Specifications and presentation tab

You use the Specifications and Presentation tab on the Offerings application to associate a classification with an offering, define the presentation type for the offering dialog, and specify the attributes and conditional options for the offering.

When a classification is associated with an offering, the classification attributes are copied to the offering. Attributes can be deleted, modified, or added to ensure that the offering gathers the appropriate information from the user. Attributes can be associated with an offering, but are not required to be exposed, and can contain hidden or read-only data.

Offering information

The following are the fields in the Offering Information section:

Field Description
Offering Name of the Offering. This value is entered on the Offering tab.
Description Used to add a detailed description to the offering. A URL can be embedded in the description of an offering and displayed on the Offerings page.
Classification The classification of the offering. This lookup allows the offering to share attributes with other similarly classified offerings. Attributes from the classification are copied to the offering and can be deleted or modified or added as needed.
Classification Description The description of the offering classification.

Preview dialog

The Preview Dialog function allows the Service Designer to instantly view the layout and information that is displayed on the Offering Dialog from within the Offerings application.
Note: The dialog that displays when you click Preview Dialog is read-only, and cannot be modified. Any attributes marked as mandatory are not shown as required in the preview dialog, and any prepopulation scripts that may be defined for the offering are not executed.

In addition, offering dialog elements, which have associated options or show/hide conditions that determine whether they appear or not on the offering dialog, are not shown on the Preview Dialog view. For example, if the Allow Comments and Ratings? checkbox is checked for the Offering, the Comments and Ratings tab does d not display when you click Preview Dialog.

Offering presentation

You can specify whether the Offering uses the default dialog or a custom dialog.

Field Description
Presentation Type
Default Presentation

The Default Presentation type uses a standard dialog to display and collect input from the user. The default dialog supports 30 alphanumeric (ALN), 30 numeric (NUM), and 30 Table type class-level CRSpec attributes. If desired, you can increase the number of attributes. Default presentation attributes can also be enhanced with a rich set of optional controls. The available controls are listed in the Presentation table. You can associate field-level validation scripts with the attribute by selecting an existing validation routine from the Validation Script lookup.

Custom Presentation

The Service Designer uses a custom presentation dialog for presenting lists of attributes to the user to facilitate the gathering of more detailed information from the user. Offerings with Presentation Type of Custom Presentation can associate the dialog with attributes that are defined in a custom MBO, and the custom MBO attributes can be presented to users in either tabular or non-tabular form, or both.

The Service Designer must specify the name of an existing custom dialog that is created in the Presentation library for the offering.

Display User Attachments Link?

Checking this check box indicates that the offering dialog must include the User Attachments link so that the user can attach a document. Some offerings might require further information to be attached when requested by a user; for example, an office move request might require that layout drawings be attached.

Display Add to Cart and Order Now! Buttons?
Indicates that the offering must display the Add to Cart and Order Now! options on the dialog. If this box is not checked, the offering displays only the Submit Request option on the dialog.
Note: If the Service Desk Offering? box on the Offering tab is checked, the Display Add to Cart and Order Now! checkbox is disabled, and the offering displays only the Submit Request option on the dialog.
Display Asset Field?
Controls whether the default dialog exposes a field asking the user to select an Asset. Common types of offerings that need to collect asset information from the user are:
  • Requests to update asset information
  • Requests to deploy software to a particular computer asset
  • Requests to dispose of a hardware asset.

This field displays only if Presentation Type is set to Default. The field does not display for a custom presentation.

Display Price?

Controls whether the offering price is shown on the offering dialog. Service Designers may decide to include offering price information on the offering dialog. Enabling pricing for Offerings allows the pricing information contained in the Offering Price Book to be displayed in Offering dialogs and in the Shopping Cart. The pricing information is also displayed in the associated Service Request and approval request for the Service Request, and in the Offering Catalog and Self Service Center applications.

Note: The Service Designer can use the Application Designer application to create, modify, or preview their custom dialogs without the need to edit a single line of XML. Sample Custom Dialogs are delivered with the optionally installed Service Catalog Content package. See Content Information section of this Infocenter for more details.

If you are using a Custom MBO for your custom dialog, you first need to create the custom object and add it to the database. For detailed information about creating and configuring database objects, see the Configuring databases topics in the Configuring the product section of this Infocenter.

Specifications information

This table displays the class-level CRSPEC attributes that are currently associated with the offering. The attributes can be modified, deleted, or added (by clicking ‘New Row' button).

Field Description
Attribute The ID of the attribute to be included in the offering.
Description The description of the attribute to be included in the offering.
Data Type The data type of the attribute to be included in the offering. Values can be alphanumeric (ALN), numeric (NUMERIC), or table (TABLE).
Default Alphanumeric Value The default alphanumeric value for attributes of type alphanumeric (ALN).
Default Numeric Value The default numeric value for attributes of type numeric (NUMERIC).
Default Table Value The default table value for attributes of type table (TABLE). Only visible if you display the details of the table row.
Unit of Measure The unit of measure that is specified for the attribute.

Presentation information

This table displays if the Presentation Type is Default Presentation or Custom Presentation.

Field Description
Attribute The name of the attribute. It is the same as the Attribute in the Specifications table.
Sequence Default Dialog Only: This field determines the order in which the offering dialog attributes are displayed at runtime.
PMSCCRSPEC Column Custom Dialog Only: This attribute displays the physical column that the selected attribute value occupies in the PMSCCRSPEC table.
Mandatory? Default Dialog Only: A check box to denote this attribute is mandatory. If checked, the attribute displays with a red asterisk and the dialog is not dismissed until a value is filled in for the field.
Hidden? Default Dialog Only: A check box to denote the attribute must not be displayed on the offering dialog.
Read Only? Default Dialog Only: A check box to denote the attribute is read-only, which means the user is not able to edit the attribute.
Checkbox? Default Dialog Only: A check box to denote when an ALN attribute must be displayed as a checkbox.
Note: A checkbox control cannot be combined with the mandatory control.
Calendar? Default Dialog Only: A check box to denote when an ALN attribute must be displayed as a textbox with a calendar control icon.
Note: A calendar control cannot be combined with the mandatory control.
Multiline? Default Dialog Only: A check box to denote when an ALN attribute must be displayed as a multiline textbox.
Note: A multiline control cannot be combined with the mandatory control.
Exclude From Template? A check box to denote whether the attribute value provided in the offering dialog attribute (at runtime) is to be included or excluded when a cart template is created for this offering.
Validation Script Allows the user to select an existing validation script to attach to the attribute. This validation script runs when the user tabs to the next field, and can be used to validate the format of the user input.
Attribute Help Default Dialog Only: Allows the Service Designer to specify hover help that can be viewed when the user moves the cursor over the field.

Custom MBOs information

This section is only shown if Presentation Type of Custom Presentation is specified for the Offering.

Field Description
Relationship Name The relationship specified between the SR object and the Custom MBO.
Description The description for the Custom MBO.
MBO Name The name for the Custom MBO. This field is automatically populated once you enter the Relationship Name.
Table Data? Allows you to specify a table for user input.
Minimum Records Allows you to specify the minimum number of table rows allowed. A validation script validates this information.
Maximum Records Allows you to specify the maximum number of table rows allowed. A validation script validates this information.
Template Behavior Allows you to specify whether attributes specified for the Custom MBO of an offering are included in the cart template if an offering containing a Custom MBO is included in the cart template. There are 3 options:
  • Copy All (default)
  • Copy None
  • Copy Some
Object Structure Allows you to specify which attributes specified for the Custom MBO of an offering are included in the cart template if Copy Some is specified. Only editable if Copy Some is specified in the Template Behavior drop-down.