Custom - Create and Edit Custom Perspectives

The Perspective Builder tool lets users create custom perspective in EMA. The Perspective Builder will provide the following capabilities:

• Provide the ability to create a perspective.
• Provide the ability to edit a perspective.
• Provide the ability to delete a perspective.
• Implement rules to make sure that children in the object hierarchy are not added above their parents.
• Provide the ability to include both default rendered objects and menu UI screens in a perspective.
• When adding an object, provide the ability to specify if the objects children should be added as well.
• Provide the ability to specify if the objects in a perspective should be displayed on alphabetical order or in the order in which they are listed in the perspective builder.
• Provide the ability to maintain user-created perspectives during a software upgrade.
• Prevent users from deleting the Perspective Contents folder when creating or editing a perspective.
• Provide the ability to import a perspective from a file.
• Ensure that each perspective name is unique. Users should not be able to create a new perspective with the same name as an existing system or custom perspective.
  
• Provide the ability to export a perspective to a file.

To Create Custom Perspectives

On SBC main screen, go to Custom > Create / Edit Custom Perspectives. The Perspective Management window is displayed.

Figure 1: Custom - Create - View

The Custom Perspective List shows all perspectives that have been created in a paginated table.

Click New Perspective to create new Perspectives.

The Create New Perspective window is displayed.

Figure 2: Custom - Create Window

SBC Object Tree

The SBC Objects tree list all objects in the object model. The arrows on objects in the tree indicate that the object has children. Clicking the arrow expands/collapses the object to show/hide its children. Click Expand All to expand all objects in the Source Tree, and toggles to Collapse All. Click Collapse All to collapse all objects in the Source Tree, and toggles to Expand All. The Search field allows you to search the source tree.

Objects can be dragged from the SBC Object tree or the EMA UI Screens tree to the New Perspective tree. The contents of the source tree is always fixed, that is, when you drag an object from a source tree to a new perspective, it stays in source tree.  This allows users to add multiple copies of the same object to a source tree. In the SBC Objects tree, if the "Include parent object and all children" radio button is selected when an object is dragged to the New Perspective tree, the new perspective contains the object that was dragged and all of the children of that object.  If "Include just parent object" is selected, just the parent object will be included in the new perspective, but not of the child objects.

EMA UI Screens Tree

The EMA UI Screens tree lists all of the EMA menu UI screens, in alphabetical order.

New Perspective Tree

Users can drag objects to rearrange them within the new perspective but you will not be able to drag objects from the New Perspective back to the SBC Object Tree or the EMA UI Screens tree. When objects with a parent-child relationship in the SBC Object tree are added to the New Perspective tree, they can be arranged to maintain their parent-child relationship or can be rearranged so that child objects are at the same level in the hierarchy as the parent objects.  However, child objects cannot be placed above their parent objects in the hierarchy of the new perspective.

Click New Folder to create a new folder in the new perspective. You can name the new folder when it is first created. The New Folder button is always enabled.

You can drag objects from EMA UI Screen Tree and SBC Object Tree to this newly created folder. The Undo Edits button will be disabled until at least one node or folder has been added to the new perspective.

To undo any edits made the new perspective, click Undo Edits to remove all the edits made.

Click Yes to clear the contents of the New Perspective tree, and the contents of the SBC Object tree and the EMA UI Screens tree is refreshed to their original state.

Once you are ready to save the created Perspective, click Save Perspective .

A dialog is displayed where you can enter the perspective name (when creating a perspective) or view the perspective name (when editing a perspective) and set whether the objects in the perspective should be displayed in alphabetical order or in the order in which they are listed in the New Perspective area.

Click Ok to save the perspective with the name specified. The perspective will appear in the perspective list.

To Edit Custom Perspectives

Click the radio button next to a perspective in the perspective list to open the tool for editing the perspective.

The Edit Perspective window appears.

The name of the perspective that is being edited is shown in the title bar of the tool. The New Perspective tree shows the contents of the perspective that is being edited. Make the desired changes and click Save Perspective to save the changes.

To Import Custom Perspectives

Click the radio button next to a perspective in the perspective list to open the tool for editing the perspective.

Click Import Perspective. A tool for importing a perspective is displayed.

Click Browse to select a perspective file and click Import Perspective to import.

If the perspective is successfully imported, the following message is displayed is displayed:

If the perspective import fails, an error message is displayed:

To Export Custom Perspectives

Click the radio button next to a perspective in the perspective list to open the tool for editing the perspective.

Click Export Perspective to export the selected Perspective. A tool to export the perspective is displayed.

Click Save to browse for the location and save the Perspective.

To Delete Custom Perspectives

Click the radio button next to a perspective in the perspective list to open the tool for editing the perspective.

Click Delete to remove the selected Perspective from the list. A pop up window appears seeking your confirmation to remove the Perspective.

Click Yes to delete.