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Task Playbar Applet

The task playbar applet is a type of applet that includes buttons that allow the user to control the task UI. It is a required UI element that Siebel CRM can display at the top, bottom, or top and bottom of a task view. In Figure 9, Siebel CRM displays the task playbar applet in the lower left corner. It includes the Pause, Previous, Next, and Cancel buttons.

If necessary, you can use a custom playbar applet to modify the look and behavior of the task playbar. You can do the following:

• Use the following applet Web templates:
  • Applet Task Playbar - Bottom
  • Applet Task Playbar - Top
• Use the CSSSWEFrameTaskPlaybar frame class. This class allows the applet to handle navigation buttons and to turn on or turn off some of the buttons, depending on the business requirement.

If you define a specialized playbar applet, then you can copy and modify the following templates:

• CCAppletPlaybarButtons.swt
• CCAppletPlaybarBottom.swt
• CCAppletPlaybarTop.swt

For more information about:

• Adding a task playbar applet to a task view, see Creating a Task View.
• An example that controls the playbar buttons that are active, see Controlling the Buttons of the Playbar Applet.
• Starting an event when the user clicks a task playbar button, see About Event Handling.
• Reference information about the task transaction, see About Task Transaction.

Display Requirements for the Task Playbar

A task view must include a task playbar applet. You can position it at the top right section or lower right section of a task view that does not require vertical scrolling. If vertical scrolling is required, then you can position it at the top right section and the bottom right section of the view. From a usability standpoint, it is recommended that you avoid vertical scrolling.

Validation with Forward Navigation in the Task Playbar

If a user clicks the forward navigation button, then Siebel CRM validates the data that the current view displays, and then does the required logic. Table 6 describes validation for forward navigation and validation results.

Labels for the Forward Button

You can modify the Forward Button Type property on the task step to modify the label for the forward button. The label does not modify the behavior of the task. It is a hint that provides the user with an indication of what happens when the user clicks the forward button. The label can include one of the following values:

• Next. Used by default if the Forward Button Type property is empty and if the task UI includes more than one view. If the task UI includes only one view, then the default value is Submit.
• Submit. Indicates that Siebel CRM is about to save transaction data for the task UI to the Siebel database for enterprise wide consumption and, when saved, cannot be rolled back. This situation typically occurs at the end of the task. For a task that includes a commit step, Siebel CRM must display the Submit button in the last task view that it displays before it displays the commit step.
• Finish. Indicates that clicking the forward navigation button ends the task UI. You can use it only in a task UI where Siebel CRM fully saves the task transaction before it displays the last summary view. This situation also applies to a task that does not use a task transaction, but instead interacts directly with the Siebel database.

Backward Navigation with the Task Playbar

Clicking the Previous button causes Siebel CRM to validate the data that it displays in the current view, and then to display the last displayed view. This feature is most useful when the user makes a mistake when using a task UI and must return to an earlier view to correct this mistake. For example, if the user enters erroneous data or chooses the wrong option. Note the following:

• Siebel CRM applies the original search and sort specifications to reconstruct the view before displaying it. It also attempts to reinstate the original current record. It does not reinstate original values.
• The view displays the most current data that the transaction contains. If the user modifies this data, then Siebel CRM displays these modifications when the user navigates back to the target view.
• The user can continue backward navigation until the user reaches the first view in the task UI. The user can freely cross subtask boundaries.
• Siebel CRM disables the backward navigation button in the first view of the task UI.
• If the user uses backward navigation, and then makes a choice at a decision point that varies from the original choice that the user made, then subsequent forward navigation can cause the task UI to enter a branch in the task UI that is different from the branch that the user first pursued.

For more information, see Disabling Backward Navigation.

Validation with Backward Navigation

Siebel CRM does backward validation in a way that is similar to the validation it does with forward navigation with the following differences:

• If it created records in the current view in the task transaction, and if the deferred validation option is enabled, then it does not validate the record.
• If the Defer Write Record property is set to TRUE on an insert step, then it performs deferred validation. For more information, see About the Defer Write Record Property.
• If the user inserts data in the task transaction, and if Siebel CRM does not validate data before it runs the commit step, then it does not save the data to the Siebel database.

Siebel CRM validates transient data because it is not part of the task transaction. For more information, see Overview of Transient Data.

Task Pause with the Task Playbar

Clicking the Pause button in the task playbar applet causes Siebel CRM to pause the current task UI. Siebel CRM validates the current view in the same way that it validates backward navigation. If validation succeeds, and if a handler is defined for the current task, then it runs the task event handler for the pause operation. If the event handling succeeds, then it saves the current task state and the transaction for the task. It saves this information to the Siebel database. For example, it saves information about the current view, navigation history, local data, and so on.

Siebel CRM displays the predefined view that it displayed when the user started the task UI. It sets the inbox item that references the task to a paused state. This configuration allows the user to resume the paused task from the Universal Inbox or, if the task instance references a business object, then to resume the task from a view that displays tasks that reference these business objects.

For more information, see the following topics:

• Resuming a Paused Task UI
• About Event Handling
• Disabling the Pause Button

Implicit Pause

Siebel CRM implicitly pauses the task in any of the following situations:

• The user attempts to navigate the Web browser outside of the current task UI. For example, if the user clicks in the site map, or clicks a screen tab.
• The session for the user times out.

Task Cancel with the Task Playbar

Clicking the cancel button in a task playbar applet causes Siebel CRM to cancel the task UI. The effect of clicking the cancel button depends on the following state of this task UI:

• If the user never paused the task UI, then cancelling it leaves no trace of the task, except for timestamp metrics for the task UI.
• If the user paused the task UI at least one time, then cancelling it resets the task state to the state that existed during the last pause. Siebel CRM also rolls back task transactions:
  • If intermediate commit steps occurred since the last pause, then it rolls back the transaction to the state that existed at the last intermediate commit.
  • If intermediate commit steps did not occur since the last pause, then it rolls back the transaction to the state that it saved during the last pause of this task UI.