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Overview of Siebel Web Templates

A Siebel web template includes a preset format that Siebel CRM reuses each time it requires a particular layout. This configuration allows Siebel CRM to use only a single template rather than multiple files every time it requires a particular layout. For more information, see Siebel Web Template.

A Web browser uses HTML to define the layout and format of a page. Siebel web templates provide this HTML layout to the Siebel Web Engine when it displays Siebel objects in the Siebel client. The templates contain markup tags, such as HTML, WML, and XML, that Siebel CRM intersperses with Siebel tags. Siebel CRM prefixes these tags with the following text:

swe

A Siebel web template includes empty placeholders that contain no data. To enter data and user interface elements into a template, Siebel CRM associates views, applets, controls, and other objects with each template. These objects are defined in the Siebel repository. Siebel CRM maps each object to an empty placeholder in the template. For example, assume a view maps to three applets. You associate a view web template with the view, and then map each applet to a placeholder in that template.

How Siebel CRM Displays a Wireless Application

Siebel CRM displays a wireless application in the same way that it displays an application that is not wireless except for the fact that the markup language in the templates use WML or XML code. This topic describes configuration for Web (HTML) applications, but many of the concepts that this chapter describes are generic across markup languages.

Types of Siebel Web Templates

Siebel CRM uses the following types of Siebel web templates:

• Page container template. Provides a structure for Siebel CRM. Each Siebel application uses one page container that it uses as a container for view web templates. A view that does not use the container page typically varies significantly from other views. For example, the login page does not use the page container.
• Web page template. Defines the layout for the entire display. Includes information about where Siebel CRM displays the screen bar, view bar, and view.
• View web template. Defines the layout for a view. Specifies where to position applets and other page-level controls on the view. Specifies the format of the view.
• Applet template. Defines the layout for fields and controls in an applet. Specifies how to format elements in an applet. An applet can include more than one mode. Siebel CRM associates each mode with a template. For more information, see Options to Control How the User Creates, Edits, Queries, and Deletes CRM Data.
• Format template. Allows you to create custom HTML types, such as specialized controls, list items, and page items. These templates use the SWF (Siebel Web Format) extension. For more information about SWF files, see Configuring an HTML Control Type and Caution About Using Specialized Classes.

Siebel CRM can contain other pages that do not contain any Siebel tags. For example, you might include an About This Application help page. This page is not a template.

Development Environment You Use to Create HTML Output

Figure 30 describes the development environment you can use to create HTML output. The Siebel Web Engine uses templates, repository definitions, and HTML to create HTML output.

Figure 30. Development Environment You Use to Create HTML Output

Explanation of Callouts

You use the development environment to do the following:

1. Edit the HTML in an external HTML editor.
2. Use the Web Layout Editor in Siebel Tools to edit the layout of an applet and to map object definitions to the Siebel web template.

If a Siebel client requests a view, then the Siebel Web Engine does the following:

3. Gets the object definition for the view and the object definition for each applet in that view from the SRF file. Gets the data defined in the object definition from the data manager layer of the Application Object Manager (AOM).
4. Matches this data with the template that the view references and each applet in the view.
5. Uses the placeholders in the template to display this view. Defines where Siebel CRM places each user interface element in the object definition and how to format this element.

   If the user accesses the HTML file in a Web browser, then Siebel CRM displays it as a Web page. It uses the layout that the original template defines and it gets the data and controls.

Siebel Web Template Reuse

You can share a Siebel Web template among many objects in the Siebel repository. A template includes placeholders that do not contain data, so Siebel CRM can map any number of repository objects to a placeholder. This configuration allows you to modify only one template to apply style or structural modifications to numerous user interface elements. A typical Siebel application contains approximately 5 to 50 templates. These templates form the basis for several hundred views and applets. For example, Siebel CRM can share a template that defines the layout and format of a predefined list applet among all the list applet definitions that reside in the Siebel repository.

If a placeholder is not mapped, then the Siebel Web Engine ignores it. It also ignores the HTML that exists between the Siebel tags that define the placeholder. For example, if the template contains the layout for a list applet that is 10 columns wide but only two of the columns are mapped, then the Siebel Web Engine ignores the other eight unmapped columns. This configuration improves efficiency and performance.

Flexibility of Use

Siebel CRM comes with many predefined applet web templates and view web templates that you can modify. To support your business processes, it might not be necessary for you to modify any of the applet web templates and view web templates. In some situations, especially with customer and partner applications, you can modify predefined templates to reflect the look and feel that your company requires. You can create entirely new templates.

A Siebel Web template file can include another Siebel Web template. Siebel CRM uses this configuration to improve efficiency. For example, to separate how Siebel CRM handles an applet title from how it handles the applet body, you can create a template file that includes the title in the applet template. This configuration allows you to define an applet layout one time, and then combine it with multiple different title layouts.

A Siebel Web template must use valid HTML. It is recommended that you do not add JavaScript beyond what the Siebel Web Engine already creates. If it is necessary to add JavaScript, then you must use Siebel Tools to define browser script.

You can use Siebel Tools or an external editor to modify a template. For more information, see Using Siebel Tools.

Support for Multiple Browser Types

The layout and style of HTML Web pages is dynamic. This configuration allows Siebel CRM to simultaneously support multiple browser types and versions. A Siebel web template supports conditional branching. Siebel CRM evaluates conditions according to the results that a business service returns.