Configuring Siebel Business Applications > Configuring Special-Purpose Applets >

Customizing a File Attachment Applet

A file attachment applet is a type of applet that provides access to an external document, such as a spreadsheet, word processing document, or slide presentation in Siebel CRM. A file attachment applet provides the following capabilities:

• Allows the user click the name of a file from a list to open a document.
• Allows the user to add a document file to a list, edit it, or remove it.
• Provides synchronization and shared access support for attached documents.

You can use any file type that Windows supports.

To view an example of a file attachment applet, in the Siebel client navigate to the Account screen, drill down on an account, and then click the Attachments tab. Siebel CRM displays the Account Attachment view. The form applet is the predefined Account Form Applet. The list applet is the Account Attachment Applet. This attachment applet displays attachments for the account. A parent-child relationship exists between the account and the list of account attachments. A row in the attachments list represents each document. Siebel CRM also displays the following information in this applet:

• File name for the document. Siebel CRM displays each file name as underlined and with colored font. This indicates that the user can click the name to open the file in a Windows application.
• Local and server status.
• File size.
• File name extension that identifies the file type.
• Date of last update.

To add a document to the attachment list, the user clicks New File, and then clicks the select button in the Attachment Name field. Siebel CRM searches for files to be attached in the directory that it last used to attach a file. If the user chooses a different folder while attaching a file, then Siebel CRM searches for the file in the different folder the next time the user attaches a file.

A file attachment applet uses specialized objects and methods in the Siebel File System.

To customize a file attachment applet

1. If necessary, customize an attachment business component.

   For more information, see Customizing an Attachment Business Component.

2. Create a file attachment applet using values from the following table.

   Property	Description
   Business Component	Specify the required business component. For more information, see Customizing an Attachment Business Component.
   Class	Set to one of the following values: CSSFrameListFile for an attachment list applet CSSFrameFile for an attachment form applet

3. Add a new child list column or control to the applet for each row in the following table.

   Display Name	Field	Type
   Name	prefix FileName	TextBox
   Local	Dock Status	CheckBox
   Request	prefix FileDockReqFlg	CheckBox
   Size	prefix FileSize	TextBox
   Type	prefix FileExt	TextBox
   Modified	prefix FileDate	TextBox
   Auto Update	prefix FileAutoUpdFlg	CheckBox

   For the prefix, enter the required prefix for the business component. For more information, see Prefix for the Field Name.

   These list columns or controls reference fields in the attachment business component. For more information, see Customizing an Attachment Business Component.

4. Make sure the value in the Detail Applet property of each list column or text box control you added in Step 3 is File Popup Applet.

   This value references the dialog box that Siebel CRM displays if the user clicks the ellipsis in the list column or text box.

Prefix for the Field Name

Siebel CRM displays a consistent prefix in the field name for each field in the attachment business component. These fields reference the base table for the business component. Fields that reference a joined table use a different prefix. For example, the prefix for account attachments is Accnt. The field names are AccntFileName, AccntFileDockReqFlg, and so forth.