client check box. |
Defer load contents | Select this option if you want the system to retrieve only the data necessary for the current tab or accordion display. When another tab or accordion is selected, the system retrieves further data for it. With this option you can speed up the initial display of the page. To enable users to take actions, such as submit, on a work item while other content is still being loaded, configure sections to use defer loaded asynchronous declare pages. |
Specify a pre-loading activity | Optional. If Defer Load? is selected, you can specify an activity to run when the container is expanded by a click. This activity can compute property values and other aspects of the expanded container. As a best practice, instead of having multiple defer loaded sections with wrapper activities, create a deferred loaded wrapper section with the retrieval activity. |
Associated privileges |
Select this check box to enable only users with specific privileges to view or update the section. |
View privilege | Optional. To restrict the presentation of this section (in read-only mode) to users who hold a specific privilege, select the Privilege Name key part of a privilege rule. Click the Open icon to review or create the privilege rule. |
Update privilege |
Optional. To restrict the presentation of this section (in read-write mode) to users who hold a specific privilege, select the Privilege Name key part of a privilege rule. Click the Open icon to review or create the privilege rule. If a user holds the privilege in the View privilege field but does not hold the privilege identified in this field, the section appears in read-only format. In this case, default values for fields are not shown. |
Container Settings | |
Title |
Enter text to display in the header. You can also specify a property or field value. |
Heading level | Select a heading level from the drop-down menu. The container heading level generates semantic markup and makes the UI structurally understandable for assistive technology users. Heading level is available for all components that display headers. |
Include icon with title |
Select to include an icon in the title bar. |
Icon |
Optional: Click the Gear icon to open the Image Library landing page and select an image to include on the left side of the header. |
Icon title |
If you want to display a tooltip when the user hovers the mouse pointer over the icon, type a text string within quotations, for example, "Select to view list". |
Body visibility |
Select one of the following to determine visibility:
As a best practice, use the Condition Builder to edit this field. See Using the Condition Builder to configure dynamic UI actions. |
Header type | Select the format to be used to present this header:
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Expand when |
Displays when the Header type is |
Expanded on load |
Displays when the Header type is Select to display the container expanded, rather than collapsed, on load. |
Edit Options |
Select an edit mode for this control. The edit mode of the control, specified here, takes precedence over section and harness settings.
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Advanced Options |
Note: As a best practice, define custom styles in the skin.
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To include a section in other sections, drag and drop the Section control onto a section. As you move the pointer over existing frames or tabs, a yellow line indicates where the section will be dropped.
When you drop the Section control, the Section Include Form appears. Complete the fields as described:
Field |
Description |
Page Context |
Select one of the following to set the context of the page – the basis for the fields (properties) within this section:
The Page Context field appears on the General tab of the section's properties panel. |
Class |
Select a class that this section applies to. By default, the Class of the current section appears. In most cases, select the name of the class that contains the work items that the section supports. Choose the class that is most specific to the application and its work items, rather than a general Work- class. In special cases, a section can apply to a class derived from the Data-, Embed- or Assign- base class. For example, a section may display properties of the class Embed-OrderDetails, where the work item contains a Page List property named CustomerOrder that applies to the Embed-OrderDetails property. |
Page |
This field displays when you select to Use other context as the Page Context. Identify the name of the page that is the basis for fields (properties) within this section. If, at run time, no page with this name is found, all HTML output from this row is suppressed. If you select a data page that has parameters, the parameters display:
If you enter a data page and are configuring a section that is defer loaded from an asynchronously loaded data page (ADP), make sure that all UI references to the data page are contained within the deferred UI. References to data page elements, such as Visible When, parameters to actions, or property displays (read-only or editable), will initiate synchronous data page load. UI display will be delayed until the data page is loaded. See PDN article: How to configure a non-blocking UI using Asynchronous Declare Pages (ADP). If you enter a page that is not in this section's class inheritance path, enter the class in the Of Class field. The system updates the Pages & Classes tab when you click Save Changes to close this dialog. Page names are case-sensitive, so be sure to match the case of the page name. |
Disable auto refresh |
Displays when you specify, in the Page context field, a data page that has parameters and the parameter value uses a property reference. When a data page accepts parameters and the parameter value uses a property reference, the page automatically refreshes with new items whenever the property value changes. Select this check box if you do not want the page to refresh automatically with new items whenever the property value changes. This enables you to manually initiate refresh of a section; for example, if a user types text in a Search input box, you may want to disable auto refresh and explicitly refresh the section when the users presses Enter or clicks a button. |
Section |
Select the name (Purpose) of the section that you want to include. |
To include or reference a section in a new flow action, or a harness panel or container, drag and drop the control onto the tag <drag section here>, which appears on the flow action and harness layouts.
