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About Dynamic Buttons (Administrator)


A dynamic button is a button whose availability depends on the currently selected view. It is activated based on the state of the currently selected record, as defined in the Siebel State Model. For information about using the State Model, see Siebel Business Process Designer Administration Guide.

Various Expense Report views in your Siebel application contain dynamic buttons. The buttons are used in the expense report approval process. By default, these buttons are labelled Submit, Approve, Accept, Paid, Recall, and Reject. You can configure the following properties of these dynamic buttons:

This section explains how to make each of these configuration changes. Because dynamic buttons are managed as list of values (LOV) entries, you can reconfigure them without using Siebel Tools.

NOTE:  Standard dynamic button configurations are included in the seed data that comes with your Siebel application. If you do not use Siebel seed data in your implementation, you must either recreate the standard dynamic button configurations or load the configurations from the seed data into your system.

Changing the Names of Dynamic Buttons for Expense Reports (Administrator)

The following procedure explains how to change the name that is displayed on a dynamic button.

To change the name of a dynamic button for expense reports

  1. From the application-level menu, choose View > Site Map > Applications Administration > List of Values.
  2. In the List of Value list, click Query.
  3. Enter *DYN* in the Type field, and then click Go.
  4. The dynamic buttons for expense reports have the Type field set to EXPRPT_DYNAMIC_BT.

  5. Select the dynamic button that has a name you want to change.
  6. Enter the new name in the Display Value field and the Language-Independent Code field.
  7. In the List of Values list, click the menu button, and then click Save Record.
  8. Click Clear Cache.
  9. This step reloads dynamic button settings into the server cache. When this process is complete, the modified dynamic button is available for use.

Changing the Positions of Dynamic Buttons for Expense Reports (Administrator)

The following procedure explains how to change the left-to-right sequence in which dynamic buttons are displayed, when two or more dynamic buttons are displayed together.

To change the relative positions of dynamic buttons for expense reports

  1. From the application-level menu, choose View > Site Map > Applications Administration > List of Values.
  2. In the List of Values list, click Query.
  3. Enter *DYN* in the Type field, and then click Go.
  4. The dynamic buttons for expense reports have the Type field set to EXPRPT_DYNAMIC_BT.

  5. Find the dynamic buttons that you want to place in a new sequence.
  6. In the Order field, enter a new sequence number for each button you are placing in a new sequence.
  7. NOTE:  If buttons have identical sequence numbers, they will be displayed in alphabetical order.

  8. In the List of Values list, click the menu button, and then click Save Record.
  9. Click Clear Cache.
  10. This step reloads dynamic button settings into the server cache. After this process is complete, the applicable Expense Report views display the buttons in their new order.

Adding Dynamic Buttons to New Views for Expense Reports (Administrator)

The following procedure explains how to display the dynamic buttons for expense reports in a new view. If you configure new views, you may want the dynamic buttons to appear there.

To add dynamic buttons for expense reports to new views

  1. From the application-level menu, choose View > Site Map > Applications Administration > List of Values.
  2. Display the High and Low columns using Columns Displayed. For information about using Columns Displayed functionality, see Fundamentals.
  3. In the List of Values list, click Query.
  4. Enter *DYN* in the Type field, and then click Go.
  5. The dynamic buttons for expense reports have the Type field set to EXPRPT_DYNAMIC_BT.

  6. Select a button that you want to add to one or more new views.
  7. In the Low field, enter the names of the new views to display this button, preceding each view name and following the final view name with the percent sign (%).
  8. For example, if you want to add the selected button to views NewViewA and NewViewB, you would enter %NewViewA%NewViewB%, without intervening spaces.

  9. In the List of Values list, click the menu button, and then click Save Record.
  10. NOTE:  Repeat Step 5 through Step 7 for each additional button that you want to display in new views.

  11. Click Clear Cache.
  12. This step reloads dynamic button settings into the server cache. After this process is complete, the new views you specified display the dynamic buttons you specified.

Specifying Inheritance of Dynamic Buttons for a New Detail View for Expense Reports (Administrator)

LOV records of type EXPRPT_DYNAMIC_BT are modified in the dynamic button procedures discussed so far. LOV records of type EXPRPT_DETAIL_VIEWS also affect dynamic buttons in expense reports. EXPRPT_DETAIL_VIEWS records specify the views that inherit dynamic buttons from a related view.

For example, if you navigate to the My Expense Reports view, Submit and Recall buttons are displayed on both the Expense Reports list and the More Info form. If you click the Line Items view tab, an Expense Report form and a Line Items list appear. The Expense Report form displays Submit and Recall buttons that it has inherited from the My Expense Reports view. This inheritance is specified by placing the value "%Expense Report Line Items Summary View%Expense Report Line Items Detail View%" in the description field of an EXPRPTS_DETAIL_VIEW LOV record. The following procedure explains how to specify dynamic button inheritance for a new detail view.

To specify detail views to inherit dynamic buttons for expense reports

  1. From the application-level menu, choose View > Site Map > Applications Administration > List of Values.
  2. Display the Description column using Columns Displayed. For information about using Columns Displayed functionality, see Fundamentals.
  3. In the List of Values list, click Query.
  4. Enter EXPRPT_DETAIL_VIEWS in the Type field, and then click Go.
  5. Select an existing EXPRPT_DETAIL_VIEWS record.
  6. In the Description field, enter the names of the views that you want to have inherit dynamic buttons from related views, preceding each view name and following the final view name with the percent sign (%).
  7. For example, if you want NewViewC and NewViewD to inherit dynamic buttons from related views, you would enter %NewViewC%NewViewD%, without intervening spaces.

  8. In the List of Values list, click the menu button, and then click Save Record.
  9. Click Clear Cache.
  10. This step reloads dynamic button settings into the server cache. After this process is complete, the views you specified inherit dynamic buttons from related views.


 Siebel Professional Services Automation Guide 
 Published: 18 April 2003