This documentation supports the 20.02 version of BMC Helix Platform.To view the documentation for the current version, select 20.08 from the Product version menu.

Creating configurations for your Digital Service application


In BMC Helix Innovation Studio, you can create configuration settings and configuration functions for your application. The types of configuration settings includes a set of parameters, key-value pairs, or a data wizard.  

Types of configuration settings

You can define one of the following configuration setting for a bundle:

Setting Type

Description

External Settings

When your configuration is outside BMC Helix Platform, you can add a link to the external configuration setting in your bundle. When users click the link, the configuration setting page opens in a web browser. 

For more information, see Creating External Settings.

In-bundle Settings

In-bundle Settings leverages record definition and view definition in the bundle. This setting allows the configuration to have custom data and custom UI. Since the record definition and view definition is a part of the bundle, you can create custom logic and behavior within your application to manage the settings.

For more information, see Creating In-bundle Settings.

Shared Settings

Shared settings are located in one bundle and can be accessed by other bundles. Shared configuration settings have a common storage location and UI.

Benefits of Shared Settings

  • Data is stored in a single location as key-value pairs and is accessible by any application deployed on BMC Helix Platform.
  • A unique permission model can be defined for each application even though the setting itself is shared.
  • The common user interface ensures consistent look and feel of the shared setting across all applications.

Limitations of Shared Settings

  • Custom UI can't be used to configure the setting.
  • Custom logic can't be leveraged to manage settings.

More information on Creating Shared Settings.

To create external settings

Add a link to your application that points to an external page with configuration settings. When users click the external link, the page is opened in a new tab of the web browser.  

Example

If your configuration exists outside BMC Helix Platform, you can provide a URL to an external application or setting.

The following image is an example of an External Setting in the BMC Remedy Mid Tier:

Example of external setting in mid tier.png

  1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio and navigate to the Workspace tab.
  2. Select the application or library bundle for which you want to create an External Setting.
  3. Click the Configurations tab.
  4. Select New > External Settings. 

  5. In the New External Settings window, specify the properties for the setting. 
    The following table provides information about the properties: 

    Property

    Description

    Sample values

    Component Name

    Enter a unique name for your Setting. The name is displayed in the Configurations tab in your bundle's Workspace.

    GoogleSettings

    External Link

    Specifies the URL that is launched when the user clicks the setting.

    Status

    Select the status of the setting as ON or OFF.

    ON

    Available in Navigation Sidebar

    If you want the setting to appear in the left hand navigation of the Settings menu either in your application or in the BMC Helix Innovation Studio Administration tab, select ON.

    ON

    Component Label

    Enter the display name of the Setting that appears in your application or in BMC Helix Innovation Studio.

    Google Settings

    Show In

    Select the location of your setting—in your application's Settings menu or in the Administration tab of BMC Helix Innovation Studio, or both.

    Application

    Permissions

    Select the roles and groups that can access the Setting. You can add permissions to groups or application roles. You can select roles from multiple applications deployed on the system.

    Administrator group

    First Menu

    Enter the name of the top level navigation item that is displayed in the left hand navigation of the Settings menu. If multiple settings use the same name for First Menu, then all those settings appear under the same navigation item.

    External Settings

    Second Menu

    Enter the name of the second level navigation item that is displayed in the left hand navigation of the Settings menu. If left blank, no second level item will appear. If multiple settings use the same name for Second Menu, then all those settings appear under the same navigation item.

    Level 2

  6. Click Save.
Example

You want to give an external link to Google website. If you enter the sample field values, the external setting in the application is displayed as shown in the following image:

External setting.png

 To create in-bundle settings

You can create an In-bundle Setting by using any of the following methods:

  • By using Angular JS: Register a custom angular app by using Angular JS, and then use that app for creating an In-bundle Configuration setting in BMC Helix Innovation Studio.
  • By using BMC Helix Innovation Studio: Use a View definition for creating an In-bundle Setting for your application or library. 

