Creating a skin

Records can be created in various ways. You can add a new record to your application or copy an existing one. You can specialize existing rules by creating a copy in a specific ruleset, against a different class or (in some cases) with a set of circumstance definitions. You can copy data instances but they do not support specialization because they are not versioned.

Based on your use case, you use the Create, Save As, or Specialization form to create the record. The number of fields and available options varies by record type. Start by familiarizing yourself with the generic layout of these forms and their common fields:

• Creating a rule or data instance
• Copying a rule or data instance
• Creating a specialized or circumstance rule

This information identifies the key parts and options that apply to the record type that you are creating.

Create a skin rule by selecting Skin from the User Interface category.

• Set the component styles: Define the style within the skin for components such as layouts, controls, and reports. You can define various style formats for each component and reference the formats on property panels in sections, harnesses, and controls.
• Add mixins: Mixins define a reusable typography, border, or background style — or a style that is a combination of typography, border, and background styles. Use mixins to enforce consistency across your user interface, maximize re-use, and minimize future maintenance.
• Include styles: Use the Included styles tab to add additional style sheets to the skin. You can also enable and disable automatic generation of the work form CSS on this tab.

Key parts:

A Skin rule has a single key part:

Rule resolution

When searching for a Skin rule, the system

• Filters candidate rules based on a requestor's RuleSet list of RuleSets and versions
• Finds circumstance-qualified rules that override base rules

The class hierarchy is not relevant to rule resolution for skin rules. Time-qualified circumstances are not supported for skin rules.

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