Linking Elements in Shell Hierarchies for Easy Restructuring

Companies, such as banks, that often move sites from one division, region, or market to another, need to be able to restructure the shell hierarchies in Unifier without having to re-enter a lot of information on attribute forms and business processes. Linking data elements (fields) between shells and other forms makes it easier for the user to rearrange shell hierarchies by automatically reflecting new field values on the forms as the shell is moved. This feature ensures that data referenced from parent shells to child shells and business processes is correctly reflected in the new hierarchy so that reporting is accurate and Unifier's operation is not interrupted.

This feature works only on attribute forms for child shells, or for single-record BPs at the project/shell level. You cannot use this feature for an anchor shell.
You can place linked elements on upper forms only; not detail forms.
You cannot link elements that are from a template that is linked to the form.
You cannot link elements that are part of a dynamic data set.

Using this feature, you can create a dynamic connection from a field on the following forms to a field on the attribute form of any parent shell in the hierarchy.

Child shell attribute form
Business process forms in child shells

The field on the form you are designing will automatically display the current value of the field you link to on the parent shell's form, regardless of where the child shell is moved.

Note: Before you can link elements on the form you are designing here, the linkable elements from the Shell must be specified when you start the Shell design.

To link an element:

Open the shell or single-record business process you want to work with.
Open the upper form in the Form Designer window; for a configurable manager, open the detail form.
On the Form Designer window, highlight an empty cell and click the Linked button on the toolbar. The Linked Data Element Picker window opens, showing a list of the fields that you chose for linking when you started the design for this shell or business process.
From the list of data elements, select the field(s) on the attribute form that you want to link to this form and click OK.
uDesigner links these fields so that the current value of the field you link to always appears on the form you are designing, regardless of where the shell is moved.

In operation, when the user moves a child shell, the linked field on the form will not display the current value until the user clicks Finish Editing and reopens the record.

Last Published Monday, June 3, 2024