GT Action Center Setup Tips
The GT Action Center is a supplementary interface that enables eForm approvers to approve bulk form actions for forms in a Pending status.
Support
The default configuration for the Action Center provides mass approval and denial capability for forms in an approver’s worklist. It also displays generic form information common between all form types. The installation of the Action Center and this default configuration is supported as part of the GT eForms enterprise license. Additional configuration and coding can be added to tailor the display and function of the Action Center, but consulting assistance is highly recommended and, in many cases, required to take advantage of these extensions. This document provides some information for these extensions.
Configurations
Navigation: Manage GT eForms 3.x > GT Functional Setup > GT Action Center Setup > GT Action Center Setup
Header
| Feature | Use |
|---|---|
| Version | Version 2.5 is the default version selected in this field and is the only version users should select. |
| Current Setup (Dropdown) | You may create 1 or many profiles to store different GT Action Center configurations. Defaults to "Setup 1". Change to another available profile by selecting a value from this dropdown. Sets the selected profile as the current, active profile that will be seen in the GT Action Center. |
| Remember Me (Button) | To add a new profile, click the "Remember Me" button. Clicking this button displays the "Setup Name" field. |
| Setup Name | Enter a new profile name here to save the current configuration as a new profile. Tabbing out of this field displays the "Save Setup" button. |
| Save Setup (Button) | Click this button to save a new setup named after the contents of the "Setup Name" field. Sets the new profile as the current, active profile. |
| Root Package ID (Prompt) | Specify a new application package here for creating / overriding AC default behavior. The new package should have a class that extends the G3ACT:ActionCenter class. Creating a LogicParts class in the new package and including smart source or visual if methods here like for any form type per the API document. |
| Source of Forms Displayed (Dropdown) | Defaults to "View", which means that the value in the "Form Source View Name" field will serve as the basis for selecting forms for display in the Action Center. Select "SQL" to specify SQL as the basis for selecting forms instead of the view specified in the "Form Source View Name" field. Any SQL replacement must have the same fields as the G3FRM_WRKLST_VW, though it may include additional fields. |
| Form Source View Name (Prompt) | Defaults to "G3FRM_WRKLST_VW". This view is used to select forms for display in the Action Center. Specify another value as desired. Will likely require the creation of a new view if another is desired. A new view must have the same fields as the G3FRM_WRKLST_VW, though it may include additional fields. |
| Max Forms to Display | Allows you to set the number of forms needing approval that appear in the GT Action Center. Defaults to 100. |
| Reset to DEFAULT (Button) | Reset the current profile to the default values used in Version 2.5. |
Filter Setup
| Feature | Use |
|---|---|
| Filter Field Source (Dropdown) | Action Center Setup is the Default. When Action Center Setup is set, the filter fields use the configuration on the setup page to determine the content to display in GT Action Center. When App Package is set, the user handles the filter fields manually through the override App Package specified in the Root Package ID Field in the Header. |
| Dynamic Field Position (Checkbox) | Selected by default. If filter fields are invisible based on Show Visual If in the grid and this is selected, visible filter fields will rearrange to fill empty spaces. |
| Columns | The number of columns into which to place the filter fields as they are rendered in the Action Center. The max is 3. |
| Seq | Sequence number for displaying / rendering filter fields in the Action Center. |
| Smart Source Type (Dropdown) | Source for form field filtering. The value in this field determines which of the fields on the row show for entering smart source values. Dropdown options are Form Field, General / Search Record, and PeopleCode. Be careful to use only Action-Center friendly smart sources, as many depend upon a single-form context. See Filter Setup overview above. |
| General / Search Record Smart Source (Dropdown) | These reference the fields that can be used to filter and comes from the following two records: G3FORMLIST (main GT form metatable) and Form List View record (which defaults to G3FRM_WRKLST_VW) |
| Form Field Smart Source (Prompt) | Any form record tag / field tag combination may be used here. If the field does not exist for a particular form, then the value returns blank when the filters are applied to the forms in the list. |
| PeopleCode SmartSource (Prompt) | Choose to specify a PeopleCode smart source. Make sure that any selected PeopleCode smart source is not form-context-specific, but is either system-specific (such as Current Oprid), Action-Center specific (such as those created in an override package's Action Center class that reference \&ActionCenter.ActForm). |
| SmSrc Returns | Read-only field that specifies the type of value returned by the indicated smart source. |
| Label | The label for the filter field when rendered in the Action Center. |
| Display Type (Dropdown) | Specify the display type for the filter field here. Options: Date: Indicates the display of a date field for selecting a filter date. Dropdown: Indicates the display of a dropdown. Requires specifying SQL that returns two values: a value and a description. Edit: Indicates the display of an edit box. Prompt: Indicates the display for an edit field. Requires specifying SQL that returns two values: a value and a description. |
