BPF Attachments tab

The BPF Attachments tab is a built-in tab that displays the documents or Content Engine (CE) objects attached to a case as documents. For more general information about tabs and plug-in functionality in the BPF Web Application reference the BPF Tab Plug-in Interface topic. This tab is included with the BPF Web Application and is configured for availability in all standard configurations. The basic function of the Attachments tab is to perform a CE query for documents attached to the current case and display the return list in a table view in the tab.

Configuring the Attachments tab

The query used by the Attachments tab is defined in BPF Explorer in the /Application Settings/Web Applications node. There are two values that pertain to the Attachments tab in this node: Attachments tab - columns definition and Attachments tab - Adhoc search definition.

NOTE The values stored in the Columns Definition and Adhoc Search Definition are written when importing a BPF configuration manifest via BPF Explorer. The samples below are not default values for these settings.

Attachments tab - Columns definition

The Attachments tab - Columns definition value stores the column labels for the results list when displayed in the table view. Each value pair is structured as [CE Property Name] : [Column Display Name] , ... next entry. In the example below the pairing of ReceivedDate : Received Date, ReceivedDate is the CE symbolic name while Received Date is the column name displayed in the Attachments tab results table.

ReceivedDate : Received Date, CompanyName : Company Name, ContractAmount : Contract Amount, DocumentType : Document Type, Priority1: Priority

Attachments tab - Adhoc search definition

The Attachments tab - Adhoc search definition value stores the CE query executed to locate the documents associated with the Case.

select a.Bp8ObjectID as Id, a.Bp8ObjectType as ObjectType, a.Id as AttachID, f.FolderName, d.DocumentTitle, d.VersionSeries, d.VersionStatus, d.MajorVersionNumber, d.MinorVersionNumber, d.MimeType, d.isReserved, d.IsVersioningEnabled from (Bp8Attachment a left join Document d ON d.VersionSeries = a.Bp8VersionSeries) left join Folder f ON f.Id = a.Bp8ObjectGUID where a.Bp8CaseID = ^1 and ^2 order by a.Bp8ObjectType desc, f.FolderName asc, d.DocumentTitle asc

The Attachments tab must be configured for display at the Inbasket definition level on the Inbasket properties/tab tab.

Modifying the Content Engine query used by the Attachments tab

The query used for displaying Case attachment can be modified to contain properties specific to a custom configuration. The select statement stored in the Attachments tab - Adhoc search definition can be modified by adding CE property names to the query.

NOTE  CE adhoc queries only support use of the property symbolic name, not display names. If a property is removed the associated pairing in the Attachments tab - Columns definition should be removed if one exists. Not all query parameters will have corresponding display pairings in the columns definition. If a parameter is added to the adhoc search definition query for display in the results list in the Attachments tab, a corresponding pairing should be added to the columns definition value.

Registering the Attachments tab

In a new configuration it may be necessary to register the Attachments tab for use. At the present time, BFP Explorer does not allow registering tabs. Tab registration is achieved by entering the tab data directly into the BPF Metastore using SQL or Oracle client. The tab URL handler is registered in the TAB table, TAB_CONTENT column. In order to register the Attachments tab for use enter a row for it in the BPF Metastore with the following values:

Column Default Value Description
TAB_NAME attachment This value denotes the location folder of the tab code. All tab definitions are located in the ../plugins/tabs/ folder. The attachments tab definition is located in the ../plugins/tabs/attachment folder.
TOOL_TIP Attachments This is the tab display label in the case user interface.
HELP_CTX <Null> Place holder for context sensitive help. Not currently used.
TAB_CONTENT Bp8AttachmentsTab.jsp?eventTarget=attachmentsTab&eventName=ExecuteSearch&TabName={TABNAME}&Inbasket={IID}&Bp8CaseID={CFNAME}&_showatt=0 Location of the custom .jsp page used for the tab. Locations can be specified using absolute locations, locations relative to the BPF root, or relative to the tool root. For more information on location methods see the BPF Tab Plug-in Interface section.
TAB_TYPE 1 There are two types of tabs in the BPF Web Application. Tabs with type values of 0 are system tabs that are always registered (though they can be disabled in a given Inbasket). Tabs with a type of 1 are custom or optional tabs that are not required to be registered.

URL parameters overview

The following table describes the TAB_CONTENT querystring (URL) parameters available for the Attachments tab plug-in. Note that some parameters must be URL-encoded with the Java API method URLEncoder.encode.

Parameter Value Required/Optional Description Requires Encoding
eventTarget attachmentsTab required

Must have a value of "attachmentsTab".

no
eventName ExecuteSearch required

Must have a value of "ExecuteSearch".

no
TabName {TABNAME} required

This parameter identifies the tab name.

no
Inbasket {IID} required

This parameter identifies the Inbasket ID.

no
Bp8CaseID {CFNAME} required Bp8CaseID field name. The {CFNAME} macro will be substituted with Bp8CaseID field value during runtime.
no
_showatt 1 or 0 optional

This attribute controls attachments list display behavior.

  • _showatt = 0 indicates that the attachments list should not be displayed beneath this tab, even if enabled on the Inbasket.
  • _showatt = 1 or missing indicates that the attachments list should not be displayed beneath this tab, assuming it is enabled on the Inbasket.

If attachments list is disabled on the Inbasket, this setting is ignored.

no
_cache 1 or 0 optional

This attribute controls tab loading behavior.

  • _cache = 1 indicates that tab content is rendered on the first invocation only. All subsequent clicks on the tab name will not reload the tab.
  • _cache = 0 or missing indicates that tab content is rendered on every invocation. Every click on the tab name will reload the tab

Note that the default for this parameter is 1 (on).

no

For more information on custom tabs and available parameters see the BPF tab plug-in interface.