This documentation supports the 22.1 version of BMC Helix Innovation Studio.To view an earlier version, select the version from the Product version menu.

Adding an action button to a view


Action buttons are shortcuts to certain tasks that you can perform in a view definition. You can create action buttons for saving a view, deleting a record instance, launching a URL, and so on. The tasks are executed according to the sequence of the action buttons in the view definition.

You can add an action button while creating a view or while editing an existing view definition. You also can specify multiple actions for a single action button and specify the sequence in which you want the actions to be executed. You can right-click an action button for all action styles to open the view in a new window.

Important

Application business analysts can customize the objects developed in their own applications and that are marked customizable by the administrator, but cannot customize the objects developed in com.bmc.arsys in Best Practice Customization mode. For example, objects in core BMC applications like Foundation, Approval, and Assignment cannot be customized in Best Practice Customization mode. For more information, see Customization-layer

The following video describes the procedure to add an action button. The video shows an older version of BMC Helix Innovation Studio. Although there might be minor changes in the UI, the overall functionality remains the same.

icon_play.pnghttps://youtu.be/T93mxH2G118

To add an action button to a view definition

  1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio and navigate to the Workspace tab.
  2. Select the application for which you want to add an action button.
  3. On the Views tab, click the name of the view definition to which you want to add an action button.
  4. From Palette, drag the Action button component to the canvas in the order that you want them to appear on the user interface.
  5. In the Properties pane on the right side, click the Settings icon Settings icon.png, and then specify the preferences for each button in the General tab.

    The following table provides information about the properties:

    Property

    Description

    General

    Label

    Defines a unique name of the action button.

    Style

    Specifies the display format for the action button. The following styles are available:

    • Primary—Displays the button with red background color.
    • Secondary—Displays the button with a black border and no background color.
    • Tertiary—Displays the button with no background color and no border.

    Size

    Specifies the size of the action button. You can specify either small or large size for the action button.

    Icon

    Defines the icon for the action button. You can select the icons by using one of the following ways:

    • Click on the list which displays the list of all the available icons.

    Select icons from list.png

    • Type the name of the icon and select the desired icon.

    Select icons by typing.png

    • Click Browse, and from the Select icon pop-up select the desired icon.

    Select icons from Browse.png

    Icon Alignment

    Specifies the alignment of the icon relative to the action button.

    Available on devices

    Specifies the device options on which the component should be visible. You can select from the following options:

    • Desktop
    • Mobile
    • Tablet

    By default, all the three options are selected. 

    Disabled

    Disables the action button in specific conditions, such as, if you want to disable the button at all times or when a specific condition is met.

    Hidden

    Hides the action button in specific conditions, such as, if you want to disable the button at all times or when a specific condition is met.

    CSS classes

    Defines the style of the component. 

    For more information, see CSS-classes-used-in-View-designer-components.

    Actions

    Edit actions

    Specifies the actions to add to the action button. Click Edit actions.

    In the Edit actions window, select the actions according to your requirements. You can add multiple actions to a single action button and specify the sequence in which you want the actions to be performed. For information about how to configure actions on action button, See Configuring-actions-for-an-action-button.  

    Security

    Record definition name

    The action button is hidden if you have no access to the selected record definition. 

    Field name

    The action button is hidden if you have no access to the selected field, or the action button is disabled if you have View permission for the selected field. 

    Record instance

    Define the expression to select the record instance where the action button is hidden if you have no access to the selected field instance. Click Click to build an expression to create the expression.

  6. Click Save.


To set the access type information for the button

  1. Add an action button to a view definition.
    For a detailed step-by-step procedure to add an action button, see 
    To add an action button to a view definition.
  2. To set the access type for the button, in the Properties pane on the right side, click the Settings icon Settings icon.png, and then specify the following fields for the button in the Security tab:

    Property

    Description

    Record definition name

    Specifies record definition of the field for which you want to set the access rights.

    The action button is hidden if the user has no access to the specified record definition.

    Field name

    Specifies the name of the field for which you want to set the access rights. 

    The action button is hidden if the user has no access to the specified field, or disabled if the user only has view permission to the specified field.

    Record instance

    Defines an expression that evaluates to a Record ID or a collection of Record IDs. To define an expression, click Click to build an expression.

    Expression pointing to a record instance that provides the field permission details.

    Important

    You must define the Record Definition Name, Field Name, and Record ID in order to control the hidden, disabled, or enabled state of the view component using the field permission. If you define only Record Definition name or Field Name, then static permissions are considered. If along with Record Definition name and Field name, record instance is also given then static as well as dynamic permissions are considered to evaluate the user's access.