| Edit SQL (Button) | Specify SQL here for returning two values for dropdown and prompt display types - a value and a description. Example: SELECT DISTINCT G3FORM_TYPE, G3FORM_TYPE || ' - ' || DESCR FROM %Table(G3FORM_TYPE_TBL) This example displays form type and a description consisting of the form type value with its description. |
| Show | Specify a Visual If here to determine whether to show the filter field. It is useful with ACT Flt ... visual ifs. Only a couple are supplied. The user may want to create more ACT Flt. SmartSources in their override package. Use the ACT Flt Form Type SmartSource to only show a filter for a specific Form Type. For example, if you have a form type that has the DEPTID field in the form, you can conditionally show the DEPTID field to use as a filter for just that form type. |
| + (plus buton) | Add a Row |
| – (minus button) | Delete a Row |
Delivered Action Center smart sources follow a naming convention of starting with “ACT”. Non-ACT smart sources may be used with the ACT, but as not all smart sources are valid for the ACT context, that naming convention helps to distinguish some that may be used within that context.
The following description applies to the delivered smart sources:
Group 1 - (Valid for Action Center)
Current OPRID
Current Date
Generic, system-wide PeopleCode smart sources, such as Current Oprid or Current Date
Group 2 - (Invalid for Action Center)
Form Type
Form Condition
Form Type and Form Condition, consists of GT-delivered smart sources that not valid for the ACT. They refer to the single-form context of creating, viewing or editing a single eForm.
Group 3 - (Valid for Action Center)
ACT Form Type
ACT Form Condition
ACT Form Type and ACT Form Condition, consists of GT-delivered smart sources that are valid for the ACT when used within the summary or details grids in the ACT setup.
Group 4 - (Valid for Action Center)
ACT Flt Form Type
ACT Flt Form Condition
ACT Flt Form Type and ACT Flt Form Condition, consists of GT-delivered smart sources that are valid for the ACT when used within the summary, details or filters grids in the ACT setup. They refer to the values selected from within the filter field values in the ACT. A developer may create similar methods for additional filter smart sources within a user-created override application package within Application Designer.
Group 5 - (Valid for Action Center)
[PAGEREC:EMPLID]
[GRID01:DEPTID]
Form field Smart Sources include both column and grid form fields. With grid fields we need to specify it will return every row in the grid. Grids work best with a Vertical Layout in Summary and Details.
Group 6 - (Invalid for Action Center)
[SUPERTAG:DESCR]
[DEPTTAG:DESCR]
Data Pool Smart Sources cannot be used for the GT Action Center. The data pool is not loaded for the forms that are loaded in GT Action Center.
Form Type and Condition Setup
Form Type Condition Setup and Summary
| Feature | Use |
|---|---|
| Override HTML (Checkbox) | By default this checkbox is unchecked. This allows you to use the setup configuration on the page to set the layout in the Summary / Detail sections in the GT Action Center. Checking this box allows you to configure the setup based on HTML code. Checking this box will hide several fields in the header and displays an Add HTML button to load in the HTML. See the Show HTML button below to use as a starting point for this option. Using HTML can give the user the ability to put in additional functionality not available in the setup such as the color of the text or borders. |
| Layout (Dropdown) | Directional options for how the fields are laid out on the GT Action Center page. The options are “Horizontal”, which is the default, or you may select "Vertical". |
| Column Separator (Dropdown) | Specifies where to render a vertical bar between columns. Options: Even: Every even column's left side. Designed for label / value rendering. This is the default. All: Every column separated by a vertical bar. None: No bars show. |
| Color | Specify a hexadecimal value here as a background color for rendering a form type / condition combination. This does not appear when Override HTML checkbox is unchecked. |
| Columns | This is the # of columns to divide the dynamic HTML rendering for the form. The default setting is 4. This does not appear when Override HTML checkbox is unchecked. |
| Dynamic Field Position (Checkbox) | Whether to retain a placeholder for invisible parameters. Invisible means that the Visual If for the row has resolved to "false"; it does not mean that the field value is blank, though a Visual If may be added to the parameter to return false if the value is blank. If Flow is selected, then visible parameters shift to fill empty spots created by invisible ones. If deselected, invisible parameters leave "holes" - empty spots - in the rendering. This does not appear when Override HTML checkbox is unchecked. |
| Add HTML (Button) | This appears when Override HTML checkbox is checked. Click this button to add HTML as a template for rendering a form in the GT Action Center. |
| Copy (Button) | Click this button to set a template for copying and pasting setup from one grid to another within the setup. |
| Paste (Button) | Click this button to paste the configuration from one grid to another within the setup. One click of the copy button suffices for pasting in multiple places. A summary configuration may serve as the template for pasting into a detail configuration and vice versa. |
| Show HTML (Button) | Click this button to create sample HTML based upon the configuration for the form type / condition combination. Clicking the button finds a form of the existing form type / condition and creates HTML code from it for pasting into the "Add HTML" button's field, replacing form values with binds. |
Use the Form Type and Condition Setup for displaying different layout combinations in the GT Action Center. A default row with a Form Type of "ALL” and Form Condition of “ALL” is required for rendering form type / condition combinations that are not covered in other setup options.
