openCRX Basic Customizing Guide

Version 2.13.0

www.opencrx.org

WORK in PROGRESS

20-Aug-2014 @ 04:46:37 PM

1 About this Book

This book describes various ways of customizing the openCRX AJAX HTML GUI to adapt the look and feel to your personal tastes and preferences or to your company's CI (corporate identity).

openCRX is the leading enterprise-class open source CRM suite. openCRX is based on openMDX, an open source MDA framework based on the OMG's model driven architecture (MDA) standards. This guarantees total openness, standards compliance, a state-of-the-art component-based architecture, and virtually unlimited scalability.

1.1 Who this book is for

The intended audience are openCRX administrators and advanced users.

1.2 What do you need to understand this book

It is helpful to have a good understanding of the openCRX architecture. We assume that you are able to read/understand the openCRX UML models and the openCRX Javadoc (Java API). It is also assumed that you are familiar with XML files and you should know how to program JSPs.

1.3 Tips, Warnings, etc.

We make use the following pictograms:

2 Prerequisites

To work through some of the examples and in particular to build your own customized openCRX, there are some prerequisites:

• openCRX Server (v2.13.0 or newer).

You can either follow the openCRX Server Installer documentation at http://www.opencrx.org/server.htm or you can do a manual installation of openCRX following the guide openCRX Manual Installation Tomcat 6.

• openCRX SDK (v2.13.0 or newer).

Follow the openCRX SDK Installer documentation at http://www.opencrx.org/sdk.htm.

• Most of the openCRX customizing files are UTF-8 encoded (see Wikipedia for information on UTF-8 encoding) and if you intend to edit such files you must use an UTF-8 enabled editor. Many simple text editors work fine (e.g. Notepad on Windows, gedit or kate on Linux), but make sure you test your editor of choice before you waste a lot of time and end up with ruined files that are not properly encoded anymore.

• While you can manage all your changes “manually”, we recommend the use of an openCRX custom project. If you manage your changes and extensions to the standard distribution of openCRX with a custom project, you will be able to easily migrate your changes/extensions to new versions of openCRX. Furthermore, you can easily build customized openCRX EARs. Instructions on how to create an openCRX custom project are available from the openCRX Wiki (see “How to create custom projects”).

  Throughout this guide we assume that the custom project is called sample and the data directory is org.opencrx.sample. Hence, most of the files you will be changing/creating in this guide are contained in one of the subdirectories of the directory
  ...\opencrx-custom\sample\src\data\org.opencrx.sample

If you decide to manipulate files directly in the apps folder, the same files are contained in one of the subdirectories of the directory
{TOMCAT_INSTALL_DIR}\apps\opencrx-core-CRX

3 Adapting the openCRX HTML GUI to Your Needs

3.1 Overview openCRX GUI Types

openCRX is distributed with a generic but extremely powerful and feature-rich HTML-GUI (built with the Bootstrap framework) that works on any device. This AJAX-enabled HTML-GUI supports a wide range of modern browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari, IE, etc. and it supports any device including mobile devices (iPhone, iPad, Android-based devices, etc.).

While this generic GUI has its strengths (entirely model-driven, light-weight, open and extensible), it also has its weaknesses (at times it can be hard to understand unless you are familiar with the openCRX UML model). While we are continuously enhancing the openCRX GUI, it is still a fact that it is nearly impossible to write a “one size fits all” GUI.

Another option you might consider is REST (Representational State Transfer); see also http://www.opencrx.org/opencrx/2.3/new.htm#REST and the openCRX Wiki (“How to use the REST servlet”).

openCRX includes a set of servlets (caldav, ical, imap, vcard, rest, news, ...) allowing you to connect to openCRX with a wide range of specialized third-party clients like Mozilla Thunderbird, MS Outlook, SmartPhones, and others:

Figure 3: openCRX Servlets enabling access with third-party clients

3.2 Customizing Options openCRX HTML GUI

The openCRX Standard HTML GUI can be customized in many ways to suit your needs:

Figure 4: Customizing Options – openCRX Standard HTML GUI

Basic customizing options are relatively straight-forward and require no (or only moderate) programming know how. Advanced customizing options, however, require a good understanding of the openCRX architecture. This guide covers basic customizing options. If you're interested in advanced customizing options, have a look at the source code or consider attending an openCRX Developer Workshop (see www.opencrx.org for more information).

3.3 Things to do before you start Customizing openCRX

Adapting openCRX to your needs typically involves the following steps:

1. Collect the requirements of the (customized) application – this step requires a solid understanding of the business domain:

• your company's CI information (e.g. color schemes, fonts, etc.)

• business objects and their attributes

• mock screens or screen shots of existing applications

• typical use cases, workflows, etc.

2. Map the business requirements to openCRX – this step requires know how across both your business domain and the openCRX domain:

Note that openCRX objects are typically normalized, i.e. it is not uncommon that a single business object gets spread out across multiple openCRX objects. In other words, a single business object and its attributes often times do not map to a single openCRX object and its attributes. Example: mapping the data of a contact as it is available on a business card typically involves multiple openCRX objects like Contact (first/name, ...) or LegalEntity (company name) PostalAddress (street, city, zip code, ...) PhoneNumber (country code, number, extension, ...) Hence, study the openCRX UML models before you start the mapping process. Take your time as the openCRX UML models are very comprehensive; focus on those aspects of the model that are most relevant to your project, e.g. account1, activity1.

• map business objects to (possibly a list of) openCRX objects; depending on your business domain you might have to be a little inventive and maybe adapt/change the meaning of some of the openCRX objects

• map each attribute of your business objects to an attribute of an openCRX object

If you come to the conclusion that you need additional attributes in certain openCRX objects, do not jump at extending the openCRX UML model (such an undertaking requires a solid understanding of the openCRX architecture and the build processes). Instead, learn about and understand the following mechanisms for “adding” additional fields to an object: User-definable attributes of CrxObject DataBinding Property

3. Customizing the openCRX Standard HTML GUI – that is what this guide is all about...

Obviously, if you're only interested in changing some of the colors, there is not much to do in step 2 above. However, if you plan to capture your companies business objects, business processes, forms, etc. with openCRX, it pays off to spend some time on collecting the requirements and then properly map them to openCRX before you get down to customizing...

