Creating a view for associating records

You can use the Association element in a view definition to design a user interface where you can create or edit associations between the record definitions. The Association element consists of the following modes to design the layout for selecting the record instances while creating or editing associations.

Related topics

Creating-associations-using-the-Association-Service-Task

Creating-a-view-for-a-record-instance-by-using-record-editor


Mode

Description

Example

View

  • Creates a new view to display the record instances for creating associations.
  • Supports one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-one, and many-to-many types of associations.

22_1_View mode example.png

Drop-down

  • Displays the record instances in a drop-down list to create associations.
  • Supports one-to-one or many-to-one types of association.
  • Filters and displays the records at runtime based on the record selected in the related association drop-down list.

22_1_Dropdown mode example.png

You can add the Association element while creating a view or while editing an existing view definition. 

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 the Best Practice Customization mode. For example, objects in core BMC applications like Foundation, Approval, and Assignment cannot be customized in the Best Practice Customization mode. For more information, see Customization-layer. 

To design a view for creating record associations:

  1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studioand navigate to the Workspace tab.
  2. Select the application for which you want to create a view.
  3. From Palette, drag the Association element to the Record editor component. 

  4. In the Properties pane, click the Settings icon 22_1_Settings icon.png, and then specify the properties.
    The following table provides information about the properties:

    Property

    Description

    Record definition to associate

    Specify the name of the record definitions for which you want to create the association view.

    Association to use

    Display the list of associations available for the record definition.

    Association editing mode

    Select the layout for your association and choose from the following options:

    • Views
    • Dropdown 
      Important: The Dropdown option is available only for associations with cardinality as one-to-one or many-to-one.

    Display label

    Specify the label for the association component.

    Disabled

    Turn on the toggle key to disable the Assignment component, and then select one of the following options:

    • At all times—Select this option if you want to disable the component at all times.
    • When condition is true—Select this option if you want to disable the component only if a certain condition is met.
      Condition—Build an expression to define a condition.
      This option is displayed only after you select the When condition is true option.

    Hidden

    Turn on the toggle key to hide the Assignment component at runtime, and then select one of the following options:

    • At all times—Select this option if you want to keep the component hidden at all times.
    • When condition is true—Select this option if you want to keep the component hidden only if a certain condition is met.
      Condition—Build an expression to define a condition.
      This option is displayed only after you select the When condition is true option.

    CSS classes

    Defines the style of the component. The available options are no margin, 1 pixel border, and white background.

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

    For a View mode, provide the following properties:

    View for selecting associated records

    Specify the view for selecting the existing associated records.

    View for creating associated records

    Specify the view to create new associations.

    Show/Hide fields

    Add the record fields that should be displayed on the view definition for the associated records.

    For a Drop-down mode, provide the following properties:

    Field to display

    Specify the field in the associated record definition whose values should be displayed in the list. For example, Company Name.

    Filter by association

    Select this option to filter and display the associated records at runtime based on the record selected in the related association drop-down list.

    Record ID

    Provide the record ID of the record definition that the users must edit. Using Click to build an expression, specify the record ID of the record definition.

  5. Click Save.
Scenario

An application uses three record definitions: Ticket, Company, and Support Group. The record definition Ticket is associated with the Company and the Support Group record definitions by using the following associations with the cardinality of the association as many-to-one:

  • Ticket to Company (many-to-one)
  • Ticket to Support Group (many-to-one)
  • Company to Support Group (many-to-many)

Example 1: To create view-based associations

The following video demonstrates an example of how to create view-based associations. The video shows an older version of BMC Helix Innovation Studio. The previous product name was BMC Helix Innovation Suite. Although there might be minor changes in the UI, the overall functionality remains the same:

icon_play.png https://youtu.be/dJPbXfdijMg

Example 2: To create drop-down-based associations

The following video demonstrates an example of how to create drop-down-based associations. The video shows an older version of BMC Helix Innovation Studio. The previous product name was BMC Helix Innovation Studio. Although there might be minor changes in the UI, the overall functionality remains the same:

icon_play.png https://youtu.be/ZwSiBI4lKL8