The user interface serves as a junction between the end user and the IBM InfoSphere Enterprise Records application. You might need to customize the user interface according to your business processes. You can customize the metadata fields associated with an entity; these fields display on the information view page of that entity. For example, you can change the display name of a metadata field from Entity Descriptions to Entity Details.
To change the way these metadata fields display in the user interface, use Enterprise Manager to modify the property templates that are associated with the various classes and objects. Note that the context-sensitive help files will not match customized names and behaviors.
Following are customization tasks you can perform to specify how metadata fields should appear in the user interface.
Each task below assumes that you have first performed these steps:
CAUTIONS
The visibility of properties in IBM InfoSphere Enterprise Records depends upon the description and hidden parameters of the property. Properties display on information pages and on wizard steps. Similar properties are grouped under distinct information pages (also called views). For example, all properties pertaining to vital record review display on the entity's Vital Record information page. The Description field of a property determines the information view into which the property is grouped. To modify the Description field, select the General tab of the properties sheet for the property. For example, if you create a new property, Initiate Disposition Schedule, and specify RMDisposal in the Description field, the property will be added to the Disposition view.
The following table lists the different values you can specify for a property's description:
Description Value | Meaning |
---|---|
RMDisposal | Display the property in the Disposition view of a record category or record folder. |
RMVital | Display the property in the Vital Record information page. |
RMCutoff | Display the property on the Set Trigger step while adding a disposition schedule. |
RMSystem | Hide the property from the user interface, but display it on the Information page of the class it is associated with. |
declare | Display the property in the Workplace Declare Record wizard. |
RMGroupDisposition | The properties having this string in the description are shown in the Disposition section in the Detail view of the entity's Information page. |
RMGroupGeneral | The properties having this string in the description are shown in the General section in the Detail view of the entity's Information page. |
RMGroupPhysical | The properties having this string in the description are shown in the Physical section in the Detail view of the entity's Information page. |
RMGroupVital | The properties having this string in the description are shown in the Vital section in the Detail view of the entity's Information page. |
NOTE Properties that do not have RMDisposal, RMVital, RMCutoff, or RMSystem as the description are automatically assigned to the Properties Information page.
You can change an optional property to a mandatory property. For example, by default the Date Received property is optional. You can use Enterprise Manager to make this property mandatory.
To change an optional property to a mandatory property
After you change the settings, the user interface automatically displays a red asterisk beside the property name to indicate that a value must be entered for the property.
CAUTION When you change an optional property to a mandatory property, you must check whether the system automatically generates an object for the class it is associated with. If this condition is true, define a default value for that property. For example, a volume is automatically created when a record folder is created. If you associate a mandatory property with the Volume class, define a default value for that property.
You can change a mandatory property into an optional property. For example, by default the Record Category Identifier property is set as mandatory. You can use Enterprise Manager to make this property optional.
To change a mandatory property into an optional property
After you change the settings, the red asterisk that used to display beside the property name is no longer visible.
A hidden property is one that is not visible in the user interface, but continues to persist in the data model and is used internally by the system. We recommend that you hide a property that is not required instead of deleting it from the data model.
CAUTION Do not hide any property that is mandatory.
To hide an optional visible property
Besides the above-mentioned procedure, you can also specify RMSystem as the property's description to hide the property from the user interface. However, note that this hides the property from all IBM InfoSphere Enterprise Records user interfaces except for an entity's Information page.
To change the property description
You can modify the display name of a property to customize its appearance in the user interface. For example, you can change Record Category Identifier to Record Category ID.
To modify the display name of a property
CAUTION Make sure you modify only the display name and not the symbolic name of the property.
You can specify the size of the description area that displays beside a property in the IBM InfoSphere Enterprise Records user interface via the property's maximum string length value. The size of the description area determines whether it is a text area or a text box. (With a text box, part of the information scrolls out of site. With a text area, a scroll bar allows easier reading of long text strings.)
NOTE You can specify the description area only for string type properties.
To define the maximum string length of a property
You can define the possible values of a string or integer type property to enable an end user to select from a list of predefined values instead of manually entering the value. This ensures that a user does not enter an incorrect value. To create a list of predefined values, you create a choice list and associate it with the appropriate property. A choice list displays as a drop down in the user interface.
To create a new choice list
After you create the choice list, you must associate it with the appropriate Property Template. (See Assign a choice list to a property template in the Content Engine Help.) The IBM InfoSphere Enterprise Records user interface displays the new choice list beside the display name of the property.
You can specify the minimum and maximum values that an end user can enter for integer type properties. For example, you can specify that the minimum retention period cannot be less than 2 years and more than 100 years. If an end user enters a value that is less than 2 or more than 100, an error message is generated.
To specify the minimum and maximum value for an integer property
An entity's Detail information page displays a read-only view of the entity's property values organized into groups, such as General, Disposition, Vital, Physical, and Others. You can move a property to another group or create a new group for it. You can customize the Detail view for these entities:
To reassign a property to an existing or new group, you must modify the RMGroup parameter defined in the property's Description field. The text that immediately follows the RMGroup parameter specifies the group under which the property appears. If you change RMGroupGeneral to RMGroupDisposition, the property moves from the General group to the Disposition group. If you specify RMGroupPattern for a property, you have created a new group in which the property will appear. If no text appears after RMGroup, or there is no RMGroup parameter in a property's Description, that property appears in the Others group.
CAUTION The Description field can contain more than one parameter. Make sure you modify only the RMGroup parameter, leaving other parameters unchanged. If you are adding the RMGroup parameter, use a comma to separate it from other parameters.