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Modifying applications

Applications are collections of workspaces.

Edit your applications to change the details of the application, specify the associated workspaces, and control the tab layout for your users.

Setting application identification information

Use the Edit Application dialog to specify the identification information for your application at the time of deployment.

Depending on the situation, applications can be identified by their caption or by their address. The caption for an application is a localizable string, and appears in lists and dialogs. The address becomes part of the query string in the URL for the application. Similarly, if an application has an address of myApplication, then its URL will include a query string value of app=myApplication.

You must have portal administration privileges to complete this task.
To set the application identification information:

  1. In your NexJ application, click the Options button
    and select Show Portal Admin.
    The Portal Tools menu opens.
  2. Click Application > Edit.
    The Edit Application dialog opens.
  3. In the Detail tab, from the Locale field, select the locale you want to set the caption for.
  4. In the Broker Portlet field, click Edit.
    The Broker Portlet Properties dialog opens.
  5. Enter the name of the portlet that you want to use as a broker portlet and click OK.
  6. Click OK.

Your application identification has been set.

Setting broker portlets for applications

Broker portlets are portlets that allow you to make functionality available at the application level, rather than at the workspace level.

Broker portlets do not contribute UI like other portlets, but can contribute buttons to the application toolbar. If you have created a portlet that you want to use as a broker portlet, you can add it in the Detail tab of the Edit Application dialog.

If you are editing an existing application that was configured using NexJ Studio, it might already have a broker portlet defined. In this case, the portlet that you specify through the portal toolbox takes precedence, overriding anything set in the screen definition.

You must have portal administration privileges to complete this task.

To set the broker portlet for an application at the time of deployment:

  1. In your NexJ application, click the Options button
    and select Show Portal Admin.
    The Portal Tools menu opens.
  2. Click Application > Edit.
    The Edit Application dialog opens.
  3. In the Detail tab, in the Broker Portlet field, click Edit.
    The Broker Portlet Properties dialog opens.
  4. Enter the name of the portlet that you want to use as a broker portlet and click OK.
  5. Click OK.

Setting maximum application instances

Every instance of an application requires server memory.To control server memory use, the default maximum allowed number of unique application instances within a single browser session is set to 3. An application instance is referenced using an ID that specifies to the server which instance is making a request.

To set an application instance upper limit, change the maximum number to any value greater than 1. To reuse a single instance for all requests, set the maximum number to 1. This effectively removes the possibility that an upper limit of instances can be exceeded, and ensures that only one client state is maintained for all requests. If the limit is exceeded a LimitExceededException will be shown.

To modify the number of maximum instances allowed within a single browser session:

  1. In the NexJ Studio Resources layer, click the Components tab.
  2. In the Components list, locate the HTTPServer.FlatWeb component. If this component is not customized, you will need to customize it. To customize the component, right-click it and select Customize Using > Base.
    The component is customized and becomes editable.
  3. Double-click the HTTPServer.FlatWeb component.
    The component's information opens in the editor.
  4. In the editor, in the Components list, expand the Properties list.
    The Properties list displays all of the component's available properties.
  5. In the Properties list, select the maxAppInstances property. If you do not see this property in the list, you will need to create it. To create a new property:
    1. Right-click Properties, and select Insert > Property.
      The new property appears at the bottom of the Properties list.
    2. Select your newly created property.
      The property's information fields are displayed in the editor.
  6. In the Name field, enter maxAppInstances.
  7. In the Property Value field, enter the number of maximum instances you would like to allow in a single browser session.
  8. In the Description field, enter Maximum application instances.
  9. Click the Save button 
    to save your changes.

The maximum number of application instances allowed in a single browser session is updated.

To maintain application speed, you may want to set a maximum amount of time for a single request to process without a result.

Modifying application timeouts

When an application sends a request to the application server, all other requests are blocked while it processes. When a request takes a long time to complete or is not able to complete, the speed of your application can be affected.

The lockTimeout property specifies how long the requests are blocked while waiting for access. A value of 0 allows the request to run indefinitely. This is the default value. You may want to set this property to a different value to cause a timeout when a long-running request is being processed. This will notify the user that the server is busy, and give them the option to resubmit their request.

To modify the length of time a request will run before timing out:

  1. In the NexJ Studio Resources layer, click the Components tab.
  2. In the Components list, select the HTTPServer.FlatWeb component. If this component is not customized, you will need to customize it. To customize the component, right-click it and select Customize Using > Base.
    The component is customized and becomes editable.
  3. Double-click the HTTPServer.FlatWeb component.
    The component's information opens in the editor.
  4. In the editor, in the Components list, expand the Properties list.
    The Properties list displays all of the component's available properties.
  5. In the Properties list, select the lockTimeout property.
  6. In the Property Value field, enter an amount of time in seconds. This specifies how long the session will wait before timing out and notifying the user.
    The suggested value for this field is 30, which allows 30 seconds of processing time before timeout.
  7. Click the Save button 
    to save your changes.

The property is modified and specifies your desired number of seconds before timeout.

Adding workspaces to the application

Add workspaces to your application in order to makes groups of portlet functionality available to your application users.

You can add any published workspaces to the application.

