Platform

A platform definition defines how a screen set’s screens will appear on a specific device type. A platform is defined to use one or more screens within the same parent screen set. There are different platform types, each corresponding to a different type of client device. The platform affects the placement of buttons and the form factor of the screens it uses.

The most important attribute to the platform definition is the Platform Type. This attribute specifies the platform upon which the screens it uses will be displayed and how those screens will appear. A given screen set can contain one or more platform definitions. At least one platform must be defined before screens can be added to the screen set. During publish, at least one screen must be used by at least one platform within the screen set or an error will be returned and the publish will not be allowed to proceed.

A platform can use more than one screen within the same screen set. A screen can be used by more than one platform as well. At run time, when a screen set definition is sent to a client, the client’s device type will determine which screens that client receives based on the platform using the screens.

Platform Attributes

General Attributes

Platform Type: This is the type of device platform to be supported by the screens used by the platform and will affect the form factor and behavior of those screens.
Caption: This is the title text displayed in the window on the Client at run time for the screen set. Since this is at the platform level, the screen set’s window can contain a different caption on different target devices. This value may be set statically or via a rule definition for more dynamic text. A rule used here is expected to return a string value and is evaluated in the context of the object displayed by the screen set.
Size: This attribute only applies to platform definitions for the Windows desktop, laptop, and tablet operating systems. For this type of platform the Size attribute specifies the initial display size of the screens it uses. For other Platform Types this attribute is disabled and all screens used by the platform are displayed in the full screen size of the device type. Note that this attribute may be affected or negated by the application definition’s Screen Size attribute.
Button Placement: This attribute contains four possible settings: Bottom, Top, Left, and Right. This attribute specifies where the buttons for all screens used by the platform are displayed.
List Navigation: This attribute controls whether or not the object displayed by the screens used by the platform definition can be changed via navigation buttons drawn automatically on the Client. When true, these buttons will allow a user to change the object displayed in the current screen set based on a list of objects in the previous screen in the navigational flow. In this previous list, the previous or next item in the list is selected and the action executed to display the current screen set is executed again. This attribute has no effect on platforms for the module main screen set or for platforms within screen sets displaying a transaction or fetch. This behavior is applicable when the previous screen was a list screen, or when it was a detail screen containing a list view or list tile view field.
Screen Navigation: By default a screen sets screens are displayed as tabs on the Client at run time. Selecting this option removes the tabs and instead displays a menu button containing the caption value of each screen definition to allow the user to select different screens.

Platform Screen Type

The following attributes are only valid for platforms of type iPad or Android and support the display of a pop up screen using the platform’s screens.

Screen Types: The options for this attribute include Full Screen and Overlay View. Full Screen creates standard screens on the Client. Overlay View creates popup screens that overlay the screen from which the user navigated. These screens can be used for both read only information as well as for data capture. When Overlay View is selected, the Height and Width attributes are enabled to specify the size of the overlay screen displayed.
Height: The vertical size of the overlay screen in pixels.
Width: The horizontal size of the overlay screen in pixels.

Platform Style Attributes

The style attributes of a platform specify the styles applied to different aspects of the screens used by the platform. Style definitions must exist before these attributes can be set. The final appearance of the screen will be affected by the overall application of styles according to the style hierarchy. There are three groups of style elements for the platform: Screen Styles, Detail Screen Styles, and List Screen Styles. Screen styles affect all screens used by the platform regardless of screen type. Detail screen and list screen styles affect only those screens of the corresponding type.

All style attributes for the platform definition may be set statically by selecting the style from a list, or by returning the name of a style to apply from a rule definition. Rules evaluated for style attributes are expected to return a string value containing the name of the style to apply and are evaluated in the context of the object displayed by the parent screen set.

Screen Styles

Tabs: The style to apply to the tab controls representing each screen within an object screen set. Has no affect on screens within a transaction or fetch screen set.
Buttons: The style to apply to all button definitions for screens used by the platform.
Focused Buttons: The style to apply to the button that currently has the focus.

Detail Screen Styles

Screen: The style to apply to the screen as a whole. This will affect all portions of the screen not displaying a field or button.
Fields: The style to apply to all fields displayed on the screen.
Focused Fields: The style to apply to the field that currently has the focus.
Hyperlinks: The style to field labels defined to be hyperlinks.

List Screen Styles

Screen: The style to the list screen as a whole. This will affect all portions of the screen not displaying a list, header label, detail pane, or button.
Header Label: The style to apply to the list screen’s header label. If no header label is defined this attribute has no affect on the screen.
Column Labels: The style to apply to the column labels on the screen’s list control.
Rows: The style to apply to all rows on the list screen. The Hyperlinks optional style will override the Rows style for cells with hyperlinks.
Alternate Rows: The style to apply to every other row in the list, beginning with the second row. The Hyperlinks optional style will override the Alternate Rows style for every other row, specifically cells containing hyperlinks within the row.
Highlight Rows: The style to apply to a row for the purposes of drawing attention to that row. This style should always be returned via a rule definition that evaluates the object being listed. The optional Hyperlinks style will be applied to the highlighted row’s cells containing a hyperlink.
Selected Rows: The style to apply to the row currently selected by the user in the list control. The optional Hyperlink style will be applied to any cells within the selected row containing a hyperlink.
Detail Pane: The style to apply to both the foreground (text) and background of the list screen’s detail pane. If no detail pane is defined this attribute has no affect on the screen.

Platform Button Attributes

Platforms defined within a screen set displaying a transaction or fetch include an additional set of attributes related to the buttons displayed on screens used by the platform. Screens within this type of screen do not contain button definitions, but rather contain buttons added to each screen automatically by the Client based on the action that displayed the parent screen set and the position of each screen within the screen set.

Cancel Action Details: The label for cancel buttons that will cancel the action currently being executed.
Previous Screen Details: The label for buttons that allow users to navigate to the previous screen in the current screen set.
Previous Record Details: The label for buttons that allow users to navigate to the previous transaction instance. This button is displayed on the first screen of a screen set when being displayed by an action with looping behavior.
Next Screen Details: The label for buttons that allow users to navigate to the next screen in the current screen set.
Next Screen (no back up) Details: The label for buttons that allow users to complete the current instance of a wizard in a loop and start the next iteration; or to move from one wizard to the next when multiple wizards are displayed by the action.
Complete Action Details: The label for buttons displayed on the last screen of a screen set, when there are no additional screen sets displayed by the action and when the current screen set is not being displayed in a loop.
Complete Action Details: The label for buttons displayed on the last screen of screen set being displayed in a loop and that will end that loop.

Platform Screens List

The Properties view for a platform definition within the Agentry Editor includes a Screens tab. This tab lists all screens within the same parent screen set of the platform. Within this list the screens to be used by the platform can be selected. The screens listed here are not child definitions to the platform, but rather a children of the screen set. If a new screen is added to the screen set by starting the Add Screen Wizard from the platform view, that screen will automatically be used by that platform.