Using the View Designer

Use the View Designer to define, publish, and manage views.

To open the View Designer, click Administration menu > Solution Configuration > Views. Your access permissions determine whether the menu item is displayed.

The View List is displayed.

View List

The View List shows the views that are defined. From the View List, you can:

  • Click a view. The View Designer opens and you can view or make changes to the view.
  • Filter the View List by typing in the Search box.
  • Filter the View List by object type and view type by using the Filter by boxes.
  • Select Include system views to show system views in the View List. The setting is cleared by default. Custom views are always listed.
  • Click a column header to change the sort order of the list.
  • Select the check box next to a single view or multiple views to update numerous views. The bulk update options are:
    • Delete
    • Enable
    • Disable
    Clear the check boxes to hide the bulk update options.
  • Click New View to create a new view. After you define the initial properties, the View Designer opens. For more information, see:

The View Designer

The View Designer has the following components:
  • Design tab
  • JSON tab
  • Preview tab

Design tab

The Design tab shows the definition of the view in a graphical format. It has the following components:
  • Canvas

    The canvas is where you lay out the view, create sections, and add fields to sections.

  • Palette

    UI components on the palette allow you to add inline guidance, groups, relationship fields, object fields, and workflow fields to a view. Use Hide fields already in view to control whether fields that are already added to the view are displayed in the palette.

  • Property panel

    The content of the property panel changes depending on what you select on the canvas. It can be properties that apply to a field or to a UI component (relationship field, group, inline guidance, and so on).

The following example shows the components on the Design tab:

Figure 1. The Design tab in the View Designer
The View Designer window is shown. Each component of the UI is labeled

The Design tab is hidden for system views.

JSON tab

The JSON tab shows a view definition as JSON code.

The following example shows the JSON code for the previous task view definition.

Figure 2. The JSON tab in the View Designer
The JSON tab shows the code for a task view.

For more information about JSON, see Editing JSON for a view definition.

Preview tab

The Preview tab shows a view definition for an object instance. Up to 50 objects are displayed. Filters are disabled. Objects are read-only and cannot be changed. Workflow stages and workflow stage overrides are not considered. You cannot use the Preview tab to test how a view appears at different stages in a workflow and whether workflow task overrides are functioning correctly.

The following example shows the Preview tab for the previous task view definition.

Figure 3. The Preview tab in the View Designer
The Preview tab shows what the view will look like for users.

Automatically translating labels

If it is configured, the IBM Watson Language Translator can help you define labels in multiple languages. There are numerous access points in the View Designer.

If it is displayed, click Auto Translate icon to populate translated values to languages. For more information, see IBM Watson Language Translator.

Saving a view

Your work is automatically saved as you edit a view. A general syntax validation check is performed every time that a view is saved.

Publishing a view

Click Publish when the view is finished. A detailed validation check is performed every time that a view is published. This validation check is more in depth than the one performed by the auto-save. It looks at whether the view is suitable for use and crosschecks the entire view. If you receive an error when you publish a view, you need to resolve it.

Discarding a draft version of a view

To discard changes you made to a view, click Discard Draft. All changes since the last published version are discarded.

Disabling a view

To disable a view, select the view in the View list, and then click Disable.

Alternatively, click the Edit icon for a view, and then clear the Enabled check box.

Working on a view as a team

When you have a view open in the View Designer, the URL contains the view's internal name. If you are working on the view with colleagues, you can send them the URL to share your progress. Although you can collaborate with colleagues, only one user should work on a view in the View Designer at a time.