3.4 Limitations of the generic HTML GUI

Even though the openCRX HTML GUI is extremely flexible, we would like to point out a few limitations (not due to bad design, but rather we are looking at advanced features that have not been implemented yet).

3.4.1 Role-based UI

openCRX features UI perspectives, a mechanism that enables users to have different UI customizations based on the current role (e.g. one GUI for sales and another GUI for the back office). More information is available from http://www.opencrx.org/opencrx/2.3/new.htm#UIPerspectives.

Obviously, the same goal can also be achieved with multiple web applications. Simply create a custom project for each role / customization and then deploy multiple web applications.

3.4.2 Model Permissions

Model permissions are not implemented yet. Hence you cannot control access to individual attributes of an object with simple customization (the openCRX security plugin controls access to complete objects, not to individual attributes of an object). You can, however, deploy multiple web applications or work with Layout JSPs to achieve the same goal. Alternatively, once the root admin (admin-Root) has defined a security policy, segment administrators can grant and/or revoke various GUI-level permissions . More information is available in the openCRX Admin Guide at http://www.opencrx.org/documents.htm.

4 Important Hints

The following information is so important that it deserves its own chapter!

4.1 Overloading

Overloading is a concept that allows you to selectively enhance (or even replace) features of the standard distribution of openCRX with your own changes and/or extensions.

Figure 5: openCRX Development and Customizing with Custom Project

4.1.1 File Overloading at the Project Level

Typically, files in your custom project will be added to the custom EARs. However, if a file in your custom project has the same name as a file of the standard distribution, your file will actually replace the respective file of the standard distribution when you build custom EARs.

4.1.2 UI Configuration Overloading

It is likely that you want to change some of the default customizing. Quite possibly, however, (a) you want to make a few changes only and (b) you want to keep these changes if you upgrade to a new version of openCRX. This is where UI configuration overloading can add value. Instead of changing the original UI configuration files provided with the standard distribution you create a new configuration file (or multiple configuration files) containing all your changes. Make sure that you name your file(s) containing changed UI Element Definitions such that your changes are loaded AFTER the default configuration files, thereby overloading the original configuration.

More information is available in chapter 8.2 UI Configuration Overloading.

4.1.3 Code Table Overloading

Similar to UI configuration overloading, you can also overload code tables. Instead of changing original code tables you create new code table files that contain your changes/extensions. It is also possible to deactivate codes of the standard distribution. Make sure that you name your file(s) containing changed code tables such that your changes are loaded AFTER the default code tables, thereby overloading the code tables.

More information is available in chapter 9.2 Code Table Overloading.

4.2 “Adding” Fields / Extending Objects

Even though the openCRX UML Model covers a wide range of business objects, you may still want to “add” a field to a particular object. While the newbie's approach would be to add a field to the appropriate database table and then patch the code a bit here and there, take our advice and make use of the advanced extension mechanisms provided by openCRX.

4.2.1 User-definable attributes of CrxObject

To make an example, let's assume your Contacts absolutely need another String field to store the Yahoo! Messenger Nickname as shown below:

Figure 7: Add the string field Y!M nick to Contact objects

All you have to do to “add” the field Y!M nick to Contacts is to deploy the following UI customizing file zorder_contact.xml to the directory {TOMCAT_INSTALL_DIR}/apps/opencrx-core-CRX/opencrx-core-CRX/WEB-INF/config/ui/Root/en_US and then restart Tomcat.

Listing 1: UI Customizing File zorder_contact.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<org.openmdx.base.Authority xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" name="org:openmdx:ui1" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="xri://+resource/org/openmdx/ui1/xmi1/ui1.xsd">
<_object/>
<_content>
<provider>
<org.openmdx.base.Provider qualifiedName="CRX" _operation="null">
<_object/>
<_content>
<segment>
<org.openmdx.ui1.Segment qualifiedName="Root" _operation="null">
<_object/>
<_content>
<elementDefinition>
<org.openmdx.ui1.ElementDefinition name="org:opencrx:kernel:account1:Contact:userString0">
<_object>
<active>true</active>
<toolTip>
<_item>Y!M nick</_item>
</toolTip>
<label>
<_item>Y!M nick</_item>
</label>
<order>
<_item>0</_item> <!-- tab -->
<_item>0</_item> <!-- field group -->
<_item>75</_item> <!-- position -->
</order>
</_object>
<_content/>
</org.openmdx.ui1.ElementDefinition>
</elementDefinition>
</_content>
</org.openmdx.ui1.Segment>
</segment>
</_content>
</org.openmdx.base.Provider>
</provider>
</_content>
</org.openmdx.base.Authority>

The above file is – strictly speaking – not adding a field to the class Contact, it is rather activating the attribute userString0 of the class Contact (which it inherits from the class CrxObject). The field userString0 is already available in the standard distribution of openCRX, it's just not visible by default.

4.2.2 Property Data Bindings

What can you do if you need even more user-definable attributes, i.e. more than the ones provided by CrxObject? This is where the PropertyDataBinding concept comes in handy. With PropertyDataBindings you get access to a virtually unlimited pool of user-definable attributes. See chapter 8.7.1 PropertyDataBinding for a detailed introduction into this topic).

5 Managing Packages

5.1 Enabling/Disabling Packages at the Application Level

With the openCRX standard distribution all available packages are enabled. The openCRX administrator may wish to disable certain packages at the application level if they are not used. This chapter shows how you can achieve this.

