Configuring Tiles for an Empty Section

By default, an empty section or a section without any conventional tiles assigned to it is not displayed on a homepage. However, you can configure special tiles such that these special tiles are displayed in a section only when other conventional tiles are either not assigned to the section or the visibility of a tile is controlled through PeopleCode.

A section can be empty due to runtime characteristics, for example:

  • You do not have permissions to the tiles in a section or tiles are hidden through the TILEAPPFILTER attribute. In this scenario, the tiles are not displayed. Consequently, the section is not displayed.

  • Not all tiles in a section are available or optimized for small form factor devices. If you're using a small form factor device, then these tiles are not displayed and the section is hidden.

Use the EMPTY_SECTION_TILE content reference attribute in the tile definition and set the value to true. Administrators can use a tile with this attribute to display the tile as an actionable tile or a non-actionable tile in a section.

Note:

When you use the EMPTY_SECTION_TILE content reference attribute in a tile definition, you do not have to set the HIDE_IN_PERSONALIZE content reference attribute for the tile because the tile with the EMPTY_SECTION_TILE attribute is hidden in the homepage personalization page and not listed on the Add Tile page.

A tile with the EMPTY_SECTION_TILE attribute set to true possesses the following characteristics:

  • It does not appear in sections on the homepage personalization page.

  • It is not listed on the Add Tile page.

  • It should never be used in a traditional homepage or the traditional area of a sectionalized homepage.

  • It can be an actionable tile or a non-actionable tile.

  • It is mutually exclusive with other tiles in a section. That is, this tile appears only when no other tile is present in a section or the tiles are not visible in a section.

  • The tile behavior type should be set to Req-Fix. It is recommended that this tile should be placed as the first tile in the section (as a best practice).

  • The section that contains the empty-section tile should be also hidden from personalization, so you should select the Hide in Personalize check box at the section level on the Section Assignments page of the homepage definition.

Note:

If you use the empty-section tile and you use the TileAppFilter.IsTileVisible method to control the visibility of conventional tiles in a section, you can configure only tiles of the local node; you cannot configure tiles of a remote node because of a limitation of the TileAppFilter.IsTileVisible method.

See PeopleCode API Reference: TileAppFilter Class Methods.

Configuring an Actionable Tile for an Empty Section

An actionable tile (a tile that can be clicked to perform navigation) is similar to a conventional tile, that is, it has all the characteristics of a conventional tile except the content reference attribute area, where you specify the EMPTY_SECTION_TILE attribute and set it to true.

Navigation:

  1. Navigate to the tile repository folder in Fluid Structure Content.

  2. Create a conventional tile.

  3. On the General page, in the Content Reference Attributes area, in the Name field, enter EMPTY_SECTION_TILE.

  4. In the Attribute value field, enter TRUE.

  5. Deselect the Translate check box.

  6. Similar to a conventional tile, you may set permissions or use the TILEAPPFILTER content reference attribute to hide or display the conventional tiles.

  7. Save the tile content reference.

  8. Assign this empty-section tile to a section.

    Note:

    Ensure that you assign this tile as the first tile in a section with the behavior type set as Req-Fix.

    If you want to configure multiple empty-section tiles for a homepage, you should configure different tiles because a tile can appear only once on a homepage.

Configuring a Non-actionable Tile for an Empty Section

A non-actionable tile (does not perform any action; used only for display purpose in an empty section) does not look or act like a conventional tile. The setup is similar to that of a conventional tile except the following:

  1. Navigate to the tile repository folder in Fluid Structure Content.

  2. Create a conventional tile.

  3. On the General page, in the Content Reference Attributes area, in the Name field, enter EMPTY_SECTION_TILE.

  4. In the Attribute value field, enter TRUE.

  5. Deselect the Translate check box.

  6. Similar to a conventional tile, you may set permissions or use the TILEAPPFILTER content reference attribute to display or hide the conventional tiles.

  7. On the Fluid Attributes page, select the Disable Main Hotspot check box.

  8. Optionally, in the Image Name field, choose PT_EMPTY_GRID_ICN.

  9. Save the tile content reference.

  10. Assign this empty-section tile to a section.

    Note:

    Ensure that you assign this tile as the first tile in a section with the behavior type set as Req-Fix.

    If you want to configure multiple empty-section tiles for a homepage, you should configure different tiles because a tile can appear only once on a homepage.

When these empty-section tiles are rendered to an end user, you can note the following characteristics:

Actionable Tile Non-actionable Tile

The specified label of the tile is displayed.

The specified label of the tile is not displayed. The label is used as the name of the region that surrounds the empty section pattern. The label is used for screen reader purposes only as a navigational shortcut.

The border of the tile is displayed.

The border of the tile is not displayed.

Similar to conventional tiles, actionable tiles honor the width and height values.

While the defined height of the tile is honored, the width is ignored. The width of this empty-section tile spans the width of the tile area, that is, from the position of the first tile to the position of the last possible tile in the defined space.

Improvements to TILEAPPFILTER to Support Empty Sections on a Homepage

Displaying empty-section tiles depends, to a certain extent, on the ability of applications to control the visibility of conventional tiles through the TILEAPPFILTER content reference attribute. By default, the TILEAPPFILTER setting is only evaluated the first time the homepage is displayed during a login session. From that point, it is cached. However, if you want that the application class pointed to by the TILEAPPFILTER setting to be re-evaluated every time the homepage is opened, you should use the TILEAPPFILTER_REFRESH content reference attribute and set its value to True. You should use the TILEAPPFILTER_REFRESH attribute in conjunction with the TILEAPPFILTER attribute that controls the visibility of tiles.

WARNING:

When the TILEAPPFILTER_REFRESH attribute in a tile is implemented by the system due to a change in the visibility of the tile, the homepage cache is invalidated, and the system reloads all homepages, so you must use this attribute with caution. It may cause performance issues because all the homepages are reloaded similar to the loading of homepages when you sign in to an application.

Important:

Do not use the TILEAPPFILTER_REFRESH attribute in fluid dashboards.

TILEAPPFILTER_REFRESH is not needed on fluid dashboards because their values are not cached like homepages. Dashboards already re-evaluate the TILEAPPFILTER attribute every time the dashboard is opened, so the TILEAPPFILTER_REFRESH attribute is not necessary.

See PeopleCode API Reference: TileAppFilter Class Methods for the limitations of the TileAppFilter.IsTileVisible method.