erwin Evolve 2024.0.0 - User Guide

Working with the Visual Identity Layout

Working with the Visual Identity Layout

The Visual Identity layout is used to show a list of objects with Visual Indicators to represent some of their properties, rather like you can with Shape Regions in CW Modeler.

The layout displays each object as a rectangle, and then at the bottom of each shape you can show icons to represent the values of one or more properties of your object.

It means you can build a dashboard-like page for a set of objects, highlighting important data about each one, for example, showing a red circle if an object has a Business Risk of '3 - High' or a green circle if it has a Business Risk of '1 - Low', and so on.

Why and how should you use one?

Use the Visual Identity layout when you want to create a dashboard-like view of a set of objects or associated objects, highlighting some of the important data about the objects displayed.

For example you could use the layout to provide an overview of the state of a set of Server objects, using the indicators to show high-level data about each server.

Where and when can you use one?

Use the table below to see where you can use the Visual Identity layout:

Use the Visual Identity layout

To use the Visual Identity layout:

1.In Evolve Designer, locate the parent node you want your Visual Identity layout to be applied to

This is either the Object Type node on an Index Page or an Association Type node on an Object Page

2.In the Selected Properties area of the parent node, select all the properties you want to use as visual indicators

3.Switch the Layout of the node to Visual Identity

Right-click the layout beneath the parent node and choose Switch Layout > CW > Visual Identity

4.Select the Layout Visual Identity node

5.In the Properties List field, enter the Scriptname of the Property Type you want to be used as an indicator

You can reference multiple Property Types by entering the Scriptnames of each, separated using comas

6.Save and Publish your Site.

Working with Visual Indicators

Working with Visual Indicators

Visual Indicators are small icons or images that are displayed to represent the values of properties of your objects, rather like you can with Shape Regions in CW Modeler.

It means you could use a series of colored discs to represent Categories of an object, or tick and cross icons to show whether a value is true or false.

They can be used with the Visual Identity layout, and with Custom Display Strings.

In order to use Visual Indicators though, you must deploy your site as a Custom Site, as the images you want to use as your indicators must be stored on the Evolve server and deployed with your Site when you publish it.

Configure your Custom Site to support the use of Visual Indicators

To use Visual Indicators on your Site, you must place image files in the correct location in a Custom Site folder, and make sure they have the correct file names.

Folders

For each Object Type you want to use a Visual Indicator with, create a directory with the name as the Scriptname of the Object Type in your Custom Site 'images' folder.

For example

<your-custom-site-folder>/images/image_mappings/application
<your-custom-site-folder>/images/image_mappings/process

Inside each Object Type folder, you must create additional folders for each Property Type you want to use as an indicator, again named according to the Scriptname of the Property Type

For example

<your-custom-site-folder>/images/image_mappings/application/validated
<your-custom-site-folder>/images/image_mappings/application/type

Files

In each Property Type folder, you should place image files for each of the possible values that can be set.

Files should be named as follows:

•Use 'true' or 'false' for boolean Property Types

•Use the Abbreviation for lookup (drop-down) Property Types.

Evolve supports PNG, JPEG and GIF for the images, but as images look best when they use a transparent background, we recommend using PNG files.

In the Site the images are re-sized to be displayed at 16x16 pixels, so we recommend creating square images that will not be skewed when re-sized. For optimization reasons, we recommend creating images that are already 16x16 pixels.

Working with External Pictures

Working with External Pictures

An External Picture layout is used to show a picture for each object in a list, and works by using a property on your objects to reference images on the Evolve server.

It is similar to the Image layout, except it is much better suited to displaying smaller images.

For example, you could have a number of 'Product' objects, each one with a 'logo' property. If you upload an image for each product to your Evolve server, you can enter the image name in the 'logo' property for each product, and using the External Picture layout, display that logo on an Index Page or Object Page (if listing Associated Objects).

Why and how should you use one?

Use the External Picture layout when you want to display an image for each object in a list.

Where and when can you use one?

Use the table below to see where you can use an External Picture:

What do you want to do?

Use an External Picture layout

To use the External Picture layout:

1.Ensure you have a Single-Line Text Property Type on your Object Type where you can enter the image name. If you do not have one, use CW Suite to create a new one.

For example, create a new Property Type titled 'logo'.

2.Upload all the image files you want to use to the 'images' folder, or a sub-folder within it, in your custom Site folder

All standard web image formats are supported.

3.For each of the objects you want to use an image with, enter the image file name in the new property field.

What you enter here must be the full path to the image file, with the root being the 'images' folder in your custom Site folder. Therefore, if you uploaded your images directly into the 'images' folder, you can simply enter the image file name. However, if you created a sub-folder there, you should enter: <sub-folder-name>/<image-file-name>, such as 'logos/myimage.png'.

4.In Evolve Designer, locate the parent node you want your External Picture page to sit beneath

This is either the Object Type node on an Index Page or an Association Type node on an Object Page

5.In the Selected Properties setting for the parent node, ensure you select the new Property Type which stores the image reference

6.Right-click the layout beneath the parent node and choose Switch Layout > CW > External Picture

7.In the Layout ID setting for the External Picture layout node, enter the scriptname of the Property Type which stores the image reference.

8.Save and Publish your Site.

Working with the Image Layout

Working with the Image Layout

An Image layout is used to show a picture to represent each object in a list, and works by using a property on your objects to reference an image file on a web server.

It is similar to the External Picture layout, except it is much better suited to displaying large images.

Users visiting your page can choose to navigate to the Object Page for that object, or can view the image in fullscreen mode.

If one or more of the objects returned by the list do not have a value for the image URL property, that object is omitted from the displayed list.

To display the same image as a property of your object in an Object Page, use the imageFromURL Property Group layout.

Why and how should you use one?

Use the Image layout when you want to display a large image for each object in a list, whether that's a list of objects on an Index Page, or a list of Associated Objects on an Object Page.

Where and when can you use one?

Use the table below to see where you can use the Image layout:

What do you want to do?

Use an Image layout

To use the Image layout:

1.In Evolve Designer, locate the parent node you want your Image layout to be applied to

This is either the Object Type node on an Index Page or an Association Type node on an Object Page

2.Switch the Layout of the page to Image

Right-click the layout beneath the parent node and choose Switch Layout > CW > Image

3.Enter the scriptname of the Property Type you are using to store the image file reference in the Image URL Property Scriptname setting.

4.Save and Publish your Site.