In the custom project sample, the package list is contained in the file:

opencrx—custom\sample\src\data\org.opencrx.sample\WEB-INF\web.xml

Once deployed on Tomcat, the package list is contained in the file

apps\opencrx-core-CRX\opencrx-core-CRX\WEB-INF\web.xml

Look for the section <!-- Admin --> to find a list of available packages:

Listing 2: List of Packages in web.xml

<!-- Admin -->
<init-param>
<param-name>rootObject[0]</param-name>
<param-value>xri:@openmdx:org.opencrx.kernel.admin1/provider/CRX/segment/${SEGMENT}</param-value>
</init-param>
<!-- Home -->
<init-param>
<param-name>rootObject[1]</param-name>
<param-value>xri:@openmdx:org.opencrx.kernel.home1/provider/CRX/segment/${SEGMENT}/userHome/${USER}</param-value>
</init-param>
...

You can disable packages by commenting them out (<!-- to open a comment and --> to close a comment). The following example shows how to deactivate the package depot1:

Listing 3: Enabling/Disabling Packages in web.xml

...
</init-param>
<!-- Depots -->
<!--
<init-param>
<param-name>rootObject[6]</param-name>
<param-value>xri:@openmdx:org.opencrx.kernel.depot1/provider/CRX/segment/${SEGMENT}</param-value>
</init-param>
-->
<!-- Documents -->
<init-param>
<param-name>rootObject[6]</param-name>
<param-value>xri:@openmdx:org.opencrx.kernel.document1/provider/CRX/segment/${SEGMENT}</param-value>
</init-param>
<!-- Buildings -->
...

5.2 Enabling/Disabling Packages at the User Level

The most important personalization settings – including enabling/disabling of packages – are easily managed with the wizard User Settings. Navigate to your home page (click Home in the root menu) and then select Edit > User Settings from the main menu to start the User Settings Wizard.

6 Managing Locales

The default installation of openCRX activates all locales that are included in the Open Source distribution. The openCRX administrator may wish to deactivate certain locales from the locale list. This chapter shows how you how to do this.

6.1 Enabling/Disabling Locales at the Application Level

The locale list is contained in the file

opencrx-core-CRX.ear\opencrx-core-CRX.war\WEB-INF\web.xml

Look for the section <!-- locales --> to find a list of available locales:

Listing 4: Locales in web.xml

<!-- locales -->
<init-param>
<param-name>locale[0]</param-name>
<param-value>en_US</param-value>
</init-param>
<init-param>
<param-name>locale[1]</param-name>
<param-value>de_CH</param-value>
</init-param>
<init-param>
<param-name>locale[2]</param-name>
<param-value>es_MX</param-value>
</init-param>
...

You can deactivate locales by simply commenting them out. The following example shows how to deactivate the locale de_CH.

Listing 5: Activating/Deactivating Locales in web.xml

<!-- locales -->
<init-param>
<param-name>locale[0]</param-name>
<param-value>en_US</param-value>
</init-param>
<!--
<init-param>
<param-name>locale[1]</param-name>
<param-value>de_CH</param-value>
</init-param>
-->
<init-param>
...

As the Login page is displayed before the authentication of the user has taken place, Login.jsp cannot access the above information. That is why the list of available and active locales are maintained in the file login-locales.jsp as well. Changing the list of active locales is straightforward. Comment out any of the lines in the following code segment of localeSettings.jsp to disable the respective locale:

Listing 6: Active Locales in Login.jsp based on login-locales.jsp

...
activeLocales.add("en_US");
activeLocales.add("cs_CZ");
activeLocales.add("de_CH");
activeLocales.add("es_CO");
activeLocales.add("es_MX");
// activeLocales.add("fa_IR"); this locale is not active
activeLocales.add("fr_FR");
activeLocales.add("it_IT");
activeLocales.add("ja_JP");
// activeLocales.add("nl_NL"); this locale is not active
activeLocales.add("pl_PL");
activeLocales.add("pt_BR");
activeLocales.add("ro_RO");
activeLocales.add("ru_RU");
activeLocales.add("sk_SK");
activeLocales.add("sv_SE");
activeLocales.add("tr_TR");
activeLocales.add("zh_CN");
...

The above example shows how to disable the locales fa_IR and nl_NL in the Login page of openCRX.

6.2 Setting the Default Locale at the User Level

A user's default locale can be set by choosing/activating the desired locale (step 1) and then clicking on [Save Settings] (step 2) in the header of the application as shown below:

Figure 9: Set Default Locale by Saving User Settings

If the login page supports a user's preferred locale xx_YY, you can request the login page in that locale xx_YY by appending the string "?locale=xx_YY" to the default login URL.

Example: the following URL loads the German login page: http://demo.opencrx.org/opencrx-core-CRX/Login.jsp?locale=de_CH

7 CSS, Headers, Footers, etc.

7.1 Cascading Style Sheets

The directory ...\opencrx-core-CRX\_style contains various CSS files:

Please note that various third-party modules (e.g. WYMeditor, wiky) may also load CSS files. Those files are typically located within the respective modules directory structure (e.g. .../javascript/wymeditor, .../javascript/wiky).

7.2 HTML Header and Footer Files

The Layout JSPs and the login page (Login.jsp) by default include various HTML files. They are located in the directory ...\opencrx-core-CRX and you can adapt them to your liking:

See also chapter 13 Layout JSPs for additional information.

8 UI XML Files

8.1 Overview

8.2 UI Configuration Overloading

8.3 Inspector

The inspector shows an object with its attributes:

8.4 Attribute Pane

8.4.1 Tabs

The ui file common.xml contains tab definitions that apply to all objects :

You can define your own tabs. The following example shows the definition of the tab [Accounts] of the attribute pane of accounts (ui file account.xml):

8.4.2 Field Groups

In the ui file common.xml there are various default field groups defined that apply to all objects, e.g. Field Groups 0, 10, 20, and 30 in the the tabs [General] and [Details].

You can define your own field groups like shown in the following example:

8.4.3 Fields / Attributes

With order (or more specifically orderFieldGroup) you can define the positioning of an object's attribute in the attribute pane. You must provide three values in the form of <_item>xxx</item> where the first value corresponds to the id of the Tab, the second value to the FieldGroup and the third value to the position within the respective FieldGroup.