The GT Action Center will look for a Form Type and Condition that is an exact match. If one does not exist it will look for a Form Type match and use the ALL condition if one exists in the setup. If the form type does not have a match, then it will use the “ALL” Form Type setup.
If you want the same setup for all Form Types and Form Conditions, you do not need to add rows. If you want to have a different layout based on Form Types and Form Conditions, you will need to click the + button to add them. You can use the Copy / Paste buttons to minimize the amount of data entry in the setup. Use the layout for the Summary page in GT Action Center in the Summary grid. Use the Detail grid to setup the layout for the information in the “More Info” button in the GT Action Center.
Summary and Detail Grids
| Feature | Use |
|---|---|
| Seq | Sequence number for displaying parameters in order. Must consist of single integers without gaps (1,2,3...). |
| Type (Dropdown) | The following options are used to determine the source of the data: Form XML Data: Obtain the value from the form data. Refers to the XML visible within the admin tool. See below for how to access the data. Constant: Select to specify a constant parameter value in the "Constant Value" field, which appears when this option is selected. Smart Source: Select this value to show the smart source field to specify a smart source for the parameter. NOTE: This option only works if a specific form type is selected in the 'Form Type and Condition Setup' section. It does not work for the default 'ALL' form types configuration. Users attempting to configure Smart Sources for ALL form types will encounter errors upon attempting to access the Action Center interface. |
| Constant Value | Specify any, desired constant here. Useful for creating labels. Add colon if desired. Select the "Bold" checkbox to make a value (label) bold. |
| Form Field / PeopleCode Smart Source | Specify a smart source to use as the data source for the parameter. Data pool values are not available here, but field tags are. NOTE: This option only works if a specific form type is selected in the 'Form Type and Condition Setup' section. It does not work for the default 'ALL' form types configuration. Users attempting to configure Smart Sources for ALL form types will encounter errors upon attempting to access the Action Center interface. |
| XML Data Reference | Specify a field from the form to use as the data source for the parameter. Data pool values are not available here, but field tags are. |
| Make Data Bold (Checkbox) | Deselected by default. Select to render as bold. |
| Add Line Break (Checkbox) | Deselected by default. Selecting this adds a manual break in the rendering. Horizontal alignment adds a row wrap here. Vertical alignment adds a wrap to the following column. Horizontal alignment allows any number of breaks, but vertical alignment requires that the number of breaks equal the number of columns minus one. In other words, if the user specifies vertical alignment with 4 columns and a break, the user must then specify ALL breaks that will be rendered. For example, if a user specifies 10 parameters, the first three are used to render the title, and if a break is specified after parameters 4, 5 and 6, then the user will see the following layout:  |
| Add Modifiers (Button) | Specify text here to modify the resolved value for the parameter row. Modifiers may be delivered or user-created. See Appendix 2 for additional content. |
| Show | Specify a Visual If here for whether to show a parameter when rendering a form. |
| + (plus button) | Add a Row |
| - (minus button) | Delete a Row |
The first 3 parameters are used for rendering the form title. The remaining parameters are for rendering the summary or detail view. If fewer than three parameters are supplied, the user will see a warning message on the Action Center row stating that too few parameters were supplied instead of the form data.
Message Catalog
Message Set Number 24845 is reserved for configurable messages related to the GT Action Center. Users can use the references Message Catalog number to configure messaging to Action Center users.
Appendix 1 - Path
The path for extracting the form value from its data. Skips some basic, parent nodes (PSMessage > MsgData > Transaction > G3FORMLIST).
To reference the form id (105156) from the following structure, specify G3FORM_ID as the field value:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<PSMessage>
<FieldTypes>
<PSCAMA class="R">
<LANGUAGE_CD type="CHAR"/>
<AUDIT_ACTN type="CHAR"/>
<BASE_LANGUAGE_CD type="CHAR"/>
<MSG_SEQ_FLG type="CHAR"/>
<PROCESS_INSTANCE type="NUMBER"/>
<PUBLISH_RULE_ID type="CHAR"/>
<MSGNODENAME type="CHAR"/>
</PSCAMA>
</FieldTypes>
<MsgData>
<Transaction>
<G3FORMLIST class="R">
<G3FORM_ID>105156</G3FORM_ID>
<G3FORM_TYPE>BKE1</G3FORM_TYPE>
<G3FORM_CONDITION>Default</G3FORM_CONDITION>
<G3FORM_STATUS>P</G3FORM_STATUS>
...
To reference the GSINTEGER1 value (1) here, specify GSSEGMENT1.GSINTEGER1 as the value:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<PSMessage>
<FieldTypes>
<PSCAMA class="R">
<LANGUAGE_CD type="CHAR"/>
<AUDIT_ACTN type="CHAR"/>
<BASE_LANGUAGE_CD type="CHAR"/>
<MSG_SEQ_FLG type="CHAR"/>
<PROCESS_INSTANCE type="NUMBER"/>
<PUBLISH_RULE_ID type="CHAR"/>
<MSGNODENAME type="CHAR"/>
</PSCAMA>
</FieldTypes>
<MsgData>
<Transaction>
<G3FORMLIST class="R">
<G3FORM_ID>105156</G3FORM_ID>
<G3FORM_TYPE>BKE1</G3FORM_TYPE>
<G3FORM_CONDITION>Default</G3FORM_CONDITION>
...
<ATTACHUSERFILE/>
<G3REQUIRED/>
<G3ATT_INSTR/>
</G3FORM_ATTACH>
</G3FORMLIST>
<GSSEGMENT1 class="R">
<G3FORM_ID>105156</G3FORM_ID>
<GSINTEGER1>1</GSINTEGER1>
<GSINTEGER2>2</GSINTEGER2>
<GSINTEGER3>3</GSINTEGER3>
<GSINTEGER4>4</GSINTEGER4>
<GSINTEGER5>7</GSINTEGER5>
<GSINTEGER6>6</GSINTEGER6>
<GSINTEGER7>7</GSINTEGER7>
<GSINTEGER8>8</GSINTEGER8>
</GSSEGMENT1>
</Transaction>
</MsgData>
</PSMessage>
Appendix 2 - Modifiers
Modifier syntax: Modifier name, space
Delivered modifiers (as visible in the G3ACT:ActionCenter class):
Concat - Substitutes the :1 bind with the resolved value.
- Example: Concat All your :1 are belong to us.
- Resolved value: base
- Result: All your base are belong to us.
OprDescr - Returns the user description.
- Example: OprDescr
- Resolved value: GTC
- Result: Gideon Taylor
SQL - Returns the result of a SQL query that takes the resolved value as a parameter.
- Example:
SELECT DESCR
FROM PS_DEPT_TBL A
WHERE
SETID = 'SHARE'
AND DEPTID = :1
AND EFFDT = (
SELECT MAX(EFFDT)
FROM PS_DEPT_TBL
WHERE
SETID = A.SETID
AND DEPTID = A.DEPTID
AND EFFDT <= SYSDATE
);
- Resolved value: 0000000101
- Result: My Department 101 Descr
USCurrency - Formats a number as U.S. currency
- Example: USCurrency :1
- Resolved value: 5.350000
- Result: $5.35
XlatLong - Returns a long translate value.
- Example: XlatLong MY_FIELD
- Resolved value: 01
- Result: My 01 Value
XlatShort - Returns a short translate value.
- Example: XlatShort MY_FIELD
- Resolved value: 01
- Result: My01Val
For the user to create modifiers, they should create a method named MOD_<ModifierName> in the override class. For examples, see any MOD_ method in the G3ACT:ActionCenter class`.