  3. Click Save.

The values given in Security tab evaluates to view permission, change permission, or no permission. The action button's visibility state on the user interface is defined when the following requirements are fulfilled: 

State

Condition

Hidden

When the user does not have access permission to either of the three fields in the security tab.

Disabled

When the user has only view permission to the fields.

Enabled

When the user has change permission to the fields.


To add a button bar to a view definition

Button bar is a view component that can be used to align the action buttons in a series in a view definition. The following image shows a sample view definition that contains a button bar:

Button bar.gif

To add a button bar to a view definition, perform the following steps:

  1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio and navigate to the Workspace tab. 
  2. Select the application for which you want to add a button bar.
  3. On the Views tab, click the name of the view definition in which you want to add a button bar.
  4. From Palette, drag the Button bar component to the canvas.
  5. From Palette, drag the Action button components to the Button bar, and specify the required properties for action buttons. For more information, see To add an action button to a view definition.
  6. Click the Settings icon Settings icon.png in the Properties pane, and specify the following properties: 

    Property

    Description

    Name

    Specifies the name of the button bar.

    Alignment

    Specifies the position of action buttons in the button bar.

    Hidden

    Hides the Button Bar in specific conditions, such as, if you want to disable the button at all times or when a specific condition is met.

    Available on devices

    Specifies the device options on which the component should be visible. You can select from the following options:

    • Desktop
    • Mobile
    • Tablet

    By default, all the three options are selected. 

  7. Click Save.


To use one action button to hide another action button

By using the Set Property parameter, you can define multiple actions for an action button by assigning values to the property of the view component.

Example

A view definition consists of two action buttons Action button1 and Action button2 along with other view components. You can assign values to the action button properties such that when you click Action button1, the Action button2 gets hidden.

To hide the Action button2 when you click Action button1, perform the following steps:

  1. Open the view definition that you want to modify.
  2. In the View designer, select Action button1, and click Edit actions.
  3. In Edit actions, add Set property action.
  4. On the Property path field, by using Click to build an expression, add the Hidden property for the Action button2, and click OK.
  5. On the Property value field, by using Click to build an expression, enter value 1 set Hidden property for the Action button2, and click OK.
  6. Save the changes to Edit actions screen.
  7. Click Save.


To activate a tab in a Tab Panel by using Set Property

  1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio, and navigate to the Workspace tab.
  2. Select the application to which you want to add an action button.
  3. On the Views tab, open the view definition from which you want to use the active tab index.
  4. From Palette, drag the Action button component onto the canvas.
  5. In the Properties section, click Edit actions
  6. To define the action behavior, in the Edit actions window, select Set Property.
  7. In the Selected Actions section, enter the following details:
    • Property path—From the Tab Panel > Properties, select Active Tab Index.
    • Property Value—Enter the tab index value that you want to activate. The first tab in the tab panel has tab index value as 0, the second tab has tab index value as 1, and so on. 
  8. Click Save


To disable or hide the action button based on the grid properties when multiple records are selected

Consider a scenario where you have a grid with multiple rows containing different types of records, such as Incidents, Problems, and Change requests. You might want to disable or hide action buttons based on what rows users select at runtime, making only specific actions available. Use the Expression Editor to add a condition that checks for the values in a grid column and disables or hides an action button.

To disable or hide an action button based on the grid column value, perform the following steps:

  1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio and navigate to the Workspace tab.
  2. Select the application for which you want to add a record grid.
  3. On the Views tab, click the name of the view definition in which you want to add a record grid component.
  4. From Palette, drag the Record Grid component onto the canvas as you want it to appear in the application user interface.
  5. From Basic Components, drag the Action button component, and add it to the Record Grid.
  6. Select the action button and click Properties.
  7. Toggle the Disabled or Hidden field to the active state, select When condition is true, and click Click to build an expression.
  8. In the Expression builder dialog box, expand Functions > Array.
  9. Create an expression with one of the following functions:

    • INCLUDES(Selected rows > column name>, defined value)—The action button is disabled or hidden if the defined value is included in the array.
    • SAME(Selected rows > column name)—The action button is disabled or hidden if the column values of the selected rows are the same in the array.
    • SIZE(Selected rows / Selected rows > column name)—The function returns the size or length of the selected rows. Use this function in conjunction with the INCLUDES()or SAME() functions. 

The following image shows an example of how you can disable an action button by creating an expression using the SAME() function:

22_1_04_Disabling_action_button.png

The following video shows an example scenario where the Edit action button is disabled when two rows of the same type, Incident, are selected: