You can use the AB Suite/EAE Ispec Import dialog box to perform the initial import of AB Suite/EAE Ispecs into your ePortal data source project. Later, you use the same dialog to add, update or delete the imported Ispecs.
You must select every Ispec associated with the AB Suite or EAE application that will be used in the new ePortal presentation method. The AB Suite/EAE Ispec Import dialog box creates an ePortal server message (.eprec) for each selected Ispec. In addition, if the option Auto Create Client Message is true for the data source project, the import dialog also creates an ePortal client message for each selected Ispec. Refer to Data Source Project Property Pages Dialog.
Before attempting to use this dialog, review the following topics:
To launch the AB Suite/EAE Ispec Import dialog box, do one of the following:
Select Add AB Suite/EAE Ispecs… from the Project menu.
In Solution Explorer, right-click the data source project and select Add AB Suite/EAE Ispecs….
In the ePortal Message View window, right-click the Server Messages node and click New.
In the ePortal Message View window, click the New Server Message toolbar button.
The import dialog box opens.
To use the dialog, perform these steps:
Click the Browse button and browse to the location of the Application.cexml file.
Alternatively, choose a recently selected Application.cexml file from the dropdown list in the AB Suite/EAE Ispec Source combo box, or type the full path to the Application.cexml file into the box.
If this is the initial import for this particular Application.cexml file and if there is more than one language directory, you are prompted to select the language folder. Select the language folder that you wish to integrate with ePortal, from the dropdown list, and click OK.
Note: If there is only one language directory, you are not prompted to select the language folder.
Select the Always Import Presentations option if you want to import a generated Ispec XML metadata file whenever the file has been recreated. This will occur when the Ispec files are regenerated from the AB Suite/EAE application. If your ePortal presentation project contains a user interface based on the Ispec metadata information, then it is recommended to select this option.
Clear the Always Import Presentations option when you want to import the Ispec files only if the Ispec version changes. This can occur when fields in the Ispec definition are added, modified, or removed in AB Suite or EAE. It is possible for Ispec files to be regenerated from AB Suite/EAE even when the Ispec version is not changed.
Select the Set Control Label to Field Description option, if desired.
If Set Control Label to Field Description is not selected when ePortal Developer creates a server message from an Ispec, the label field in the ePortal server message is set to an initial value based on the name of the corresponding field in the Ispec. However, if Set Control Label to Field Description is selected, ePortal Developer uses the description for a particular field in an Ispec to intialize the corresponding label property when creating the ePortal server message.
Notes:
The label property in an ePortal message is used to generate the label for the corresponding control for a Web Forms Mobile presentation.
By default, a web presentation for AB Suite/EAE does not use the label property in an ePortal message. However, you can configure the presentation generation options for the web presentation project to use the label from the ePortal message rather than the static text that was defined when using AB Suite/EAE painter. For a Web Forms presentation, refer to the property IncludePainterStaticText in Presentation Generation Properties for a Web Browser Project and refer to Selecting the ControlNamespace in Markup Template Editor. For an MVC Web presentation, refer to the Include painter static text property on the AB Suite/EAE Options Dialog to Preserve Screen Layouts and Styles.
The setting for Set Control Label to Field Description applies to a particular AB Suite or EAE application. If you later import Ispecs from a different AB Suite or EAE application, you must set Set Control Label to Field Description again for that application, if desired. Refer to Support for Multiple AB Suite/EAE Applications for more information.
If the description for a particular field in an Ispec is empty, or all blanks, then the corresponding label in the ePortal server message is initialized based on the field name, regardless of the setting for Set Control Label to Field Description.
If you want to change the setting for Set Control Label to Field Description after you have imported your Ispecs, you must reimport all of your Ispecs, as follows:
Open the Ispec Import dialog box and specify the Application.cexml file.
Change the setting for Set Control Label to Field Description. The Ispec State changes from Imported to Updated for all imported Ispecs. Refer to the Ispec State descriptions later in this topic for more information.
Click the Import button.
Select the Set ID From Field Description option, if desired.
Notes:
If Set ID From Field Description is not selected when ePortal Developer creates a server message from an Ispec, the ID of the field in the ePortal server message is set to the ID of the corresponding field in the Ispec. However, if Set ID From Field Description is selected, ePortal Developer uses the description of the field in the Ispec to initialize the corresponding ID of the field in the ePortal server message.
If Set ID to Field Description is selected, ePortal Developer does not set the description to the field when you select the Preserve Screen Layout and Sizes option while scaffolding a project.
Check and clear the check boxes in the Select Ispecs for Import grid, as needed.
The Select Ispecs for Import grid is populated with all of the Ispecs found in the selected language folder and/or in the data source project. The columns in the grid are defined as follows:
Ispec Name – Name of the Ispec. This name is of the form <Application>-<ispec>, where <Application> is the AB Suite or EAE application name and <ispec> is the base Ispec name.
This column also provides a check box which you use to determine whether the corresponding Ispec is included in the data source project or not. The action performed depends on the following Ispec states:
Ispec State is New or blank: If this check box is cleared, the Ispec is not included in the data source project; otherwise, if the check box is checked, the Ispec is imported into the data source project.
Ispec State is Imported: If this check box is cleared, the corresponding Ispec and ePortal server message are deleted from the data source project. If the check box is checked, the Ispec remains unchanged in the data source project.
Ispec State is Updated: If this check box is unchecked, the corresponding Ispec and ePortal server message are deleted from the data source project. If the check box is checked, the Ispec is updated in the data source project.
Ispec State is Deleted: The check box is unchecked and disabled. The corresponding Ispec and ePortal server message are deleted from the data source project.
There is an additional check box in the column heading that, when selected, all of the ISpecs are checked and are included in the data source project. If this check box is cleared, all of the ISpecs are unchecked and are not included in the data source project.
Note: This check box has has no effect on Ispecs that have an Ispec State of Deleted.
Table for Copy Ispec - This column provides a check box for each Copy Ispec. A Copy Ispec is an Ispec that contains copy fields. If an Ispec does not have a copy field, then the column is blank for that Ispec.
If you select the check box for a particular Copy Ispec, the import process groups the copy fields to form a table (for example, an ePortal array). In particular, the import dialog checks the start position of each copy field and its number of repetitions and then makes a logical group of copy fields into a table. At runtime, when ePortal receives data from the ClearPath server, ePortal converts individual copy field data into a table. When ePortal sends data to ClearPath server, it maps tabular data to individual copy fields. This allows a web browser or Web Forms Mobile presentation to present the information in a tabular form. For example, a Web Forms presentation would use an ASP.Net GridView or DetailsView control to present the data; a Web Forms Mobile presentation would use a ListView control to present the data.
In addition, if the copy fields allow data entry, then an asterisk appears in this column. The application developer may prefer to not create tables for entry copy fields, since the GridView, DetailsView, and ListView controls can be difficult to use for data entry.
There is also a check box in the column heading, that when selected, checks all of the Copy Ispecs. If this check box is cleared, all of the Copy Ispecs are unchecked.
Ispec State - State of the Ispec. The Ispec State is one of the following values:
New - If the Ispec exists in the selected language folder but does not already exist in the data source project.
Blank - If the Ispec exists in the selected language folder but does not already exist in the data source project. This value is also blank if the Ispec was not selected for import during a previous run of the input dialog.
Imported - If the Ispec exists in the selected language folder and in the data source project, and is unchanged.
Updated - If the Ispec exists in the selected language folder and in the data source project, but is different.
Deleted - If the Ispec does not exist in the selected language folder, but does exist in the data source project.
Click the Import/Update button to start the import process. The button is labeled Import if you are performing the initial import for an AB Suite or EAE application, or Update, if you previously imported the application and are now updating the Ispecs. The Import process begins and the Import/Update button becomes a Pause button. During the import, the Ispec State changes as the import progresses. If an error occurs, the Ispec State is set to an error message.
Click the Pause button to pause the import, if desired. If you click the Pause button, the button text changes to Continue. Click the Continue button to resume the import.
When the import has completed, click the Close button.
If you need to define one or more properties on the Data Source Project Property Pages Dialog, the dialog opens and you can configure the required data source properties.