16.2 Creating Tabs

Navigate users between pages in an application using tabs.

Note:

Tabs only appear if the associated application uses an older theme. In new themes, Tabs have been replaced with Navigation Menu.

• About Tabs
  
• About the Tabs Page
  
• Checking for Tab Template Support
  
• Creating a Tab
  
• Editing Tabs
  
• Accessing Tab Reports
  

See Also:

• "Creating Lists"

• "Managing Navigation Menus"

• "Creating Database Applications"

16.2.1 About Tabs

Tabs are an effective way to navigate users between pages of an application. The ability to include tabs in your application depends upon your application theme. Older themes, such as such as Theme 26 - Productivity Applications, include tab-based navigation. Newer themes, such a Universal Theme - 42, include list-based navigation menus.

An application can have pages with no tabs, one level of tabs, and two levels of tabs. Standard tabs enable you to display only one level of tabs. To display two levels of tabs, you define both Parent tabs and Standard tabs.

Tip:

As an alternative to tabs, you can use lists to display tab controls. List templates provide greater control over HTML generation.

App Builder includes two different types of tabs:

• Standard tabs

  An application having only one level of tabs uses a standard tab set. A standard tab can have a one-to-one relationship with a page and is associated with a specific page and page number. You can use standard tabs to link users to a specific page.

• Parent tabs

  Parent tabs can control the display of standard tab sets and can be current for many pages. Clicking a parent tab displays the corresponding standard tab, with the default page as the current page. Parent tabs give users another level of navigation and a context (or sense of place) within the application. You can use parent tabs to link users to a specific URL associated with a specific page.

You can group tabs into collections called a tab set. Each tab must be part of a tab set.

Tip:

To see an example of an application using tabs, see the sample application, Sample Database Application.

See Also:

"Understanding Sample Database Application"

16.2.2 About the Tabs Page

The Tabs page describes the tabs defined in your application.

To access the Tabs page:

1. Navigate to the Shared Components page:
   1. On the Workspace home page, click App Builder.
   2. Select an application.
   3. On the Application home page, click Shared Components.

      The Shared Components page appears.

2. Under Navigation, click Tabs.

   The Tabs page appears.

   
   Description of the illustration tabs.png

The Tab Display section provides additional information about how the current tabs or tab set are configured to display.

The Page Templates region at the bottom of the page displays a report of page templates associated with the current application. This region is hidden by default. To view it, click the greater than (>) icon to the left of Page Templates.

See Also:

• "Checking for Tab Template Support"

• "Understanding Sample Database Application"

16.2.3 Checking for Tab Template Support

Before you can create parent and standard tabs, you must check that your default template has positions defined for both standard and parent tabs using the appropriate substitution strings. You also must make sure you do not override this template at the page-level.

To view page templates:

1. Navigate to the Shared Components page:
   1. On the Workspace home page, click App Builder.
   2. Select an application.
   3. On the Application home page, click Shared Components.
2. Under Navigation, click Tabs.

   The Tabs page appears.

3. Locate Page Templates at the bottom of the page. If needed, expand the Page Templates region.
   
   Description of the illustration tabs_pg_templates.png

See Also:

• "Page Templates"

• "Using Themes" for information about setting a default page template at the application level

16.2.4 Creating a Tab

An application can have pages with no tabs, one level of tabs, and two levels of tabs. Standard tabs enable you to display only one level of tabs. To display two levels of tabs, you must define both Parent tabs and Standard tabs.

To create a tab:

1. Access the Tabs page:
   1. On the Workspace home page, click the App Builder icon.
   2. Select an application.
   3. On the Application home page, click Shared Components.
   4. Under Navigation, click Tabs.
2. Click Manage Tabs.
3. To add a Parent tab, click the Add button in the upper row.

   A graphical representation of the tabs defined in your application displays.

   
   Description of the illustration tabs_add_parent.png

   Parent tabs can control the display of standard tab sets. Clicking a parent tab displays the corresponding standard tab, with the default page as the current page.

4. To create a Standard tab, click the Add button in the lower row.
   
   Description of the illustration tabs_add_standard.png

   The Create Parent Tab or Create Standard Tab Wizard appears.

5. Follow the on-screen instructions.

See Also:

"About Tabs"

16.2.5 Editing Tabs

This section describes how to edit tabs. You can edit multiple tabs simultaneously. Also, for standard tabs, you can update tab properties, such as their labels and order sequence, by using the Standard Tab Tasks list.

• Editing Multiple Tabs Simultaneously
  
• Managing Standard Tabs
  

16.2.5.1 Editing Multiple Tabs Simultaneously

To edit multiple tabs simultaneously:

1. Navigate to the Tabs page:
   1. On the Workspace home page, click the App Builder icon.
   2. Select an application.
   3. Click Shared Components.
   4. Under Navigation, click Tabs.
2. Click one of the following tabs at the top of the page:

   • Edit Standard Tabs

   • Edit Parent Tabs

   A report appears.

3. To edit a specific tab, click the Edit icon.
4. Edit the appropriate attributes and click Apply Changes.

16.2.5.2 Managing Standard Tabs

The Standard Tab Task list displays on the right side of the Tabs page. You can access the links on this list to move a standard tab to different parent tab, rename a standard tab set, resequence the display order, associate pages with a tab set, create a new standard tab, or create a new standard tab set.

To access the Standard Tab Task list:

1. Navigate to the Tabs page:
   1. On the Workspace home page, click the App Builder icon.
   2. Select an application.
   3. Click Shared Components.
   4. Under Navigation, click Tabs.
2. Click Manage Tabs.
3. Make a selection from the Standard Tab Task list on the right side of the page:

   • Move Highlighted Standard Tab t a Different Parent Tab

   • Rename Standard Tab Set

   • Resequence Display Order

   • Associate Page(s) with Selected Standard Tab

   • Create New Standard Tab

   • Create New Standard Tab Set

16.2.6 Accessing Tab Reports

This section describes the Conditional Display, Utilization, and History reports.

To view the Conditional Display report:

1. Navigate to the Tabs page:
   1. Navigate to the Workspace home page.
   2. Click the App Builder icon.
   3. Select an application.
   4. On the Application home page, click Shared Components.
   5. Under Navigation, click Tabs.

      The Tabs page appears.

2. Click the appropriate tab:

   • Conditional Display - The Conditional Display report displays Standard Tabs and Parent tabs that are configured to display conditionally. To filter the display, select tab type and click Go.

   • Utilization - The Utilization report lists the standard tabs used in the current application.

   • History - History report displays a history of changes to tab attributes for the current application.