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Controlling the Questions Displayed on a Page

It is often convenient to place multiple questions on the same subject into a single page. If the resulting page is a serviceable unit, you can use and reuse this same page in different contexts, effectively reusing the same questions and question-controls to accomplish the same immediate tasks, but with a different higher-level goal.

SmartScript displays at once to the user all of the questions in a page section. A page section is a logical subset of all of the questions between page breaks. Page breaks are dynamically determined by SmartScript based on the following rules:

• A branch leads from a question to a new page or the end of the script.
• The last question on a page is completed.
• One of SmartScript's implicit page break rules causes a break.

About SmartScript's Implicit Page Break Rules

Sometimes a question cannot appear on the same page with a preceding or following question, regardless of the other design criteria that you are considering, because of the mechanisms involved in a question's definition. Siebel SmartScript processes each question, and if the processing of a question requires certain events, then it might have to end (or break) the current page to perform those events in a logical order.

For example, if a question has dynamic text substitution defined for it where the answer of the previous question determines the text for the question, then there must be a page break between these questions. Or, a question might have code executed when the question is completed to check some values in the answer before moving to the next question.

To determine where to break a page, Siebel SmartScript applies the following rules:

• If a question has a VB leave event, such as Question_PreBranch, Question_PreLeave, or Question_Leave, Siebel SmartScript always breaks a page after that question.
• If a question has a VB enter event such as Question_Enter or has a Search Spec, the page always breaks before that question.
• If a question uses a User Parameter or a Buscomp Field to do Auto Substitution and a previous question in the same section sets that User Parameter or Buscomp Field (through Save Field), Siebel SmartScript breaks a page before that question.
• If a question is on a Save Bus Comp and that business component is not positioned on any record, SmartScript breaks the page before that question, unless the first question in that page is also on the same business component. This rule allows new records to be created.

Siebel SmartScript's implicit page break rules are based on the options used to define a question. As you work with these options, always consider their effects on the information flow and page design. It is often possible to put off a question that causes a mandatory page break until you want the page to end. Or, it is possible to move the location of VB or eScript code to a different location in the script to limit page breaks.

NOTE:  You can manipulate Siebel SmartScript's implicit page break rules and exploit them to change the way questions are arranged into pages. For example, it is possible to add null or comment VB code that triggers a certain type of page break without including code that causes any other effect.