Creating a deployable application

To define application attributes and properties

Except for the change history and permissions, which are set in the Properties tab, all application attributes are set in the application editor. 

1. In Developer Studio, right-click on the application's name in the AR System Navigator, and select Edit Application.

2. Expand one or more panels and modify attributes as needed.
   The following sections describe the contents of each panel.

   Panel	Description
   General	Determines the application label and development state: Label—For deployable applications, if a Label is specified, it is used in place of the application object name to identify the application corresponding to entry points in the home page. For more information about entry points and home pages, see Creating-and-managing-fields. The Label also has a specific meaning when an application is accessed directly in Windows clients. State—This property defines the application state (Maintenance, Production, Test, or custom) and appears for deployable applications only. Depending on the state you select, different access permissions are applied to the application. For more information, see Specifying-roles-for-deployable-application-states.
   Forms	Determines the forms included in the application. The following Forms properties apply only to applications that users do not access through entry points on a home page: Primary Form Primary View
   Packing Lists	(Deployable applications only) Defines the packing lists to include in the application.
   Support Files	(Web applications only) Defines the names and locations of resources used in web views that are included in the application object. For more information, see Managing-resource-files.
   Access Points	(Deployable applications only) Defines which forms, active link guides, and filter guides are integrated with other deployable applications. For more information, see Enabling-outside-workflow-to-access-your-application.
   Data	(Deployable applications only) Defines the forms whose data is included in an application export. It also defines the qualifications (if any) that select sets of records, and import options such as the handling of duplicate request IDs.
   Statistics	(Deployable applications only) Defines the forms that participate in statistics tracking for the application.
   Help Text	Supplies help text about the application for administrators. It typically includes a description of the application, what it does, and how it is used. For general information about creating help text in AR System server, see Creating-help-for-applications.

3. Modify permissions and other properties in the Properties tab.
   Use the Permissions property in the Properties tab to determine which access control groups can display the application in the user client. For more information, see Securing-your-application. 
   Use the Subadministrator Permissions property to define subadministrator permissions for access control groups. For more information, see Creating-a-Subadministrator-security-role. 
   AR System server automatically records the owner of an application, the developer who last modified the application, and the date of the modification. To display or add to this information, click the Change History property in the Properties tab. 
   For general information about building and using change history, see Updating-the-change-history-of-fields-forms-or-objects.

To specify General properties for an application

1. In Developer Studio, right-click on the application's name in the AR System Navigator, and select Edit Application.
2. In the Application tab, expand the General panel.
3. In the Label field, specify the label that you want to appear in the Object List form in the mid tier, and in the title bar in Application mode.
   If you do not specify a label, the Name property is used to identify the application.
   Labels can be as long as 255 bytes, including spaces.
4. In the Description field, specify the description that you want to appear below the task list in the Object List form in the mid tier.
   You can enter a maximum of 2000 bytes.
5. To specify a custom icon:
   1. Select the Custom Title Bar Icon check box.
   2. Click the Browse button and select the appropriate image file.
      You can add an image in .bmp, .dib, .jpg, or .jpeg format that is as large as 16 pixels wide by 16 pixels high. An image larger than these dimensions is cropped. The image file size limit is 512 KB. Keep the file size as small as possible to avoid performance problems.
   3. To save the image to another area on the network, click Save To Disk.
6. To display an image in the About box:
   1. Select the Custom About Box check box.
   2. Click the Browse button to locate the appropriate image.
      You can add an image in .bmp, .dib, .jpg, or .jpeg format that is as large as 16 pixels wide by 16 pixels high. An image larger than these dimensions is cropped. The image file size limit is 512 KB. Keep the file size as small as possible to avoid performance problems.
   3. To save the image to another area on the network, click Save To Disk.
7. Select File > Save.

To specify the behavior of forms in Application mode

1. In Developer Studio, right-click on the application's name in the AR System Navigator, and select Edit Application.
2. In the Application tab, expand the Forms panel.
3. From the Primary Form list, select the form to appear in the mid tier when the application first opens.
   If you do not specify a primary form, no form appears when users open the application in mid tier.
4. From the Primary View list, select the view of the form to appear when the application opens.
   The views available in the list are defined by the view label. If no view is selected, the default view or the user preference view is used.
5. Expand the General panel.
6. Select or clear the Show Only Forms in Application check box. If this check box is:
   • Selected, users can access only those forms and guides within the application.
   • Cleared, users can access any forms, guides, or applications to which they have access regardless of whether they are related to the application.
7. Select or clear the Run With Form Windows Maximized check box. If this check box is:
   • Selected, the form window is maximized when it opens.
   • Cleared, the form window opens with the size that the developer defines.
8. Select File > Save.

To create an object in an application

To create an object in an application, right-click the application's node in the AR System Navigator and select the object type from the New Object pop-up menu as shown in the following figure. 

The selected object type opens in the editor area and you can proceed with defining the object. When you save the object, it is added to the application.

When you create an object in an application using this method, Developer Studio behaves as follows:

• Form—The application controls the form.
• Workflow object—The list of forms to associate with the workflow object is filtered to include only forms in the application.
• Web service—The list of forms to serve as the base form for the web service is filtered to include only forms in the application.
• Flashboard variable—The list of forms to serve as the data source for the flashboard variable is filtered to include only forms in the application.
• Packing list—The packing list is added to the application.
• Permissions—If default permissions are defined for the application and object type, they are applied when you create each new object.

Adding existing objects to an application

You can use these methods to add existing objects to an application:

• Forms and packing lists—Open the application for editing and use the Add button to add an existing form or packing list to the application. See To add existing forms to an application and To add existing packing lists to an application.
• All other objects—Associate the object with a form controlled by the application.
  Any object you create is in the application if it is associated with a form in the application. For example, if you create a menu and attach it to a field in a form in an application, the menu is in the application.

When you add an existing form to an application, all of the objects associated with that form, such as workflow and menus, are also added to the application. Likewise, when you remove a form, all of the objects related to it are removed from the application. Removing a form from an application does not delete the form on the server. For more information, see Deleting objects.

When you add an existing form to a deployable application, AR System server removes all explicit group permissions from the form and its associated objects. However, it does not apply default permissions for the application. You must manually apply role permissions to every object, including the form and its fields, and to any active links and active link guides for which the form is the primary form.

To add existing forms to an application

1. In Developer Studio, right-click on the application's name in the AR System Navigator, and select Edit Application.

2. In the Application tab, expand the Forms panel.
3. Click Add.
4. In the Forms Selector dialog box, select the forms to add to the application, and click OK. 
   Only forms that are not in any application are shown. To filter the list of forms, type a pattern in the Name field. To move to a form in the list by name, type the first characters of the name in the Locate field. 
   To set the view presented in the application, select it from the View drop-down list below the forms list.  The forms you selected and all related objects are added to the application. 
5. Choose File > Save to save the changes to the application.

To add existing packing lists to an application

1. In Developer Studio, right-click on the application's name in the AR System Navigator, and select Edit Application.
2. In the Application tab, expand the Packing Lists panel.
3. Click Add.
4. In the Packing List Selector dialog box, select the packing lists to add to the application, and click OK. 
   To filter the list of packing lists, type a pattern in the Name field. To move to a packing list in the list by name, type the first characters of the name in the Locate field. 
   The packing lists you selected are added to the application. The forms and other objects in the packing lists are not added to the application. 
5. Choose File > Save to save the changes to the application.