The following example explains the placement of a contact's salutation:

Figure 10: Placement of attributes in the attribute pane (Tab, Group, Position)

With the tag <columnBreak>true</columnBreak> you can place the current attribute in a new column within the given Field Group.

8.5 Grid Panes

Shared and composite associations as well as multi-valued references are mapped to grids. Such grids can be positioned by providing three values in the form of <_item>xxx</item> where the first value corresponds to the id of the Grid Pane and the third value to the position within the respective Pane (the second value is not used).

The following example explains the placement of an accounts composite association “member”:

Figure 11: Placement of grid tabs (Pane, -, Position)

With order (or more specifically orderObjectContainer) you can define the positioning of an object's attribute within grids. You must provide three values in the form of <_item>xxx</item> where these values will used to define an (alphabetical) order.

The following example explains the placement of a an address's usage:

Figure 12: Placement of attributes in grids (Level 0, Level 1, Level 2)

8.5.1 Expanding/Collapsing Tabs

Grid Tabs are rendered collapsed if the label starts with a “»” character:

8.5.2 AdditionalElementDefinition

With AdditionalElementDefinitions you can define additional grid tabs (optionally with base filters). Have a look at the UI XML file accounts.xml which makes use of this feature to create various additional grid tabs:

The respective base filters (see chapter 8.5.3 Base Filter for Grid Tabs for additional information) are defined in the following file:

...\filters\org.opencrx.kernel.account1.Segment.account.xml

8.5.3 Base Filter for Grid Tabs

You can (optionally) define base filters for grid tabs. That is, for example, an elegant way of splitting up the tab [All Accounts] into [Accounts] (that are active) and [Accounts (disabled)].

The following example assumes that you have created an accounts tab with id 10000 (with an AdditionalElementDefinition) and shows how to create a base filter that selects only accounts that have a an address with a postal code equal to 8000. Create a file named org.opencrx.kernel.account1.Account.postal.xml with the following content and then move the file to the directory ...\WEB-INF\config\filters:

See also the discussion at
https://sourceforge.net/projects/opencrx/forums/forum/329844/topic/3763898

8.5.4 Selection of Filterable Attributes (maxMember)

With maxMember you can define the number of attributes that are available for filtering/sorting in the openCRX GUI. Setting maxMember to a value “n” implies that (at most) n attributes are available for filtering/searching even though more attributes would be available given the model.

8.5.5 Selection of Visible Attributes (showMaxMember)

With showMaxMember you can define the number of attributes (at most “maxNumber” attributes) that are visible in a grid. If all the attributes that are filterable/searchable should also be visible, there is no need to set showMaxMember.

8.5.6 Advanced Attribute Selection (showMemberRange)

There are quite a number of grids that contain objects with quite different attribute sets (think of subclasses), e.g. the address grid contains web addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, etc. As it does not make a lot of sense to display the complete (sparse) matrix, you can selectively pick individual attributes (or even ranges of attributes) to display in a grid.

The following example shows how showMemberRange is used to define the grid “Groups” as it is available in the standard openCRX distribution:

8.6 Various XML Tags Explained

8.6.1 active

8.6.2 backColor

8.6.3 changeable

8.6.4 color

8.6.5 columnBreak

8.6.6 cssClassFieldGroup

8.6.7 cssClassObjectContainer

8.6.8 defaultValue

8.6.9 filterable

8.6.10 iconKey

8.6.11 isPassword

8.6.12 label

8.6.13 mandatory

8.6.14 minValue

8.6.15 maxLength

8.6.16 maxMember

8.6.17 maxValue

8.6.18 multiplicity

8.6.19 order

see chapters 8.4.3 Fields / Attributes and 8.5 Grid Panes

8.6.20 orderFieldGroup

see chapter 8.4.3 Fields / Attributes

8.6.21 orderObjectContainer

see chapter 8.5 Grid Panes

8.6.22 showMaxMember

see chapter 8.5.5 Selection of Visible Attributes (showMaxMember)

8.6.23 showMemberRange

see chapter 8.5.6 Advanced Attribute Selection (showMemberRange)

8.6.24 eventHandler

any valid Javascript string (will be embedded in edit pages)

8.6.25 skipRow

8.6.26 spanRow

8.6.27 sortable

8.6.28 toolTip

Title tag for labels are created automatically if the contents of the toolTip differs from the contents of the name tag. The following screen shot shows the toop tip of the attribute salutationCode as displayed in a browser:

8.7 DataBindings

Data bindings are interceptors which allow to perform any kind of transformation on data retrieved from the backend. The default data binding org.openmdx.portal.servlet.DefaultDataBinding is trivial (a simple delegator).

8.7.1 PropertyDataBinding

PropertyDataBindings provide you with access to a virtually unlimited pool of user-definable attributes to extend CrxObjects. From a performance point of view, PropertyDataBindings are not quite as efficient as the User-definable attributes of CrxObject because the latter are always stored in the same table as the extended object, whereas attributes based on PropertyDataBindings are stored in a separate table (leading to additional SELECT statements). Nevertheless, whenever you need additional attributes that cannot be mapped to user-definable attributes, you should still consider PropertyDataBindings before you jump at extending the openCRX core model.

8.7.1.1 A comprehensive example with PropertyDataBindings

The following UI customizing file demonstrates how to extend the Product class with a set of attributes, one of each type. Deploy the file zorder_product.xml to the directory {TOMCAT_INSTALL_DIR}/apps/opencrx-core-CRX/opencrx-core-CRX/WEB-INF/config/ui/Root/en_US and then restart Tomcat.

