Defining Message active link or filter actions

To define the Message active link or filter action

1. Right-click the If Action or the Else Action panel header.
2. Select Add Action > Message.
3. From the Type list, select the appropriate message type.
    The message type is displayed as a label with the message. The available message types are:
   • Note—Displays a note and continues the operation. The message is labeled ARNOTE.
   • Warning—Displays a warning and continues the operation. The message is labeled ARWARN.

   • Error—Displays an error and terminates the operation. No actions are performed after an error message. The message is labeled ARERR.
      For example, you can use an error message to disallow requests with no value in a specific field, even if the field is not normally a required field.

     Tip

     In a filter, you can use an error handling filter instead of displaying a message and terminating the filter. See Filter-error-processing.

   • Accessible—Active links only. Displays a message that can be interpreted by a screen reader for a visually impaired user.
      To support this message type, the Accessible Mode user preference must be set to Screen Reader/No Vision. For more information about accessibility, see Web-accessibility-preferences.
   • Tooltip—Active links only. In web clients, the message appears in a tooltip. For information about tooltips, see Using-the-Message-action-to-create-tooltips.
4. In the Text field, enter the text of the message.
    You can enter an unlimited number of characters for active links and a maximum of 255 characters for filters. To insert field values from the current form or keywords in the message, click the ellipsis and use the Expression Editor dialog box.
5. In the Number field, enter a message number.
    The message number is displayed with the message. The number that you specify must be greater than or equal to 10000. (Numbers less than 10000 are reserved for  messages.) Message numbers are not displayed with Prompt messages.
    Define a unique number for each message. You can add the messages you define to the Error Messages form to create a complete list of  messages and messages for your application. To allow for localization of the message text, create an entry for the message in the Message Catalog form.

6. (Active links only) To cause a Note, Warning, and Error messages to appear in the Prompt Bar instead of a dialog box, select the Show Message in Prompt Bar check box.
   The check box is ignored for Prompt, Accessible, and Tooltip messages. In a browser, the prompt bar is displayed below the web toolbar.

   System messages (from filters or from the server) appear in a prompt bar or a dialog box, depending on how they are configured in the AR System Administration: Server Information form. 

7. Save the active link or filter.

Behavior of messages for prompt bar in a browser

If you select Note, Warning, or Error when creating a Message action link action and you select the Show Message in Prompt Bar check box, the message will usually appear in the prompt bar. The following table describes where messages appear in relation to where they are launched from. (In some cases, the message will appear in a pop-up box instead.)

For more information about floating panels, see Grouping-fields-with-panels.

After displaying a Note, Warning, or Error message, workflow resumes, so multiple messages might be displayed. Because Error messages cause workflow execution to stop, only one Error message is displayed at any time, and it is always the final message in the list. 

By default, when a new set of workflow begins, the prompt bar is cleared for most conditions, except:

• Menu Choice/Row Choice (when Row Choice is used)
• Table Refresh
• Collapse (when not in the middle of a workflow set)
• Expand (when not in the middle of a workflow set)
• Close (for inline forms only)

When workflow is executed with the Window Closed execution option (when a window is closed or the mode is changed), messages are redirected to a pop-up box. This allows the user to see the message before the window closes.

However, if the message comes from an inline view field (configured through the Window Closed execution option), the message is displayed in the containing form's prompt bar. No redirection is needed.

If a form is opened in a view field through the Open Window active link action, the Inline Form option is available. If Inline Form is selected, content in the view field appears as if it is part of the containing form. If a form is inside an inline view field, the form will never have a prompt bar. Any messages destined for a prompt bar are displayed in the containing form's prompt bar.