Designer Preferences

 

Documentation home 

 

General Tab. 1

UI Options Tab. 2

Form Options Tab. 3

Page Editor Tab. 3

Control Options Tab. 4

Designer Proxy Options Tab. 4

Workflow tab. 5

Web Content tab. 5

Test Server tab. 6

Integrated Server 6

External Server 6

Deployment tab. 6

 

 

The Designer Preferences dialog is accessed from the main designer menu File -> Preferences and sets options and default values used throughout the designer application. It has the following tabs:

 

General Tab

 

Designer Instance Name: this name is displayed in the title bar at the top of the designer window and is used to prefix some of the designer preferences files saved in the properties folder. If you have multiple designer applications, this is a good way to distinguish between them.

 

Preferred language id: the default language used for the designer. This is the default language used for creating all texts and is also the default language used for form submission from the designer.

 

Preferred Script Language: sets the preferred server-side scripting language.

 

Default Presentation Template: the default template linked to all new forms and components. In addition, the project containing this template is automatically linked with all new projects.

 

Date Literal Format: the format that date literals are entered in the Ebase Xi Designer. This format applies to date literals entered as field default values or as URL parameters when testing forms. This parameter should have the same value as the Date Literal Format server property.

 

Browsers: supports the configuration of any number of browser clients. The browser can be selected when a form is run when the following option Display options panel when launching forms is checked.

 

Display options panel when launching forms: when checked, the system will present an additional panel when submitting forms from the designer; this panel supports the specification runtime language and browser.

 

          Show Getting Started page at startup: Getting Started page with links to tutorials and the Ebase Xi Resource Centre is shown each time the designer is started.

 

Report unexpected errors: when checked, any errors in the Designer will result in a popup window as shown below:

 

                        

 

Click Show details to display the error.

Click Send Error Report to send the error to Ebase. Note that this requires internet access.

Uncheck Report unexpected errors to suppress display of this dialog. Check this option if this dialog is showing repeatedly.

 

Folders excluded from the workspace: any folders with these names are ignored inside the workspace. The default is .svn, .cvs, .git. The corresponding server property should also be configured with the same values Server Admin App – Workspace Properties.

 

UI Options Tab

 

Look and feel : sets the look and file for the entire designer. The list of options shown depends to some extent on the version of Java used, but may include:

 

default

Ebase supplied look and feel (from Jgoodies)

Metal

Java default look and feel

Nimbus

Nimbus look and feel introduced with Java 6

CDE/Motif

Look and feel compatible with XWindows

Windows

Windows compatible look and feel

Windows Classic

Windows Classic compatible look and feel (this option may not be visible depending on OS)

 

Override default fonts: enables font name and size to be entered below.

 

Name: the font used by the Designer

 

Size: the font size used by the Designer

         

Tooltip timing parameters:

 

Initial delay time (ms): the number of milliseconds to delay (after the cursor has paused) before displaying the tooltip.

Dismiss time (ms): the number of milliseconds to delay before taking away a tooltip.

Reshow time (ms): the number of milliseconds before the user has to wait initialDelay milliseconds before a tooltip will be shown. That is, if the tooltip is hidden, and the user moves into a region of the same Component that has a valid tooltip within the reshowDelay number of milliseconds the tooltip will immediately be shown. Otherwise, if the user moves into a region with a valid tooltip after the reshowDelay number of milliseconds, the user will have to wait an additional initialDelay milliseconds before the tooltip is shown again.

 

Script Dialog Font: the font name and size of the font used by the script editor

 

Debug Window Font: the font name and size of the font used to display the form execution log

 

Form Options Tab

 

New Form Defaults: sets default values for form options specified in form properties.

 

Html Document Type: see Html Document Type in Form Properties

 

Html Form Tag Position: see Html Form Tag Position in Form Properties

 

Browser Back Button Support: see Browser Back Button Support in Form Properties

 

Use Ajax communication to the server by default: see Using Ajax in Form Properties

           

            PDF Printing

 

                    Printing Options

           

PDF Engine:   Select the PDF Engine used to print out the PDF document. By selecting this it changes the print view between wkhtmltopdf and flying saucer view. The flying saucer PDF engine is legacy and support HTML4 and CSS2. This property only changes designer view and does not change the server runtime PDF engine.

 

Legacy Print Form Defaults: these options provide defaults that apply only to the use of legacy print forms.

 

Page orientation: the page orientation used for all newly created print forms. This can be overridden at the individual print form level or at the print page level.

 

Page size: the page size used for all newly created print forms. This can be overridden at the individual print form level or at the print page level. 

 

 

Page Editor Tab

 

Zoom Options

Edit the zoom options displayed in the Form Editor WYSIWYG View.

 

·         To add a new entry, click the  button.

·         To delete an entry, select it then click the  button.

·         To edit an existing entry, double click on it.        

 

Entries must be numeric and end with %.

 

Screen Resolutions

Edit the available screen resolutions and give a meaningful device name. These are displayed in the Form Editor WYSIWYG View.

 

·         To add a new entry, click the  button.

·         To delete an entry, select it then click the  button.

·         To edit an existing entry, either click the  icon or double click on it. 

 

When editing or adding a new entry the properties are as follows:

 

Name: The name of the device

Width: Screen width

Height: Screen height

User Agent: The user agent string for the device. For example iPhone X - Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 11_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/604.1.38 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/11.0 Mobile/15A372 Safari/604.1.This can be null.

Show device: whether to show the device in the Form Editor WYSIWYG View.