Listing 7: UI Customizing File zorder_product.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<org.openmdx.base.Authority xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" name="org:openmdx:ui1" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="xri://+resource/org/openmdx/ui1/xmi1/ui1.xsd">
<_object/>
<_content>
<provider>
<org.openmdx.base.Provider qualifiedName="CRX" _operation="null">
<_object/>
<_content>
<segment>
<org.openmdx.ui1.Segment qualifiedName="Root" _operation="null">
<_object/>
<_content>
<featureDefinition>
<org.openmdx.ui1.StructuralFeatureDefinition qualifiedName="org:opencrx:kernel:product1:Product:Extension!myBoolean">
<_object>
<type>org:w3c:boolean</type>
<multiplicity>0..1</multiplicity>
<changeable>true</changeable>
</_object>
<_content/>
</org.openmdx.ui1.StructuralFeatureDefinition>
<org.openmdx.ui1.StructuralFeatureDefinition qualifiedName="org:opencrx:kernel:product1:Product:Extension!myInteger">
<_object>
<type>org:w3c:integer</type>
<multiplicity>0..1</multiplicity>
<changeable>true</changeable>
</_object>
<_content/>
</org.openmdx.ui1.StructuralFeatureDefinition>
<org.openmdx.ui1.StructuralFeatureDefinition qualifiedName="org:opencrx:kernel:product1:Product:Extension!myDecimal">
<_object>
<type>org:w3c:decimal</type>
<multiplicity>0..1</multiplicity>
<changeable>true</changeable>
</_object>
<_content/>
</org.openmdx.ui1.StructuralFeatureDefinition>

<org.openmdx.ui1.StructuralFeatureDefinition qualifiedName="org:opencrx:kernel:product1:Product:Extension!myString">
<_object>
<type>org:w3c:string</type>
<multiplicity>0..1</multiplicity>
<changeable>true</changeable>
</_object>
<_content/>
</org.openmdx.ui1.StructuralFeatureDefinition>

<org.openmdx.ui1.StructuralFeatureDefinition qualifiedName="org:opencrx:kernel:product1:Product:Extension!myDate">
<_object>
<type>org:w3c:date</type>
<multiplicity>0..1</multiplicity>
<changeable>true</changeable>
</_object>
<_content/>
</org.openmdx.ui1.StructuralFeatureDefinition>
<org.openmdx.ui1.StructuralFeatureDefinition qualifiedName="org:opencrx:kernel:product1:Product:Extension!myDateTime">
<_object>
<type>org:w3c:dateTime</type>
<multiplicity>0..1</multiplicity>
<changeable>true</changeable>
</_object>
<_content/>
</org.openmdx.ui1.StructuralFeatureDefinition>
<org.openmdx.ui1.StructuralFeatureDefinition qualifiedName="org:opencrx:kernel:product1:Product:Extension!myReference">
<_object>
<type>org:opencrx:kernel:account1:Account</type>
<multiplicity>0..1</multiplicity>
<changeable>true</changeable>
</_object>
<_content/>
</org.openmdx.ui1.StructuralFeatureDefinition>
</featureDefinition>

<elementDefinition>

<org.openmdx.ui1.ElementDefinition name="org:opencrx:kernel:product1:Product:Pane:Attr:Tab:0:Group:5">
<_object>
<active>true</active>
<toolTip>
<_item/>
</toolTip>
<label>
<_item>Extended Attributes (PropertyDataBinding)</_item>
</label>
</_object>
<_content/>
</org.openmdx.ui1.ElementDefinition>

<org.openmdx.ui1.ElementDefinition name="org:opencrx:kernel:product1:Product:Extension!myBoolean">
<_object>
<dataBindingName>org.opencrx.kernel.portal.BooleanPropertyDataBinding</dataBindingName>
<active>true</active>
<toolTip>
<_item>My boolean</_item>
</toolTip>
<label>
<_item>My boolean</_item>
</label>
<order>
<_item>0</_item>
<_item>5</_item>
<_item>10</_item>
</order>
</_object>
<_content/>
</org.openmdx.ui1.ElementDefinition>

<org.openmdx.ui1.ElementDefinition name="org:opencrx:kernel:product1:Product:Extension!myInteger">
<_object>
<dataBindingName>org.opencrx.kernel.portal.IntegerPropertyDataBinding</dataBindingName>
<active>true</active>
<toolTip>
<_item>My integer</_item>
</toolTip>
<label>
<_item>My integer</_item>
</label>
<order>
<_item>0</_item>
<_item>5</_item>
<_item>20</_item>
</order>
</_object>
<_content/>
</org.openmdx.ui1.ElementDefinition>

<org.openmdx.ui1.ElementDefinition name="org:opencrx:kernel:product1:Product:Extension!myDecimal">
<_object>
<dataBindingName>org.opencrx.kernel.portal.DecimalPropertyDataBinding</dataBindingName>
<active>true</active>
<decimalPlaces>4</decimalPlaces>
<hasThousandsSeparator>true</hasThousandsSeparator>
<toolTip>
<_item>My decimal</_item>
</toolTip>
<label>
<_item>My decimal</_item>
</label>
<order>
<_item>0</_item>
<_item>5</_item>
<_item>30</_item>
</order>
</_object>
<_content/>
</org.openmdx.ui1.ElementDefinition>
<org.openmdx.ui1.ElementDefinition name="org:opencrx:kernel:product1:Product:Extension!myString">
<_object>
<dataBindingName>org.opencrx.kernel.portal.StringPropertyDataBinding</dataBindingName>
<active>true</active>
<toolTip>
<_item>My string</_item>
</toolTip>

<label>
<_item>My string</_item>
</label>
<order>
<_item>0</_item>
<_item>5</_item>
<_item>40</_item>
</order>
</_object>
<_content/>
</org.openmdx.ui1.ElementDefinition>

<org.openmdx.ui1.ElementDefinition name="org:opencrx:kernel:product1:Product:Extension!myDate">
<_object>
<dataBindingName>org.opencrx.kernel.portal.DatePropertyDataBinding</dataBindingName>
<active>true</active>
<toolTip>
<_item>My date</_item>
</toolTip>
<label>
<_item>My date</_item>
</label>
<order>
<_item>0</_item>
<_item>5</_item>
<_item>50</_item>
</order>
</_object>
<_content/>
</org.openmdx.ui1.ElementDefinition>