Field |
Description |
Section |
Specify the section that you want to use (the Purpose key part of the section). You can specify an existing section or type a new section name and click the Open icon to create or open the section. Click the Gear icon to enter parameters for the section. |
Standard Parameters |
If standard parameters are:
Alternatively, you can select the Pass current parameter page to pass the current parameter page to the section. |
Page context |
Select or confirm the page context for the section:
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Container format |
Select the format of the container that is to hold the content of the section. This choice affects the appearance of the header and body of the section. The available formats depend upon the skin:
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Container style |
Displays if you specify Other as the Container format. Other displays only when additional container formats are defined in the skin. See Skin form — Components tab — Layouts — Containers. |
HTML |
Appears if you specify Custom as the Container format. Identify the Stream Name (second key part) of an HTML rule that defines the content of the header. |
Visibility |
To control the visibility of the section, select one of the following:
As a best practice, use the Condition Builder to edit this field. Click the Gear icon to open the tool. See Using the Condition Builder to configure dynamic UI actions. |
Run visibility condition on client? |
Displays when you select Conditional Visibility and enter a simple expression in the field that displays. Select the Run visibility condition on clientcheck box to cause dynamic execution of the condition each time the value of a property stated in the condition changes. This cannot be used if the expression is combined with a when condition rule. Conditions are automatically re-evaluated when the user updates a property value. By default, controls that allow typing, such as Text Input, are evaluated when the user leaves the field. To re-evaluate conditions as the user types, use the Apply Conditions action with a Keyboard event. See Control Form — Completing the Control tab. |
Display header and title |
Enter text to appear in the header or subheader. This text may include directives or JSP tags, such as <p:r > or <pega:lookup >. If you plan to localize the application using this rule, choose the text carefully and limit the length to no more than 64 characters. When practical, choose a caption already included in a language pack, to simplify later localization. A field value rule with this text as the final key part is needed for each locale. See About the Localization wizard. |
Defer load contents |
Optional: Choose this option to delay loading at runtime of the section content until the user clicks the header. Deferring enables users to start using other parts of the page rather than waiting for this section to load. Note: Load deferring happens asynchronously and may cause errors when embedding a section inside another section. To enable users to take actions, such as submit, on a work item while other content is still being loaded, configure sections to use defer loaded asynchronous declare pages. See PDN How to configure non-blocking UI using Asynchronous Declare Pages (ADP). |
Specify a pre-loading activity |
Displays when you select the Defer load contents check box. Select to run an activity prior to loading the section. Press the down arrow in the Activity field and select the activity that you want to run. Click the Open icon to review or create the activity rule. Note: Pre-loading happens asynchronously and may cause errors when embedding a section inside another section. |
Refresh condition |
Optional: Enter a simple expression based on the comparison of a pair of constants, properties, or both, combined by Boolean operators. As a best practice, use the Condition Builder to edit expressions, or to trigger a refresh based on a property change or the addition or deletion of a row or column in a repeating layout. The editor also enables you to specify a pre-activity or data transform. Click the Gear icon to open the tool. See Using the Condition Builder to configure dynamic form actions. |
Run Data Transform |
Displays when you specify a Refresh condition. Select to run a data transform prior to refreshing the section. Press the down arrow in the field that displays and select the data transform. |
Run Activity |
Displays when you specify a Refresh condition. Select to run an activity prior to refreshing the section. Press the down arrow in the field that displays and select the activity that you want to run. |
Associated privileges |
Select to enable only users with specific privileges to view or update the section. |
View privilege |
Optional: To restrict the presentation of this section (in read-only mode) to those users who hold a specific privilege, select the Privilege Name key part of a privilege rule. Click the Open icon to review or create the privilege rule. |
Update privilege |
Optional. To restrict the presentation of this section (in read-write mode) to those users who hold a specific privilege, select the Privilege Name key part of a privilege rule. Click the Open icon to review or create the privilege rule. If a user holds the privilege in the View Privilege field but does not hold the privilege identified in this field, the section appears in read-only format. In this case, default values for fields are not shown. |
Container Settings |
Displays if you selected the Display header and title checkkox. |
Title |
Optional: Type text to display in the header or subheader. This text may include directives or JSP tags, such as <p:r > or <pega:lookup >. When you plan to localize the application using this rule, so the application can support users in various languages or locales, choose the text carefully and limit the length to no more than 64 characters. When practical, choose a caption already included in a language pack, to simplify later localization. A field value rule with this text as the final key part is needed for each locale. See About the Localization wizard. |
Include icon with title |
Select to include an icon in the title bar. |
Icon |
Optional: Click the Gear icon to open the Image Library landing page and select an image to include on the left side of the header. |
Icon title |
If you want to display a tooltip when the user hovers the mouse pointer over the icon, type a text string within quotations, for example, "Select to view list". |
Body visibility |
Optional: Leave blank to present the body always. To control visibility of the body, enter or select one of the following:
As a best practice, use the Condition Builder to edit this field. Click the Gear icon to open the tool. See Using the Condition Builder to configure dynamic UI actions. |
Header type |
Select one of the following header styles. This field does not display if the Format value is
Note: This field does not display in container and harness panels. |
When you select a Header Style of Tabbed
, the layout appears in a Tab Group wireframe. Select it to make it active and click the Gear icon in the header to open the Tab Group properties panel.
Complete the top field and General tab. There are no settings on the Advanced tab.
Field |
Description |
Format |
Select the format you want to apply to the tabs in the group. To configure the format's appearance, access the Components tab in the Skin and then select Tab in the Layouts area. Standard — Default format applied to all tab groups. Sub — Format suitable for sub-tabs. Other — A custom style that you create in the skin rule. When you select this option, enter the style name in the Style field. |
Field |
Description |
Tab Position |
Select the placement of the tabs at runtime:
If you select |
Tab Orientation | If you selected a left or right Tab Position, select to display tabs horizontally or vertically. Horizontal is the default. If you select vertical orientation, the tab title is rotated based on the tab position, left or right. |
Stretch Tabs | Select to stretch the tabs horizontally or vertically to fit the available space. If the Tab Position is Top or Bottom, tabs stretch horizontally; if the Tab Position is Left or Right, the tabs stretch vertically. |