Display properties

Display properties are set on node types and member types. Properties set on node types apply to nodes created with the type. Properties set on member types apply to node members created with the member type.

Each property is represented by a member. The member target is the type of property being set, and the member value is the value for the property.

Properties are defined in the system.PROPERTIES package.

Some properties apply only to node types, some to member types, and some to both.

Some member type properties can be defaulted at the node type, shown by a D in the Node Type column. See default specification below for a description of how defaults are specified.

NameReference within system.PROPERTIESNode TypeMember TypeDescription
Action Button actionButton   ● If set to true, adds an action button to the edit view of the member type.

An action button works like the "save" button, but it then executes the the node and responds the results as if execute node had been called. See Action scripts.
Action Caption actionCaption   ● If action button is set, the caption for the action button. Defaults to "Submit".
Action Method actionMethod   ● If action button is set, the method for the execute. Defaults to system.NODE_SCRIPT.

This can be specified as a reference or an identifier.

Anything following the first : in the actionMethod will be passed as a string to the method as actionParameter.
Action Title actionTitle   ● Sets the title attribute for the action button. Default is no title.
Body Class bodyClass ●   Additional class or classes to be added to the <body> tag.
Breadcrumb Levels breadcrumbLevels ●   Maximum number of levels of breadcrumb to show above nodes of this type. Default is 4.
Data Name dataName   ● Used in combination with the display class of data. The name to use for the data. Must contain only a-z, A-Z and 0-9 (any other characters will be removed).
Display Class displayClass ● ● A string which is used to determine which node render classes to use for the node or member type.

This is optional – if it is not set then a suitable render class will be picked automatically.

Available display classes for nodes:

  • node-extension – The node extension data will be output as HTML in place of the entire page. See Extension scripts.
  • file – The node data will be rendered as a file. See Files.

Available display classes for member types:

  • member-extension – the member type extension data and member extension data will be output as HTML in place of the normal member display. See Extension scripts.
  • data - generates JavaScript statements inside a ScriptTag to recreate the member type and members as JavaScript objects. The object follows the same structure as the output from the GetNode service. For consistency, all structural elements (i.e. elements containing other elements) are treated as arrays, including the Member element (but not the DisplayProperties). Character data inside elements that also contain other elements is discarded.

    The name of the created object is taken from the local name of the member type, or from the com.metrici.advisor.properties.dataName display property.

    If the cardinality of the member is 1, then the object will contain the value, scale, nodeVersionReferenceTarget, nodeNameTarget, nodeDescriptionTarget and mayReadTarget.

    If the cardinality of the member is greater than 1, then the object will be an array of the above.

    Numeric values are output as numbers. String values are fully escaped. Any numeric values in the Extension element are treated as strings.

    Member types with display class of data are always output, they ignore the system.PROPERTIES.show display class.

    The data display class is deprecated and likely to be removed in later versions.
Enter Other Targets enterOtherTargets D ● Where a member type allows any targets, setting this to false will suppress the entry of other targets in edit view. To the user it will appear as if other targets are not allowed, though the underlying database will permit other targets.
Extension Show Members extensionShowMembers ● ● For a node type, on browse view, if set to false, then member types will not be shown with the node extension. Default is true, which means the member types will be shown as well as the node extension.

For a member type, on browse view, if set to false, then member data will not be shown with the member type extension. Default is true, which means the member data will be shown as well as the member type extension.

In each case, the extension has to be active, i.e. have both the display class set and an Extension element, to suppress the showing of member types and members.
Extension Show Members Edit extensionShowMembersEdit ● ● Like extensionShowMembers, but for edit.
File Class fileClass ●   When displayClass is "file", identifies the source of the file. See Files.
Footer Edit footerEdit D ● Block of text to show at the bottom of the section when editing this member type.
Head head ● ● Content to be added to HTML HEAD section in browse view. Will be filtered.
Head Edit headEdit ● ● Content to be added to HTML HEAD section in edit view. Will be filtered.
Help help ●  

Help for instances of his node type. One of:

  • marked up help text. Use divs with class help-title and help-body to format the help.
  • node version reference of a node the name and description of which will be used for help text.
  • none, which suppresses help text for this node type.
  • *, which means use the name and description of the node type. This is the default.
Member Layout memberLayout D ● How to lay the member out, i.e. whether to format the value, scale and target across the page or down the page. For cardinality 1, this is always "down". For cardinality 0 or > 1, can be set to "across" or "down". Default is "across". When it is down, value, scale, target and comment (if any) are arranged down the page, not across the page.
Member Order memberOrder D ● Order in which members should be presented. One of "name", "reference", "value", "scale", "scale-descending" or "asis". "asis" is the default, and means that targets should be presented in the order in which they are defined. "name" and "reference" use the target name and reference.
Member Type Help memberTypeHelp D ●

Help for this member type. One of:

  • marked up help text. Use divs with class help-title and help-body to format the help.
  • node version reference of a node the name and description of which will be used for help text.
  • none, which suppresses help text for this member type.
  • *, which means use the name and description of the member type. This is the default.
Multipart multipart ●   For node types, indicates that the edit view might have form data (e.g a file upload), and needs to have enctype="multipart/form-data" added.
Navigation Filter navigationFilter ●   A space-delimited list of ids for navigation items to be included, in the order in which they should be included.

This can be used to remove standard navigation items from the list, or to merge custom navigation items inserted by extensions into the desired place in the list. The standard items are:

  • nav-edit-group - edit the node
  • nav-search - go to search
  • nav-properties - properties block (e.g. reference, type, etc)
  • nav-admin-group - refresh, show audit, admin

If this property is omitted, all available navigation items are included.
Not Entered Caption notEnteredCaption D ● Caption to use when no members have been entered for this member type. Defaults to "not entered".
Part Order partOrder D ● The order in which to present the scale, value and target. A whitespace-delimited list, e.g. "target value" puts target before value. Default is "value scale target".
Preamble Edit preambleEdit D ● Block of text to show at the top of the section when editing this member type. This can be used to ask a question.
Save Caption saveCaption ●   Caption for the save button. Defaults to "Save", but in other cases "Finish" or "Submit" might be more appropriate.
Save Return saveReturn ●   Where the user should be returned to when Save is pressed, assuming there is no closeRedirectURL set. One of three values:
  • tab - return user to browse view of same tab
  • node - return user to first tab of same node
  • package - return user to parent package
Scale Caption scaleCaption D ● Caption to be used for scale. Defaults to "" where members do not repeat, and "Scale" where they do repeat.
Scale Preamble Edit scalePreambleEdit D ● Block of text to show before the scale when editing this member type. Shown after the scale caption, if any. Only shown when cardinality is 1, or when Member Layout is down.
Section Class sectionClass D ● CSS class to be added to each/the member type section. See CSS classes.
Show show D ● Whether or not a member types should be shown in the browse screen. Member type defaults to node type. Default is true.
Show All Tab showAllTab ●   Set to true to show an All tab which lists all member types. Default is false.
Show Apply Button showApplyButton ●   Whether to show the Apply button on the edit screen, i.e. the button that saves the changes and remains on the same screen. Default is true, set to false to suppress.
Show Back Button showBackButton ●   Whether to show the Back button on the edit view. Default is false, set to true to switch on.
Show Cancel Button showCancelButton ●   Whether to show the Cancel button on the edit screen. Default is true, set to false to suppress.
Show Control Edit showControlEdit ●   Whether to show the control section on the edit screen. Can be set to:
  • true - show
  • false - do not show
  • auto
    • For creates, show, unless nodeLocalReference is $auto, in which case do not show.
    • For updates, do not show

In all cases, if there is an error in the control section, the control section is shown.