By using Angular JS

Step 1: Register the custom angular app by using Angular JS 

  1. Decide how you want to manage your Setting in an application.
  2. Create a directive for your UI entry point.

  3. Register with the Admin Settings Service Provider.

    Example:

    (function() {
       'use strict';
        angular.module('ax.tenants').config(function(rxAdminSettingsCustomViewProvider)
    {
            rxAdminSettingsCustomViewProvider.registerComponent({
                componentName: 'manage-tenants',
                runTimeDirective: 'manage-tenants'
           });
       });
    })();

Step 2: Use the custom angular app in BMC Helix Innovation Studio

  1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio and navigate to the Workspace tab.
  2. Select the application for which you want to create an In-bundle Setting.
  3. Click the Configurations tab.
  4. Select New > In-bundle Settings. 

  5. In the New In-bundle  Settings window, specify the properties for the setting. 
    The following table provides information about the properties: 

    Property

    Description

    Sample values

    Component Name

    Enter a unique name for your Setting. The name is displayed in the Configurations tab in your bundle's Workspace.

    Tenant activation

    Is View Component

    Opens a view definition in the bundle in the application

    Selected

    Registered Module Name

    Specifies the unique name of the registered module

    manage-tenants

    Status

    Select the status of the setting as ON or OFF.

    ON

    Available in Navigation Sidebar

    If you want the setting to appear in the left hand navigation of the Settings menu either in your application or in the BMC Helix Innovation Studio Administration tab, select ON.

    ON

    Component Label

    Enter the display name of the Setting that appears in your application or in BMC Helix Innovation Studio.

    Activating tenants

    Show In

    Select the location of your setting—in your application's Settings menu or in the Administration tab of BMC Helix Innovation Studio, or both.

    Application

    Permissions

    Select the roles and groups that can access the Setting. You can add permissions to groups or application roles. You can select roles from multiple applications deployed on the system.

    Administrator group

    First Menu

    Enter the name of the top level navigation item that is displayed in the left hand navigation of the Settings menu. If multiple settings use the same name for First Menu, then all those settings appear under the same navigation item.

    My settings

    Second Menu

    Enter the name of the second level navigation item that is displayed in the left hand navigation of the Settings menu. If left blank, no second level item will appear. If multiple settings use the same name for Second Menu, then all those settings appear under the same navigation item.

    Tenant settings

  6. Click Save.

Example

If you enter the sample field values, the in-bundle setting in the application is displayed as shown in the following image: 

Inbundle settings.png

 By using BMC Helix Innovation Studio

In this method, you use a newly created or existing view definition to create the configuration setting for your application.

  1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio and navigate to the Workspace tab.
  2. Select the application for which you want to create an In-bundle Setting.
  3. Click the Configurations tab.
  4. Select New > In-bundle Settings. 

  5. In the New In-bundle  Settings window,  specify the properties for the setting. 
    The following table provides information about the properties: 

    Property

    Description

    Sample values

    Component Name

    Enter a unique name for your Setting. The name is displayed in the Configurations tab in your bundle's Workspace.

    Tenant activation

    Is View Component

    Opens a view definition in the bundle in the application

    Selected

    Registered Module Name

    Specifies the unique name of the registered module, which is the view definition that you created

    Approval Console

    Status

    Select the status of the setting as ON or OFF.

    Selected

    Available in Navigation Sidebar

    If you want the setting to appear in the left hand navigation of the Settings menu either in your application or in the BMC Helix Innovation Studio Administration tab, select ON.

    Selected

    Show In

    Select the location of your setting—in your application's Settings menu or in the Administration tab of BMC Helix Innovation Studio, or both.

    Application

    Permissions

    Select the roles and groups that can access the Setting. You can add permissions to groups or application roles. You can select roles from multiple applications deployed on the system.

    Administrator group

    Component Label

    Set the display name of the Setting that is shown in your application or in BMC Helix Innovation Studio.

    Activating tenants

    First Menu

    Enter the name of the top level navigation item that is displayed in the left hand navigation of the Settings menu. If multiple settings use the same name for First Menu, then all those settings appear under the same navigation item.

    My settings

    Second Menu

    Enter the name of the second level navigation item that is displayed in the left hand navigation of the Settings menu. If left blank, no second level item will appear. If multiple settings use the same name for Second Menu, then all those settings appear under the same navigation item.

