Siebel Business Process Framework: Task UI Guide > Configuring Task UI > Editing Task Flows >

Configuring Task Chapters

Organizing task steps into chapters is optional, but when you assign one step to a chapter, all the other steps in the same task must also be assigned to chapters. You can create any number of chapters, but for a given task, create only as many as you will use.

NOTE:  Limit the use of chapters to only those chapters that you need. If you create chapters without associated steps, the Validator throws an error at validation time.

You can use colors to differentiate between chapters. Steps that share the same color belong to the same chapter grouping. Figure 14 shows the Multi Value Property Window, in which you create chapters. Each chapter record includes a Color property as part of its definition.

Figure 14. Chapters Tab in the Multi Value Property Window

When assigning multiple task steps to a single chapter, the task steps must be adjacent to one another in the sequence. For example, you cannot assign the fourth step to the same chapter as the first step (Chapter 1) if the two steps in between belong to a different chapter (Chapter 2). Step 4 must belong to either Chapter 2, or Chapter 3. Likewise, forward navigation that moves to a previous chapter is not possible. This is called a chapter cycle. Validation rules prevent the flow from moving this way.

However, you can design looping of task steps between chapters. For example, a step within Chapter 2 goes back to a step in Chapter 1 after a decision point.

NOTE:  You can assign task steps to chapters only for main tasks, not for subtasks. If you assign a chapter to a subtask step, the steps in the subtask are grouped under the same chapter header of the subtask step while the subtask is being executed.

To define a chapter

1. Open the appropriate task in the Task Designer.
2. Right-click the Task Designer, and choose Show Chapters from the pop-up menu.

   If no chapters have been defined for the task, the colors in the task flow disappear, leaving all the task steps white.

3. In the Multi Value Property Window, click the Chapters tab.
4. Right-click, and choose New Record from the pop-up menu.
5. Specify the properties for the chapter:
   1. Enter a Name for the chapter.
   2. Select a Display Name - String Reference.
   3. Choose a color from the pop-up Color pick applet and click OK.
   4. Select a Sequence.

      By default, the Chapters tab records are sorted on sequence number.

      NOTE:  When you create a new chapter, the Sequence attribute pre-defaults to the next available number in the series 10, 20, 30, and so on. This is so that when you need to add additional chapters to a task, there is room for the new chapters to fit in the sequence and you avoid having to renumber the existing chapters.

To assign a task step to a chapter

1. Make sure chapters have been defined for the task.
2. In the Task Designer, right-click a step, and choose Assign Chapter from the pop-up menu.

   NOTE:  To assign multiple steps to the chapter at one time, click and drag your mouse to form a box around the steps.

3. Select the appropriate chapter, and click OK.

   The list is limited to the task chapters defined in the task.

4. Repeat until all the steps within the task have been assigned to chapters.

   NOTE:  Make sure each step has a chapter assigned. While using chapters is not required, when you have assigned one step within a task flow to a chapter, every step within the flow must have a chapter assigned to it.

To delete a chapter

1. In the Multi Value Property Window, click the Chapters tab.
2. Right-click the chapter you want to delete, and choose Delete Record from the pop-up menu.

   The chapter assignment is removed from the applicable steps in the Chapters view. The steps remain, but now they are not assigned to any chapter.