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Siebel CRM Desktop for Microsoft Outlook Administration Guide > Customizing Siebel CRM Desktop > Process of Customizing Objects in Siebel CRM Desktop >
Defining the User Interface
This task is a step in Process of Customizing Objects in Siebel CRM Desktop. In this topic, you define the user interface for the custom object. To allow the user to work with the custom object, you must define the form that Siebel CRM Desktop uses to display the custom object. The custom object is configured to use the custom SBL Activity form in the siebel_basic_mapping.xml file that you modified in Defining the Custom Object. You must create the SBL Activity form. Figure 10 illustrates the layout of the Activity Form.
Figure 10. Layout of the Activity Form
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A set of cells describes the form layout. A cell can be empty or it can contain a control or a stack. A single stack can contain numerous cells. The form is divided into the following parts:
- One part includes visible controls.
- One part includes hidden controls.
This example uses this technique because the example uses native Microsoft Outlook forms as a base for custom forms. Although you can modify the position of a native Microsoft Outlook control, you cannot remove it entirely from the form. You move the unused controls that are native to Microsoft Outlook to a location where the user cannot view them, which is typically a very small cell. This form is a prototype that helps you visualize the cells, stacks of cells, and the order in which you use the cells and stacks. This visualization helps to reduce the wide range of combinations of cells and stacks that you can describe down to only those cells and stacks that you can support. You can add new fields, remove fields, reorder fields, and apply any other changes during development and testing. To define the user interface
- Use an XML editor to open the forms_12.xml file.
For more information, see About Files in the Customization Package.
- To divide the form into a visible section and a hidden section, add the following code to the forms_12.xml file:
<form id="SBL Activity">
<page id="General" tag="0x10A6" min_height="335" min_width="520">
<cell>
<stack layout="horz" padding="10">
<!-- visible section -->
<cell>
<!-visible fields here -->
</cell>
<!-- hidden section -->
<cell size="1">
<!-hidden fields here -->
</cell>
</stack>
</cell>
</page>
</form>
- Divide the visible section into a top section and a bottom section, as illustrated in the following figure:
Although not required, this step helps to support the current layout of the form. Add the following code:
<form id="SBL Activity">
(...............)
<!-- visible section -->
<cell>
<stack layout="vert" padding="5" spacing="5">
<!-top section-->
<cell size="220">
<!-top section fields here-->
</cell>
<!-bottom section-->
<cell>
<!-bottom section fields here-->
</cell>
</stack>
</cell>
(...............)
</form>
- Divide the top section into two parts that include a left column and a right column of fields, as illustrated in the following figure:
Add the following code:
<-- top section -->
<cell size=220>
<stack layout="horz" spacing="5">
<cell>
<stack layout="horz" spacing="3">
<!-- left side captions -->
<cell size="105">
</cell>
<!-- left side fields -->
<cell> </cell>
</stack>
</cell>
<cell>
<stack layout="vert" spacing="5">
<cell size="105">
<stack layout="horz" spacing="3">
<!-- left side captions -->
<cell size="110">
</cell>
<!-- left side fields -->
<cell>
</cell>
</stack>
</cell>
<cell size="13">
<!-attachments caption and separator here -->
</cell>
<cell>
<!-attachments view here -->
</cell>
</stack>
</cell>
</stack>
</cell>
- Divide the left column into cells where you can place captions for fields, as illustrated in the following figure:
For more information, see XML Code That Creates Cells.
- Divide the right column into cells where you can place fields.
Because the code that you use to complete this step is similar to the code you use in Step 5, you can copy and modify the code that is described in XML Code That Creates Cells.
- Define the Comments section of the Activity form, as illustrated in the following figure:
The Comments section is divided into the following parts:
- Comments caption and the Add Attachment button
- Comments field
To hold the caption and the button, the top part includes two parts. Another section describes the Add attachment button. It is not described in the section that it relates to according to the logic of the button. This is not important in this step because you describe the form layout, not the button logic. For more information, see Defining Logic for the Custom Form.
Add the following code:
<!-- visible section -->
<cell>
<stack layout="vert" padding="5" spacing="5">
<!-top section-->
<cell size="220">
<!-top section fields here-->
</cell>
<!-bottom section-->
<cell size="22">
<stack layout="horz">
<cell>
<control id="0x20022" class="static" tab_order="30">
<text>Comments:</text>
</control>
</cell>
<cell size="110" attraction="far">
<control class="button" id="0x20059" tab_order="29" on_click="LinkAttachment()">
<text>Add attachment...t</text>
</control>
</cell>
<cell size="5" attraction="far"></cell>
</stack>
</cell>
<cell>
<control id="0x103f" tab_order="31"></control>
</cell>
</stack>
</cell>
- Make sure the description you create supports the version of Microsoft Outlook that your users use.
For more information, see Correct Usage of the Forms_xx.XML File and Object ID.
Correct Usage of the Forms_xx.XML File and Object ID
Microsoft Outlook 2003 and Microsoft Outlook 2007 describe forms differently. These versions use different IDs for native Microsoft Outlook controls. You must create a different description of the form for each version that your implementation uses. Each form uses the same layout description but the native Microsoft Outlook control ID is different. For example, assume you create code for Microsoft Outlook 2007. For this code to work correctly with Microsoft Outlook 2003, you must replace object IDs that are native in Microsoft Outlook 2007 with object IDs that are native in Microsoft Outlook 2003. In the example in this topic, you must replace the IDs that are in the hidden section and in the ID of the body control. Because the code in this topic supports Microsoft Outlook 2007, you must add it to the forms_12.xml file. If you use Microsoft Outlook 2003, then you use the forms_11.xml file and you use Object IDs that are native to Microsoft Outlook 2003.
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