         

Devices in the list that are shown in bold font cannot be edited or removed.

 

To show or hide a device from the Form Editor WYSIWYG View then select the Show Device checkbox in the devices table.

 

 

Add following controls to new pages

 

Select any controls that should be automatically added to new form pages:

 

·         Page Panel Control – contains page level header and trailer texts.

·         Page Navigation Panel Control – contains Ebase page sequencing buttons and save restore buttons

 

Compatibility note!: adding both these controls provides equivalent functionality to Ebase Version 3.4 and earlier.

 

Control Options Tab

         

When adding a control to a page:

 

Link to the Presentation Template’s default Property Set: when this option is checked, each new control added to a page will be automatically linked to the control’s default Property Set, if specified, in the Presentation Template. When this option is not checked, the default Property Set, if specified is loaded. See Property Sets for more information on linking vs. loading.

 

Components:

 

Enable Property Set linking: when this option is checked, controls within components can be styled by linking them with a Property Set in the associated Presentation Template. When the component is inserted/deployed to a form, the linkage to the Property Set is maintained: the designer should ensure that a Property Set with the same name is available in the form environment or any styling will be lost. When this option is not checked, the linking option is not available when designing a component. See Property Sets for more information on linking vs. loading.

 

Designer Proxy Options Tab

 

This tab allows specification of a proxy server to be used for all Http connections made from the Designer. This includes connection to the Ebase server and the import of wsdl and xsd files in the Web Services and XML resource respectively. The corresponding proxy settings for the Ebase Xi Server are configured using server properties Proxy Settings.

 

Host: host name or ip address of the proxy server

Port: port of the proxy server (defaults to 80 if not specified)

Proxy: requires authentication: check this to enable the username and password fields

Username: user name for proxy authentication

Password/Confirm password: password for proxy authentication

Non proxy hosts: hostname or ip address of any servers which should not be routed through the proxy, multiple hostnames/ip addresses should be separated by a | character. When a designer proxy has been configured but the designer is using a test server on the same host, it may be necessary to enter ”localhost|127.0.0.1” in this field to exclude localhost from the proxy. If configured, this property overrides any Dhttp.nonProxyHosts property on the Java command used to start the designer.

 

 

Workflow tab

 

Workflow Assignment Handler: this specifies the class name of the implemented workflow assignment handler. In most cases this will be the default assignment handler provided with the system com.ebasetech.ufs.xi.workflow.XIAssignmentHandler. The assignment handler is used in the designer to display the Custom Assignment panel within the Resources tab of a workflow interactive task’s properties.

 

The value specified here must match the configuration of server property Assignment Handler in the workflow.properties file.

 

Click here for more details on assignment handlers in general.

 

Workflow Security Handler: this specifies the class name of the implemented workflow security handler. In most cases this will be the default security handler provided with the system com.ebasetech.ufs.workflow.security.example EbaseSecurityHandler. The security handler is used in the designer to display the the Security tab of a workflow process or node properties.

 

Two workflow security handlers are shipped with the distributed Ebase Xi system and can be configured here:

 

·         com.ebasetech.ufs.workflow.security.example EbaseSecurityHandler: provides minimal security checking– all users are allowed to create new workflow jobs and display a task list without any security check. In addition if a workflow process or node does not have a security expression configured, all other actions are also allowed.

·         com.ebasetech.ufs.workflow.security.example EbaseStrictSecurityHandler: provides a higher level of security checking - all users are allowed to create new workflow jobs without any security check, but all other actions require security authorization.

 

The value specified here must match the configuration of server property Security Handler in the workflow.properties file.

 

Workflow Activity Types: this is a comma delimited list of class names for supported workflow activity types. The default values should not normally be changed. Any custom activity classes must also be added to the classpath of the server

 

 

Web Content tab

 

Editors: this associates web resource file types for files within the workspace with the various editors provided by the Ebase Xi system. If a file type is not found in this list, the system will attempt to open it with the default text editor. Note that image types do not need to be added to this list and image files will be opened using the read only Image Displayer.

 

Test Server tab

 

This tab supplies configuration details of the Ebase Xi server system used by the designer to test forms and any other functions that require a server. There are two options:

·         Integrated Server – this is a special server started and stopped automatically with the designer

·         External Server – is a “regular” server instance that must be manually started and stopped

 

Click here for more information on server types and how they are configured.

Integrated Server

The Integrated Server is started automatically each time the designer is started and closed as the designer is shut down.

 

Find port dynamically: if selected, the system will dynamically find an unused port

Use port: use the explicit port number specified

Web application name: the name used to construct URLs to test forms. This defaults to ebasetest. If this name is changed, note that the ebasetest.xml file and ebasetest directories in the Integrated Server file system do not need to be renamed – these must be named ebasetest regardless of the web application name.

Java arguments: arguments to be added to the Java command used to start the server

External Server

This server is external from the designer and must be manually started and stopped. This server must be configured to use the same workspace as the designer – failure to do this will result in some very confusing errors.

 

Host name/ip address: host name or ip address of the server

Port: server port

Web application name: the web application name e.g. ebase in url http://localhost:3030/ebase/myForm.eb. On a Tomcat server, the web application name is taken as the name of the xxx.xml file in tomcat/conf/Catalina/localhost e.g. ebase.xml.

 

Deployment tab

 

Target Servers: allows configuration of servers to be used as targets for deployment operations. Click here for details.

 

Deployment History: allows a list of recent deployments which are available from the deployment history dropdown on the shared toolbar. Items can be deleted.