Defining the Elements of a View
Views consist of three major presentation areas: the Navigation pane, the View pane, and the optional Preview pane. The Navigation pane and the View pane are always visible; the Preview pane can be turned on and off by the end user . The Preview pane can be toggled by clicking the Preview Pane button on the toolbar or by choosing View, Document Preview, Show Preview from the menu. The default location of each of the display panes is a database property that you can set by clicking the Preview Pane Default button on the Launch tab of the Database properties box. The pane locations can also be changed by choosing View, Document Preview, Arrange Preview from the menu. Only the Navigation and View panes contain elements that can be affected by the developer.
The Preview pane simply previews the document. Table 6.1 lists the display and design elements of a view; Figure 6.1 shows a typical view with the Preview pane displayed on the bottom.
Figure 6.1. All three view display areas of a view are shown, including the Navigation pane in the upper left, the View pane in the upper right, and the Preview pane at the bottom of the screen.
Table 6.1. View Elements
| Element | Contents |
|---|---|
| Display | |
| View pane | Documents displayed in rows and columns , with each column representing a developer-defined set of data and each row representing one document |
| Navigation pane | Views and folders or custom navigator |
| Preview pane | Documents |
| Design | |
| Columns | Simple functions, fields, or formulas that define a set of data displayed |
| View events | Includes View Selection, Form Formula, HelpRequest, Target Frame, QueryOpen, RegionDoubleClick, and many more |
| Form formula | View property that allows a formula entry to determine what forms display any selected document in the view |
| Selection formula | A formula or simple search that determines the documents displayed in the view |
| HelpRequest | A formula that determines the help document that opens when the F1 key is pressed |
| Action bar buttons | Simple actions, formulas, LotusScript, JavaScript, or Common JavaScript used to determine what action will occur when the action is selected |
Just as all databases must have at least one view, all views must have at least one column. Columns control what is displayed in the rows. Selection formulas control which documents are displayed in the view. The default selection formula is SELECT @All , which displays all documents in the database. A Form formula can be used to determine what form(s) to use to display the documents in the view. HelpRequest can be used to display a special help document you created that explains how to use the view. The last item in Table 6.1 is Action bar buttons. By now, you should be familiar with these; they are also available for forms. Each of these items is discussed in this chapter.
The Navigation pane has a default navigator of views and folders; Figure 6.1 shows an example of a view in a database. Designing views and folders impacts this area through the names chosen by the developer. As long as a view is not hidden and the user has access to the view, it will appear in this default navigator. Consequently, if you intend to use the default navigator, be careful when naming views. Naming views is discussed later in this chapter in the section on the Basics tab of the View properties box. However, with the advent of outlines in R5, it is unlikely that you will use views for navigation purposes as often as was done in the past.