Configuring Siebel eBusiness Applications > Configuring Special Purpose Applets >

File Attachment Applets

A file attachment applet (or attachment applet) provides access to external documents, such as spreadsheets, word processing documents, and slide presentations, from within Siebel applications. A file attachment applet provides the following capabilities:

• Allows the user to open a document of any Windows-supported file type by clicking on its name in a list.
• Allows the user to add document files to a list, edit them, or remove them.
• Provides synchronization and shared access support for attached documents.

An example of a file attachment applet appears in Figure 122.

Figure 122.  File Attachment Applet: Account Attachment View

Figure 122 shows the Account Attachment view. The upper applet is the standard Account Form Applet. The lower applet is a file attachment applet called Account Attachment Applet. There is a master-detail relationship between the account and the list of account attachments, so that all file attachments for the current account are listed in the lower applet.

Each document is represented by a row in the attachments list. The document's filename, local/server status, file size, Windows file type (filename extension), and date of last update are displayed. Additionally, the name of each file appears in underlined, colored text, indicating that the file may be opened in the appropriate Windows application by clicking on the name.

Users add documents to the attachment list by choosing the New File button or selecting Menu > New Record, and then clicking the select button in the Attachment Name field. The Siebel application searches for files to be attached in the directory specified in the Start in field of the program icon's Properties dialog (Start >Programs > Program_Name > Program_Icon). If a user chooses a different folder when attaching a file, the Siebel application searches for the file in this folder the next time the user attaches a file.