<org.openmdx.ui1.ElementDefinition name="org:opencrx:kernel:product1:Product:Extension!myDateTime">
<_object>
<dataBindingName>org.opencrx.kernel.portal.DateTimePropertyDataBinding</dataBindingName>
<active>true</active>
<toolTip>
<_item>My dateTime</_item>
</toolTip>
<label>
<_item>My dateTime</_item>
</label>
<order>
<_item>0</_item>
<_item>5</_item>
<_item>60</_item>
</order>
</_object>
<_content/>
</org.openmdx.ui1.ElementDefinition>

<org.openmdx.ui1.ElementDefinition name="org:opencrx:kernel:product1:Product:Extension!myReference">
<_object>
<dataBindingName>org.opencrx.kernel.portal.ReferencePropertyDataBinding</dataBindingName>
<active>true</active>
<toolTip>
<_item>My reference (to Account)</_item>
</toolTip>
<label>
<_item>My reference (to Account)</_item>
</label>
<order>
<_item>0</_item>
<_item>5</_item>
<_item>70</_item>
</order>
</_object>
<_content/>
</org.openmdx.ui1.ElementDefinition>
</elementDefinition>

</_content>
</org.openmdx.ui1.Segment>
</segment>
</_content>
</org.openmdx.base.Provider>
</provider>
</_content>
</org.openmdx.base.Authority>

Once Tomcat is up and running, navigate to the tab [Products] and create a new product as shown below:

The screen for entering new products should now include a new field group labeled Extended Attributes (PropertyDateBinding) containing additional fields as shown below:

Figure 13: Sample Extension of class Product with PropertyDataBindings

Enter some data as follows:

• Name: Sample Product

• Product number: P-1234

• My boolean: check it

• My integer: 123

• My decimal: 987654321.0123

• My string: sample string

• My date: 1/23/2009

• My dateTime: 1/23/2009 12:34:56 AM

• My reference (to Account): point to guest

Save to new product and then navigate to it.

Expand the grid tabs in the first grid pane by clicking on the tab [>>]. You will see additional tabs like [Notes], [Folders], etc. Click on the tab [Property Sets] to see the entry Extension as shown below:

Figure 14: Sample Extension of class Product with PropertyDataBindings

The PropertySet Extension was created automatically when you saved the new product. It is called Extension because that is what was customized in the file zorder_product.xml. The PropertySet Extension contains all the attributes defined with PropertyDataBindings, i.e. myBoolean, myInteger, myDecimal, myString, myDate, myDateTime, and myReference. Let's verify this by clicking on the icon of the respective Property Set.

You should see the following:

Figure 15: Property Set Extension

While all of these properties could be edited right within the Property Set, it is definitely more comfortable (and natural) to edit them within the attribute pane of products.

Note that this extension of the class Product did not require any modifications of the openCRX UML Model. We did not even have to modify the database schema. The whole extension is done with customizing features only!

8.7.1.2 BooleanPropertyDataBinding

8.7.1.3 StringPropertyDataBinding

8.7.1.4 IntegerPropertyDataBinding

8.7.1.5 DecimalPropertyDataBinding

8.7.1.6 DatePropertyDataBinding

8.7.1.7 DateTimePropertyDataBinding

8.7.1.8 ReferencePropertyDataBinding

8.7.2 DataBinding ReferencedObjectDataBinding

8.7.3 DataBinding CompositeObjectDataBinding

It is even possible to work with attributes of composite objects that are referenced, e.g. the web address (URL) of a contact's assistant:

<org.openmdx.ui1.StructuralFeatureDefinition

qualifiedName="org:opencrx:kernel:account1:Contact:(assistant;address)!webUrl">
<_object>
<type>org:w3c:string</type>
<multiplicity>0..1</multiplicity>
<changeable>true</changeable>
</_object>
<_content/>
</org.openmdx.ui1.StructuralFeatureDefinition>

8.7.4 DataBinding ProductConfigurationSet

8.7.5 DataBinding ProductConfigurationTypeSet

8.7.6 DataBinding LocalizedFieldDataBinding

With
				this databinding you can display and manage LocalizedField
				objects attached as standard fields. The databinding selects the
				localized field matching the current user's locale and displays
				the localizedValue. The LocalizedFieldDataBinding allows to
				localize field values in an easy way. E.g. the field 'Name:' of
				an ActivityGroup can be localized with the following ui
				configuration:

8.7.7 DataBindings for Addresses

8.7.7.1 EmailAddressDataBinding

8.7.7.2 PhoneNumberDataBinding

8.7.7.3 WebAddressDataBinding

8.7.8 DataBinding AssignedActivityGroupsDataBinding

Listing 8: Example AssignedActivityGroupsDataBinding

<featureDefinition>
<org.openmdx.ui1.StructuralFeatureDefinition qualifiedName="org:opencrx:kernel:activity1:Activity:assignedGroupName">
<_object>
<type>org:opencrx:kernel:activity1:ActivityGroup</type>
<multiplicity>list</multiplicity>
<changeable>false</changeable>
</_object>
<_content/>
</org.openmdx.ui1.StructuralFeatureDefinition>
</featureDefinition>

<org.openmdx.ui1.ElementDefinition name="org:opencrx:kernel:activity1:Activity:assignedGroupName">
<_object>
<dataBindingName>org.opencrx.kernel.portal.AssignedActivityGroupsDataBinding?type=tracker</dataBindingName>
<active>true</active>
<spanRow>6</spanRow>
<toolTip>
<_item>Assigned Trackers</_item>
</toolTip>
<label>
<_item>Assigned Trackers</_item>
</label>
<shortLabel>
<_item>Groups</_item>
</shortLabel>
<orderFieldGroup>
<_item>10</_item>
<_item>100</_item>
<_item>10</_item>
</orderFieldGroup>
<orderObjectContainer>
<_item>0</_item>
<_item>0</_item>
<_item>9</_item>
</orderObjectContainer>
</_object>
<_content/>
</org.openmdx.ui1.ElementDefinition>

Optional Parameter type:

Syntax: ?type={ [tracker|milestone|category] "," }

If you omit the optional parameter type all assigned activity groups are shown. The above example selects ActivityTrackers only. You can also provide a comma-separated list of types, e.g. ?type=tracker,milestone.

