Form tab properties

A tab is a part of a form. A form contains one or more top-level tabs. Top-level tabs take up all the available area in the window. Each tab contains one or more sections. One kind of section a tab can contain is a multi tab section (described in "Multi tab sections"). A multi tab section contains one or more tabs. Tabs in multi tab sections contain exactly one section.

More than one tab can be in the same form or section. However, the contents of only one tab in the same form or section are visible at one time. When you select a tab, its contents become visible and the contents of other tabs in the same form or section are not visible.

Top-level tabs have their own properties. Tabs in a multi tab section do not have their own properties; they are controlled by the properties of the multi tab section that contains them. For a description of multi tab sections, see "Multi tab sections".

To add a top-level tab to a form, first select the form in the Navigation panel and then click the Add Tab action in the Form Wizard's Layout tab. To delete a top-level tab, first select the tab in the Navigation panel and then click the Delete action in the Form Wizard's Layout tab.

While a top-level tab is selected in the Navigation panel, its properties appear in the Properties panel.

Here are descriptions of a top-level tab's properties:
Name

The value of this property is the name used by workflows to identify the tab. This name must be unique within the form.

You cannot save the properties of a new tab until you set its name. Once you have saved a tab, its Name property becomes read-only and its value is grayed out.

Label
The value of this property appears as the tab's label.
Tab Information

The value of this property appears as bold text in parentheses in the area under the tab followed by a colon. Common values for this field are Required, Optional, or Summary.

If the contents of the Tab Information field exceed 200 characters when the form is saved, a warning message displays.

Instruction
This property's value appears in the area under the tab after the colon. It should briefly explain the tab's intended use.
Visible

If this check box is selected, this tab is visible in the form. If the check box is not selected, this tab is hidden. The default for this property is for the check box to be selected.

Workflows can change the value of this property at runtime, making the tab visible or hidden.

Access Key
The value of this property identifies a way to navigate directly to this tab from the keyboard. The value of this property should be a single character. Pressing a key or a key chord and the Access Key character navigates the user directly to the tab. Different browsers use different keys or key chords, as follows:
  • For Microsoft Internet Explorer -> Alt+AccessKey+Enter
  • For Mozilla Firefox -> Alt+Shift+AccessKey
  • For Google Chrome -> Alt+AccessKey
  • For Apple Safari -> Alt+Control+AccessKey
Style Class

If you do not specify a value for this property, the appearance of this tab is determined by default settings in the Style Manager.

If you specify a value for this property, it must be the name of a tab style sheet defined by the Style Sheet Editor. The style sheet determines the appearance of the label. The Style Sheet Editor is described in the IBM TRIRIGA Application Platform: User Experience User Guide.

Custom
If this check box is selected, the IBM TRIRIGA Application Platform does not generate the contents of this tab in the normal way. Instead, the tab's contents are taken from the URL that is the value of the URL property.
URL
This property is visible only if the check box in the Custom property is selected. If the check box in the Custom property is selected, the contents of the tab are taken from the URL that is the value of this property.