Containers

You use the containers in Properties View Designer to organize the content of the view. The three layout containers provide for the general layout of the view and can contain both properties and other containers. The two property containers provide specific layouts for properties.

Layout container

This container provides a simple, rectangular container that can contain any type of property or container. You can configure the layout container to display the contents either horizontally or vertically. You can also configure the position of labels to display either beside or above the property editor.

Multiple column layout container

This container consists of a series of columns. You can click the Insert button and Delete button to add or remove columns. Each column contains a layout container that can contain any type of property or container and can be configured separately.

You can drag columns to reorder them in the container. You can also drag a layout container from elsewhere in the view or from the container palette into the multiple column layout container. Similarly, you can drag a column from the multiple column layout container to another location in the view.

Titled layout container

This container consists of a layout container that has a title bar and that can contain any type of property or container. You can configure the titled layout container so that it can be expanded or collapsed at run time.

Property list container

This container can contain any type of property except for a property whose type is business object. The container displays the properties in a vertical list with the labels beside the property editor.

Property table container

This container consists of a table in which each column contains a multivalued property. Unlike other containers, the property table container groups the content in addition to organizing the layout.

Restriction: Single-value properties, properties of type business object, and workgroups are not supported in Property Table containers.
The property table container binds the property values in a row so that each row is treated as a logical data set. IBM® Business Automation Workflow groups each data set and stores the content in the multivalued properties in the same order as they appear in the table rows. Case workers can change this order by using the up and down arrows in the table to reorder the rows. Because of this grouping, IBM Business Automation Workflow puts the following restrictions on a property table:
  • Values in a property table cannot be empty or null. Therefore, all properties in a property table container, except for string properties, are required.
  • Case workers can enter only a single value in a property table cell. They cannot enter multiple values for a property in the same row.

You can include multivalued properties that get values from an external data service in a property table. However, problems can occur if the values that are returned for one property depend on the value of another property in the same property table and the external data service returns the values as dynamic choice lists. In this situation, the choice list can contain values that do not apply to a specific instance of the dependent property in the table.

If one of the properties in a property table container is read-only, the toolbar is not available for the table at run time. A case worker cannot add a row, delete a row, or move a row. However, a case worker can double-click any property in an existing row that is not set to read-only and edit the value for that property.