8.7.9 DataBinding DocumentFolderAssignmentsDataBinding

Optional Parameter name:

Syntax: ?name={ name prefix "," }

If you omit the optional parameter type all document folder assignments are shown.

8.7.10 DataBinding FilteredActivitiesDataBinding

The org.opencrx.kernel.portal.FilteredActivitiesDataBinding allows to specify a (possibly user-specific) activity tracker, milestone, category or activity filter and returns the corresponding collection of filtered activities. These activities can be shown as grid wherever you like.

Listing 9: Example FilteredActivityGroupsDataBinding

<featureDefinition>
<org.openmdx.ui1.StructuralFeatureDefinition
qualifiedName="org:opencrx:kernel:home1:UserHome:tracker!${USER}~Private!filteredActivity">
<_object>
<type>org:opencrx:kernel:activity1:Activity</type>
<multiplicity>0..n</multiplicity>
<changeable>false</changeable>
<isReference>true</isReference>
</_object>
<_content/>
</org.openmdx.ui1.StructuralFeatureDefinition>
</featureDefinition>

<org.openmdx.ui1.ElementDefinition name="org:opencrx:kernel:home1:UserHome:tracker!${USER}~Private!filteredActivity">
<_object>
<dataBindingName>org.opencrx.kernel.portal.FilteredActivitiesDataBinding</dataBindingName>
<active>true</active>
<changeable>false</changeable>
<toolTip>
<_item>Private Activities</_item>
</toolTip>
<label>
<_item>Private Activities</_item>
</label>
<order>
<_item>0</_item>
<_item>0</_item>
<_item>3</_item>
</order>
<maxMember>5</maxMember>
</_object>
<_content/>
</org.openmdx.ui1.ElementDefinition>

8.7.11 DataBinding FormattedFollowUpDataBinding

Listing 10: Example FormattedFollowUpDataBinding

<featureDefinition>
<org.openmdx.ui1.StructuralFeatureDefinition
qualifiedName="org:opencrx:kernel:activity1:ActivityFollowUp:formattedFollowUp">
<_object>
<type>org:w3c:string</type>
<multiplicity>0..1</multiplicity>
<changeable>false</changeable>
</_object>
<_content/>
</org.openmdx.ui1.StructuralFeatureDefinition>
</featureDefinition>

<org.openmdx.ui1.ElementDefinition name="org:opencrx:kernel:activity1:ActivityFollowUp:formattedFollowUp">
<_object>
<active>true</active>
<toolTip>
<_item>Transition Info</_item>
</toolTip>
<label>
<_item>Transition Info</_item>
</label>
<order>
<_item>90</_item>
<_item>70</_item>
<_item>5</_item>
</order>
<orderObjectContainer>
<_item>0</_item>
<_item>5</_item>
<_item>0</_item>
</orderObjectContainer>
<dataBindingName>org.opencrx.kernel.portal.FormattedFollowUpDataBinding</dataBindingName>
</_object>
<_content/>
</org.openmdx.ui1.ElementDefinition>

8.7.12 DataBinding FormattedNoteDataBinding

Listing 11: Example FormattedNoteDataBinding

<featureDefinition>
<org.openmdx.ui1.StructuralFeatureDefinition qualifiedName="org:opencrx:kernel:activity1:ActivityFollowUp:formattedNote">
<_object>
<type>org:w3c:string</type>
<multiplicity>0..1</multiplicity>
<changeable>false</changeable>
</_object>
<_content/>
</org.openmdx.ui1.StructuralFeatureDefinition>
</featureDefinition>

<org.openmdx.ui1.ElementDefinition name="org:opencrx:kernel:activity1:ActivityFollowUp:formattedNote">
<_object>
<active>true</active>
<toolTip>
<_item>Title / Text</_item>
</toolTip>
<label>
<_item>Title / Text</_item>
</label>
<order>
<_item>90</_item>
<_item>70</_item>
<_item>10</_item>
</order>
<orderObjectContainer>
<_item>0</_item>
<_item>10</_item>
<_item>0</_item>
</orderObjectContainer>
<dataBindingName>org.opencrx.kernel.portal.FormattedNoteDataBinding</dataBindingName>
</_object>
<_content/>
</org.openmdx.ui1.ElementDefinition>

8.7.13 DataBinding JoiningListDataBinding

The JoiningListDataBinding allows to collect objects from a specified set of reference features and display them in a unified grid.

Listing 12: Example JoiningListDataBinding

<org.openmdx.ui1.ElementDefinition name="org:opencrx:kernel:activity1:Activity:summary">
<_object>
<active>true</active>
<toolTip>
<_item>Additional Information</_item>
</toolTip>
<label>
<_item>Additional Information</_item>
</label>
<order>
<_item>13</_item>
<_item>0</_item>
<_item>10</_item>
</order>
<maxMember>5</maxMember>
<showMaxMember>1</showMaxMember>
<dataBindingName>org.openmdx.portal.servlet.databinding.JoiningListDataBinding?features=[meetingParty,incidentParty,taskParty,sender,mailingRecipient,phoneCallRecipient,assignedGroup,activityLinkTo,activityLinkFrom];orderBy=[createdAt.ASCENDING]</dataBindingName>
</_object>
<_content />
</org.openmdx.ui1.ElementDefinition>

9 Code Table XML Files

9.1 Overview

9.2 Code Table Overloading

9.2.1 Adding Codes to Existing Code Tables

This is best done by using codes >= 10'0000 as openCRX/core typically uses codes < 10'000:

