Configure a business view

This page explains how to configure a business view within an MDM application.

Configuration options

In addition to the structure based on business entities and transitions, business views also includes options to configure how they appear within an application.

The following aspects can be configured:

  • How a transition appears.

  • For a business entity, how child records appear when displayed in a collection or individually.

  • For a business entity, which actions are available in the Options Options menu, using an action set.

  • If a business entity uses a form with references to other entities, how to navigate these references, using reference browsing options.

  • If a business entity uses a form with embedded collections, how to navigate when clicking an item in these collections, using the embedded collection options.

  • In the business view transition and business entity, how the tree view displays the business view hierarchy.

Configure transitions

To configure a transition:

  1. In the Business View editor, scroll down to the Transition table.

  2. Select the transition in the table.

  3. In the Properties view, configure the following properties:

    • In Name and Definition, modify the Name, Transition Path, Filter and Target Business Entity of the transition.

    • Icons and Labels

      • Icon: icon used to illustrate the child records of the transition.

      • Custom Label: select this option to use a label and a plural label different from those of the child entity.

    • Display Properties

      • Form Tab Condition: SemQL condition that must be met for the transition tab to appear in the business view.
        For example, you may only want to add the Contacts tab if there is a contact, which can be expressed with Any Contacts have ( 1=1 )

      • Display Form Tab: select how the tab should appear. With the label, icon, or both.

Configure business entities

To configure a business entity:

  1. In the Business View editor, scroll down to the Transition table.

  2. Select a business entity in the table.

  3. In the Properties view, configure the following properties:

    • Name and Definition

      • Modify the Name and selected Entity.

    • Display Properties

      • Customized Display Card: display card used to represent one record in the editor header for this business entity.

      • Browsing Collection: collection used to display a list of records.

      • Browsing Form: form used to display one record.

      • Outline Visible: defines whether the outline should be displayed for this business entity.

      • Display Record Count: defines when the record count should appear, after the customized display card in the editor header, for this business entity.

    • Collection Configuration

      • Customized Sort: select this option to sort the records in the browsing collection according to the sort expression. Note that records in the collection are sorted by default by their ID.

      • Sort Expression: sort expression applied to the data in the browsing collection.

      • User-Defined Sort: select this checkbox to allow users to customize the sort.

      • Allow Table, Allow List, Allow Grid: select the views available for the collection. These must be supported by the selected browsing collection.

Configure available actions

To configure the actions available for a business entity:

  1. In the Business View editor, scroll down to the Transition table.

  2. Select the business entity in the table.

  3. In the Properties view, select the Name and Definition finger tab.

  4. Select an action set that will define which actions are available to manage the data on that business entity.

Configure reference browsing

Reference browsing options define how to navigate references appearing in the form defined for a business entity.

  1. In the Business View editor, scroll down to the Transition table.

  2. Select the business entity in the table.

  3. In the Properties view, select the References Browsing finger tab.
    This table lists the references of the browsing form selected for the business entity.

  4. Click the Refresh references Refresh References button in the Properties view toolbar to refresh the list of browsable references.

  5. For each reference listed, select a Browsing Target:

    • Not Browsable: makes the reference not navigable.

    • Form: opens a popup with the selected form when the reference is clicked.

    • Business View: opens the selected target business view in the same editor.

Configure search

A business view can be searched at every level. You can configure the search capabilities for each business entity of your business view.

  1. In the Business View editor, scroll down to the Transition table.

  2. Select a business entity in the table.

  3. In the Properties view, select the Display Properties finger tab.

  4. Next to Search Configurations, click the Edit Edit button to select one or more search types.
    The following built-in search types are available to look for data in business views:

    • Text: looks up all attributes of the business entity that are marked as searchable in the model and match the search pattern. Users can use the % wildcard to match multiple characters or _ to match a single character.

    • By Form: shows a default form with all the business entity attributes available, as well as pickers for selecting values to filter these attributes.

    • SemQL: allows users to use SemQL queries to search. With SemQL, users can use attributes in parent entities or child entities, as well as the SemQL function library.

    • Advanced: allows users to specify which attributes to search in advanced mode, as well as the operators to use for comparison.

      Protecting sensitive data in URLs

      When attribute values appear as clear text in URLs, sensitive data—​such as social security numbers, bank account details, or tax identification numbers—​can be exposed in browser and server logs. To avoid this security risk and protect sensitive information from unauthorized exposure, model designers should:

      • Avoid allowing advanced searches on business views including sensitive data. Prevent end-users from searching using sensitive data in advanced mode.

      • Avoid using sensitive data in search forms. Do not include sensitive data in query parameters for global search or business view filtering.

      • Avoid using sensitive data as record IDs. Use non-sensitive unique identifiers instead.

In addition to these search types, you can design custom search forms.

The business entity search configuration defines the search methods (built-in search methods and search forms) available to filter the records of a business entity in a business view.

To define the search configuration:

  1. In the Business View editor, scroll down to the Transitions table.

  2. In this table, select the business entity you want to enable search for.

  3. In the Properties view, select the Display Properties finger tab.
    The Search Configuration property lists the search methods enabled for this business entity.

  4. Click the Edit button to open the Available Search Methods selection dialog.
    This table lists the available search methods (built-in and search forms) available for the root business entity.

  5. Select the Available checkbox for each search method you want to make available.

  6. Order the search methods using the Move Up and Move Down buttons.

Configure built-in filters

Built-in filters are pre-canned in the business view and made available to users by default in their list of filters. Users can enable or disable these filters, but cannot remove or edit them.

A built-in filter defined on the root business entity may be applied to the business view when it is opened using the Browse Business View application action. In that case, this filter cannot be disabled by the users. This feature allows you to define specialized views for a given business view.

To configure a built-in filter:

  1. In the Business View editor, scroll down to the Transitions table.

  2. In this table, select the business entity for which you want to create a built-in filter.

  3. In the Properties view, select the Built-In Filters finger tab.
    This table lists the built-in filters defined for this business entity.

  4. Click the Add built-in filter Add Built-In Filter button in the Properties view toolbar.
    The Create New Built-In Filter wizard opens.

  5. In the wizard, enter the following values:

    • Name: internal name of the filter.

    • Label: user-friendly label for this filter. This label appears to users in the list of built-in filters.

    • Condition: enter the SemQL condition that must be true for a record to appear when the filter is applied. You can use the Edit expression Edit Expression button to open the SemQL Editor.

    • Visible: this option defines whether the filter appears in the list of built-in filters. A filter defined on the root business entity that is not visible may still be applied to the business view from a Browse Business View application action.

  6. Click Finish to close the wizard.
    The new filter appears in the table. You can edit filters from the table.