The default is auto.
Show Edit showEdit D ● Whether to allow editing of the member type. Member type defaults to node type, although it does not apply to node type as such. Default is true.
Show Empty showEmpty D ● Whether to show member types with no data on the browse screen. Member type defaults to node type. Default is false.
Show Impact Button showImpactButton ●   Whether to show the Impact button on the edit screen. Default is false, set to true to show.
Show Member Type Heading showMemberTypeHeading D ● Whether to show member type headings on browse view. Member type defaults to node type. Default is true.
Show Member Type Heading Edit showMemberTypeHeadingEdit D ● Whether to show member type headings on edit view. Member type defaults to node type. Default is true.
Show Navigation showNavigation ●   Indicates whether standard navigation should be shown.
Show Next Button showNextButton ●   Whether to show the Next button on the edit view. Default is false, set to true to switch on.
Show Save Button showSaveButton ●   Whether to show the Save (and Close) button on the edit screen. Default is true, set to false to suppress.
Show Sequence Number showSequenceNumber ●D ● Whether to show member type sequence numbers on the browse and edit view. Member type defaults to node. Node-level also specifies whether sequence numbers should be shown on tabs. Default is false.
Show Target Description showTargetDescription D ● Set to true to show target description. Default is false.
Show Target Link showTargetLink D ● Set to false to suppress link to target. Default is true.
Show Target Name showTargetName D ● Set to false to suppress view of target name. Default is true.
Show Target Reference showTargetReference D ● Set to true to show target reference. Default is false.
Target Caption targetCaption D ● Caption to be used for target. Defaults to "" where members do not repeat, and "Target" where they do repeat.
Target Layout targetLayout D ● How to layout the target input. One of:
  • dropdown (default) - user selects target from drop down
  • line - user enters target reference
  • radio - user selects target from radio list
  • checkbox - user selects targets using checkboxes
  • across - user selects target from radio list formatted across the page

radio and across only make sense when cardinality is 1, and checkbox only makes sense when cardinality is 0 or greater than 1.

In all cases except line, if the member type allows any target, a line input will also be shown.
Target Not Entered Caption targetNotEnteredCaption D ● Caption to use when target has not been entered. Defaults to "not entered".
Target Not Entered Description targetNotEnteredDescription D ● Description to use when target has not been entered. Default to no description.
Target Not Entered Position targetNotEnteredPosition D ● Where in the list of targets to put the "not entered" target. Valid values are "top" or "bottom". Default is "bottom". Applies to dropdown, radio and across target layouts only.
Target Order targetOrder D ● Member type property. Order for target list. One of "asis", "name" or "reference". "asis" is the default, and means to leave the target list as defined.
Target Preamble Edit targetPreambleEdit D ● Block of text to show before the target when editing this member type. Shown after the scale caption, if any. Only shown when cardinality is 1, or when Member Layout is down.
Value Caption valueCaption D ● Caption to be used for value. Defaults to "" where members do not repeat, and "Value" where they do repeat.
Value Class valueClass D ● One or more CSS classes to add to the value, in both browse and edit views. For example, set to "code" to format script data.  See CSS classes.
Value Preamble Edit valuePreambleEdit D ● Block of text to show before the value when editing this member type. Shown after the value caption, if any. Only shown when cardinality is 1, or when Member Layout is down.
Value Type valueType D ● How the value should be displayed:
  • markup - multiple lines of text that can contain HTML markup (default)
  • text – a block of multiple lines of unformatted text. Newlines and indents are shown as is.
  • line – a single line of text, no markup
Value Width valueWidth D ● Width for value. Use as the size attribute for single line input boxes, and with cols attribute for text areas. Default is 50.

For finer control, set the valueClass and use CSS.
Verbatim verbatim ● ● If set to true, HTML values will be written out exactly as is, and will not be run through the HTML filter.

When set on a node type, this applies to HTML returned from extensions for the node.

When set on a member type, this applied to HTML returned from member type or member extensions for the node, or from node values.

DEPRECATED - not found to be useful.

Default specification

When the node type level provides property value defaults for the member type level, a value from the node type property is used for the member type if no member type property is given.

The defaulting can be either simple or reference-based.

With simple defaulting the value of the node type property is used, or, more specifically, the trimmed value from the first non-blank line of the property is used.

With reference-based defaulting, each line of the node type property is of the form:

reference list : value

Where reference list is a blank-delimited list of references for the member types, and value is the value to be used.

The references for the member types are the nested sequence numbers, either with or without their tab reference prefixes.

If "reference list :" is omitted, then the value is taken as the overall default.

Blank lines, and lines that start with #, are ignored.

Example, with comments:

# Grade format specification
# Overall default is "down the page"
down
# Questions 1, 2, 2.3 and question 4 on tab A use across
1 2 2.3 A/4:across
# Questions 3 and 8 use the short form
3 8:short

The node level always takes the overall default.

A single value provides a default which is used in all cases, i.e. simple defaulting is just a special case of reference-based defaulting.