Modifying Button Behavior in Oracle Visual Builder Cloud Service

Before You Begin

This 15-minute tutorial shows you how to change the default behavior of a button defined in an Oracle Visual Builder Cloud Service application.

Background

You can configure the behavior of buttons by using the Actions tab of the Property Inspector. For the HR Application, you'll change the Create Employee button to assign a new employee to a default job and department if the user doesn't specify them.

Suppose that the company is primarily hiring programmers right now to beef up its product development department. When you edited the business objects for the application, however, you defined a Programmer job but didn't create a Product Development department. In this tutorial, you'll create the new department and then assign new hires to the Programmer job in the new department if they are not assigned otherwise.

What Do You Need?

• Access to Oracle Visual Builder Cloud Service
• Some knowledge of JavaScript, including JavaScript promises
• A supported browser (see Known Issues for Oracle Visual Builder Cloud Service for more information)

Add a Department to the HR Application

This is a descriptive paragraph before a set of ordered items.

1. Log in to Oracle Visual Builder Cloud Service if you are not already logged in.
2. On the Home page, click HR Application 1.0.

   

3. In the Page Designer, open the page menu and select Departments.

   

4. Click the Test Application button in the toolbar.
5. On the Departments page, click Create.

   

6. On the Create Department page, enter Product Development in the Name field, and select Floor 2 from the Location drop-down list. Finally, click Save and Close.

   

   A success message appears, and the new department appears at the end of the Departments table.

   

7. Click Back to Designer to return to the Page Designer.

   

Obtain Department and Job Values for your Custom Code

Before you write custom JavaScript code for a button, you may need to verify some values.

1. In the Page Designer, open the page menu and select Employees. Notice that no employees are assigned to the Programmer job yet.

   

2. Click Main Menu , expand Data Designer, and select Business Objects.

   

3. Click Jobs, then click the Data tab.

   

4. In the Data tab, notice that the Id value for the Programmer job is 6. Make a note of this value.

   

5. Click Department. You are on the the Data page.

   Make a note of the ID value, 7, for the Product Development department you just created.

   

6. Click Main Menu , then click Page Designer.

   

Configure a Button Action

When you select a button on the canvas, you can use the Configure Actions dialog box to configure the behavior of the button. You can program the button’s behavior by dragging one or more items from the list of suggested actions or navigation targets into the recipe area. You can also choose to enter custom JavaScript code for the button. For example, you might want the button to navigate to a specific page, perform an action on a business object, or display a message.

1. From the page menu, select Create Employee.

   

2. Click the Save and Close button, then click the Actions tab in the Button Property Inspector.

   

   The Actions tab displays the default actions performed when a user clicks the button:

   • Save Employee
   • Navigate Back with "Employee"
   • Show Success Message

   We want to add the creation of a default job and department.

   

3. Click the Edit button to open the Configure Action page.

   

4. Expand Other Scripting in the left column, then drag Custom JavaScript Code above the Save Employee action.

   

5. In the Description text field, enter a description of the action you'll define, such as If Job and Department aren't defined, set defaults, then click Edit Custom Code.

   

6. In the Edit Custom Code dialog box, expand the Employee Fields node and click Department. A getValue call for the Department reference appears in the code window.

   

7. Add a space after the getValue call and then click Job to get another getValue call. Then add code to perform the logic you need. The final code looks like this. (You can just paste the following code into the text area to avoid mistakes.)

   if (($EmployeeEntityDetailArchetypeRecord.getValue('ref2Department') == null) 
       && ($EmployeeEntityDetailArchetypeRecord.getValue('ref2Job') == null)) {
     $EmployeeEntityDetailArchetypeRecord.setValue('ref2Department', 7);
     $EmployeeEntityDetailArchetypeRecord.setValue('ref2Job', 6);
   }
   resolve($EmployeeEntityDetailArchetypeRecord);
   

   If both the Department and Job fields are empty, call setValue to set the Department to the correct Id value for Product Development (7), and call the same method to set the Job to the correct Id value for Programmer (6). Make sure that you finish with a call to resolve to fulfill a promise.

8. At the bottom, select Employee from the Code Resolve Result Type drop-down list, then click Save to return to the Configure Actions dialog box.

   

   Scroll down and review the other actions.

   Error handling is done automatically unless you decide to change it. Oracle Visual Builder Cloud Service provides error messages and details in case of failure.

9. Click Done to return to the Create Employee page. Verify that the list of button actions reflects your changes:
   • If Job and Department aren't defined, set defaults
   • Save Employee
   • Navigate Back with "Employee"
   • Show Success Message

   

Test Your Change

1. To verify that your button modification works correctly, click the Test Application button in the toolbar. Since you were on the Create Employee page in the Page Designer, you are on that page when you test the application.

   

2. Enter values in the Name and Email fields, but leave the Department and Job fields blank. (If you like, enter a value in the Address field or change the Hire Date.) Finally, click Save and Close.

   

   A success message appears briefly ("Employee 10 has been created"). The Employees page opens, and the employee you added is at the end of the list, in the Product Development department, and with the job of Programmer.

   

   Note: A hang or an error message means there's an error in the custom JavaScript code. (The web browser console may help you identify the error.) Edit the Custom JavaScript Code for the button and copy the code correctly.

   You can try creating more employees. If you specify either a job or a department, only the field you specify will be populated.

3. When you're done, click Back to Designer to return to the Page Designer.

   

4. Click the user menu in the top-right corner and select Sign Out from the menu, or go on to other tutorials.

Want to Learn More?

• Using Oracle Visual Builder Cloud Service in the Oracle Help Center
• About Configuring Button Actions in Using Oracle Visual Builder Cloud Service
• Known Issues for Oracle Visual Builder Cloud Service in the Oracle Help Center