Listing 13: Example Adding a new code to an existing code table

<org.opencrx.kernel.code1.CodeValueEntry code="10000" _operation="set">
<_object>
<shortText>
<_item>LHG</_item>
</shortText>
<longText>
<_item>Land of Hope and Glory</_item>
</longText>
</_object>
<_content/>
</org.opencrx.kernel.code1.CodeValueEntry>

9.2.2 Disabling Existing Codes

This is best done by defining a very short validity period far in the past:

Listing 14: Example Disabling of a code value

<org.opencrx.kernel.code1.CodeValueEntry code="249" _operation="set">
<_object>
<validFrom>1970-01-01T00:00:00.000Z</validFrom>
<validTo>1970-01-01T00:00:00.001Z</validTo>
<shortText>
<_item>FX</_item>
</shortText>
<longText>
<_item>France, Metropolitan</_item>
</longText>
</_object>
<_content/>
</org.opencrx.kernel.code1.CodeValueEntry>

9.2.3 Replacing Existing Code Tables

If you assign a code table of your custom project the name of a code table that already exists in the core project, the code table of the custom project will be included during the build process (and the core code table will be ignored).

9.3 Segment-Specific Code Tables

10 Groovy Controls

10.1 MenuOps – openCRX Operations Menu

10.2 Navigation – openCRX Breadcrum

10.3 North – openCRX Header

10.4 RootMenu – openCRX Top Level Tabbed Menu

10.5 RootPanel – openCRX Top Level PopUp Menu

10.6 Search – openCRX Index-based Search

11 JSP Wizards

See the various examples in the directory ...\opencrx-core-CRX\wizards\en_US

12 Forms

Forms were introduced with openCRX v2.4. Have a look at the following examples included in the distribution:

• Form definitions are located in the directory ...\opencrx-core-CRX\WEB-INF\config\ui\Root\en_US

• Form wizards are located in the directory ...\opencrx-core-CRX\wizards\en_US

13 Layout JSPs

openCRX is distributed with 2 default layout JSPs located in the directory ...\opencrx-core-CRX\WEB-INF\config\layout\en_US.

13.1 show-Default.jsp

This layout JSP renders all pages that show information (typically an Inspector containing information about the current object and all the grids containing associated information). This layout JSP is generic and can handle any object. It is provided by openMDX/portal.

13.2 edit-Default.jsp

Similarly, this layout JSP renders all pages that are used to edit objects and create new objects. This layout JSP is generic and can handle any object. It is provided by openMDX/portal.

13.3 Custom Layout JSPs

If you have a need for specialized screens for a particular object in edit and/or show mode, you can write your own layout JSP and deploy it to the above-mentioned directory. The file name of your custom layout JSP determines which objects (or rather: objects of which class) will be handled by your custom layout JSP.

Example:

Let's assume you want to replace the default edit screen for openCRX Contacts (i.e. class org.opencrx.kernel.account1.Contact) with a custom layout JSP. Name your file

edit-org.opencrx.kernel.account1.Contact.jsp

and deploy it to the directory ...\WEB-INF\config\layout\en_US. After restarting Tomcat or your application server your new layout JSP will be active.

14 Advanced Customizing Options

14.1 Workflows

14.2 Java Controls

14.3 Portal Extensions

14.4 UML Model Extensions

14.5 Application Logic Extensions

15 Other Customizing Options

A collection of useful configuration and customizing options.

15.1 web.xml

All of the following settings can be made in the file
...\opencrx-core-CRX\WEB-INF\web.xml

15.1.1 uiRefreshRate

By default, the UI configuration is loaded at startup only. If you are changing customizing files during a customization session you might want to reload the UI periodically to verify your changes without restarting the servlet container. You can do so by setting the respective value to something else than 0. The refresh period is measured in milliseconds, i.e. the following example would cause the UI configuration to reload once per minute:

Listing 15: uiRefreshRate in web.xml

...
<!-- ui refresh rate -->
<init-param>
<param-name>uiRefreshRate</param-name>
<param-value>60000</param-value>
</init-param>
...

15.1.2 load-on-startup

By default, the ObjectInspectorServlet is initialized with the first login (and hence the first login can take some time). If you prefer to initialize the ObjectInspectorServlet right after the deployment of the respective EAR, uncomment the following section in web.xml:

Listing 16: load-on-startup in web.xml

...
<!-- activate if ObjectInspectorServlet should be initialized at startup -->
<load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
...

15.1.3 session-timeout

By default, the session timeout is set to 30 minutes. If you want to shorten or lengthen the session timeout you can do so by changing the value of session-timeout (measured in minutes) in web.xml. The following example shows how to change the timeout to 2 hours:

Listing 17: session-timeout in web.xml

...
<session-config>
<session-timeout>120</session-timeout>
</session-config>
...

15.1.4 transport-guarantee

If you want to force your users to connect with SSL you can require a transport guarantee and replace the default value NONE with CONFIDENTIAL. The following example shows how to require the application admin (admin-Root) to connect with SSL:

Listing 18: transport-guarantee in web.xml

...
<security-constraint id="security_constraint-Root">
<web-resource-collection id="c-Root">
<web-resource-name>c-Root</web-resource-name>
<url-pattern>/LogConsoleServlet/*</url-pattern>
<url-pattern>/WorkflowController/*</url-pattern>
<http-method>GET</http-method>
<http-method>POST</http-method>
</web-resource-collection>
<auth-constraint id="auth_constraint-Root">
<role-name>OpenCrxRoot</role-name>
</auth-constraint>
<user-data-constraint id="user_data_constraint-Root">
<transport-guarantee>CONFIDENTIAL</transport-guarantee>
</user-data-constraint>
</security-constraint>
...

16 Next Steps

You might want to have a look at some of the additional documentation published at http://www.opencrx.org/documents.htm. The openCRX Admin Guide might be of particular interest to you.

License

The contents of this file are subject to a BSD license (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at http://www.opencrx.org/license.htm

Copyright 2013-2014 © CRIXP Corp. All rights reserved.