    Tenant settings

  6. Click Save.

Example

The following image shows the flow of creating an In-bundle Setting:

In-bundle config_use_innovation studio_1.png

In-bundle config_use_innovation studio_2.png

In-bundle config_use_innovation studio_3.png

 To create shared settings

  1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio and navigate to the Workspace tab.
  2. Select the application or library bundle in which you want to create the shared setting.
  3. Click the Configurations tab.
  4. Select New > Shared Settings. 

  5. In the New Config window, on the General tab, specify the properties for the setting. 
    The following table provides information about the Setting properties: 

    Property

    Description

    Component Name

    Enter a unique name for your Setting. The name is displayed in the Configurations tab in your bundle's Workspace.

    Show In

    Select the location of your setting—in your application's Settings menu or in the Administration tab of BMC Helix Innovation Studio, or both.

    Component Label

    Enter the display name of the Setting that appears in your application or in BMC Helix Innovation Studio.

    Status

    Select the status of the setting as ON or OFF.

    Setting Repeat

    Select on the the following options:

    ON—If the setting can have multiple saved values.

    OFF—If the setting can only have one saved value.

    Setting Parent

    Select the parent for this setting. When selected, this setting will show up within the selected Setting and not in a menu.

    Permissions

    Select the roles and groups that can access the Setting. You can add permissions to groups or application roles. You can select roles from multiple applications deployed on the system.

    Available in Navigation Sidebar

    If you want the setting to appear in the left hand navigation of the Settings menu either in your application or in the BMC Helix Innovation Studio Administration tab, select ON.

    First Menu

    Enter the name of the top level navigation item that is displayed in the left hand navigation of the Settings menu. If multiple settings use the same name for First Menu, then all those settings appear under the same navigation item.

    Second Menu

    Enter the name of the second level navigation item that is displayed in the left hand navigation of the Settings menu. If left blank, no second level item will appear. If multiple settings use the same name for Second Menu, then all those settings appear under the same navigation item.

  6. To add one or more fields in the Settings window, click (+) New Field and then select the field type.

  7. In the Properties tab, specify the properties of the field. 
    The following table provides information about the field properties: 

    Property

    Description

    Field Name

    Enter a unique name for the field. The name is displayed in list of fields for your setting.

    Field Label

    Enter the display name of the field that appears in your application or in BMC Helix Innovation Studio.

    Required

    Select this option when you want it to be a mandatory configuration field.

    Permissions

    Select the roles and groups that can access the Setting. You can add permissions to groups or application roles. You can select roles from multiple applications deployed on the system.

    Default Value

    Set the default value of the field. If left blank, the field will not have a default value.

    Key Field for Repeated Setting

    Select if this field is repeated.

  8. (Optional) To add a field group to a shared setting, click Manage Field Groups and then select the field group.
  9. Click Save.

Example scenarios of configuration settings for an application

Examples

Example 1: Define properties that can be accessed by all users of an application

Consider that you want to define a singular set of properties that affect all users who use the Task application. For example, you can define the following properties:

  • AutoCloseCompleteTask (Boolean)
  • AutoCloseDays (Integer)
  • NotifySubmitterOnClose (Boolean)

These settings can be defined so that only the users having Task Config permission can access and populate these properties. The properties, in turn, influence the business process and application behavior. After you define the properties, users can access them in different ways such as on the Administration tab of BMC Helix Innovation Studio. 

You can then define a process that searches for these settings and values, and follow different business processes based on the content. This makes the application data configurable.

The following image shows an example of settings for the Task application:

Shared setting use case 1.gif

Example 2: Specify a set of properties that can be defined for each user of an application

Consider that you want to define ShowFullName (Boolean) property. After you define the setting, it can be repeated for multiple users for defining application settings stored at an individual user level, as shown in the following image:

Shared setting_example 2.png

Example 3: Specify a set of properties that can be defined and restricted based on data other than group

Consider that you want to define a property based on multiple types of a ticket priority. For properties that are repeated in Settings, you can define a parent-child relationship between the Settings, as shown in the following image. This means that you define a dependency of one Setting on another Setting.

Shared setting_example 3_1.png

Here, Setting 2 is configured as the parent Setting for the Urgency-based Setting, as shown in the following image:

Shared setting_example 3_2.png

Where to go from here

Action

Reference

Extend the service objects and customize their behavior.

If you have completed all tasks of developing your application, package and test the application.

 

Tip: For faster searching, add an asterisk to the end of your partial query. Example: cert*