After you add your workspaces, you can determine how their related tabs will appear to users.

You must have portal administration privileges to complete this task.

To add workspaces to your application:

  1. In your NexJ application, click the Options button
    and select Show Portal Admin.
    The Portal Tools menu opens.
  2. Click Application > Edit.
    The Edit Application dialog opens.
  3. Click the Workspaces tab.
    The Available Workspaces list displays all of the workspaces that you can add to your application.
  4. In the Available Workspaces list, do one of the following:
    • Select the User Types option to view the workspaces associated with specific user types.
    • Select the System option to view the workspaces associated with the system generally.
  5. In the Available Workspaces list, select the workspaces that you want to add to your application and click Add.
  6. After you have selected all of the workspaces that you want in your application, click OK.
    The workspaces that you added are now available in your application.


Info

Adding workspaces in this way does not affect the behavior of docked workspaces, which are created by portlets while the application runs.

Controlling workspace visibility

When you add a workspace to an application, it becomes available to all users in its associated user type. Workspaces associated with the System type are available to all users on the system. However, by default, users can only access the workspace through their View menu. If you want a workspace to appear automatically as a tab in a user's application, you need to edit the application's tab information.

Adding tabs to applications

Add a tab to an application to give users easier access to workspace functionality.

You can make workspace tabs available to all users with access to the workspace, to specific user types, or to specific users.

Info

Tabs are distinct from workspaces. Tabs create a link to a workspace on the application toolbar, however, they are not the same entity. A tab does not directly receive its caption from the workspace. They only share a caption if the tab does not have its own caption specified. Therefore, publishing a workspace with a new caption will not overwrite any tab caption that has been customized.

To add a tab to the application:

  1. In your NexJ application, click the Options button
    and select Show Portal Admin.
    The Portal Tools menu opens.
  2. Click Application > Edit.
    The Edit Application dialog opens.
  3. Click the Tabs tab.
  4. In the Available User Types list, select the user or user type that you want to make the tab available for:
    • To make the tab available to all users, select System.
    • To make the tab available to all users of a specific user type, do the following:
      1. Select User Types.
      2. From the list of user types, select the user type that you want to make the tab available to.
    • To make the tab available to a specific user, do the following:
      1. Select Users.
      2. From the list of available users, select the person that you want to make the tab available to.
  5. In the Workspace Tab Hierarchy area, click Add.
    The Select Workspace dialog opens, displaying all the workspaces available to the user or user type.
  6. Select the workspace that you want to make available as a tab, and click OK.
    The Select Workspace dialog closes.
  7. Continue adding other tabs, or click OK to finish.

Your tab is added to the application.

Removing tabs from applications

You can remove a tab that you previously added to an application.

If you added the tab for a specific user, you can remove it for that specific user.

If you added a tab for specific user type, or for the system, removing it will affect all users of the corresponding type. You cannot remove it for specific users. When a tab has been added for a user type, or added to the system, you cannot remove it for only specific users. However, you can replace the tab for specific users with a different tab. See Personalizing tab sets for more information. 
To remove a tab from an application:

  1. In your NexJ application, click the Options button
    and select Show Portal Admin.
    The Portal Tools menu opens.
  2. Click Application > Edit.
    The Edit Application dialog opens.
  3. Click the Tabs tab.
  4. In the Available User Types list, select a user or user type that can currently see the tab that you want to remove.
    • To view only the tabs available to everyone, click System.
    • If you want to additionally view the tabs available to all users of a specific type:
      1. Select User Types.
      2. From the list of user types, select the user type that you want to view the tabs for.
    • If you additionally want to view the tabs available to a specific users:
      1. Select Users.
      2. From the list of available users, select the person that you want to make the tab available to.
    The Visible Workspace Tabs area displays a list of all of the tabs visible to the current user or user type. The Workspace Tab Hierarchy area groups those tabs according to the user group they are visible to, or indicates that the tab is visible only to the single user.
  5. In the Workspace Tab Hierarchy, click the tab that you want to remove and then click Remove. You will be prompted to confirm removal of the tab.
  6. Continue to remove other tabs, or click OK to finish and save your changes.

The tab is removed from the application.

Reordering the tabs in an application

Edit the workspace properties in order to control the order in which the workspace tabs appear in an application.

When you add tabs to your application, the Visible Workspace Tabs tab lists them in order they will appear, left to right. If you want to reorder the tabs, you must modify the Tab Order attribute for the workspaces you are including in your application. Workspaces with lower values will appear to the left of workspaces with higher values.
To update the tab order in your application:

  1. In your NexJ application, click the Options button
    and select Show Portal Admin.
    The Portal Tools menu opens.
  2. Click Application > Edit.
    The Edit Application dialog opens.
  3. Click the Tabs tab.
  4. In the Available User Types list, select the user or user type that shows you the full list of tabs that you want to reorder.
  5. Use the Visible Workspace Tabs area to review the order of the tabs.
  6. In the Workspace Tab Hierarchy area, click the tab that you want to reorder, and then click Edit.

  7. In the properties dialog that opens, update the Tab Order attribute and click OK. Decimal values, such as 1.2 or 4.7, are allowed.

  8. Update the other workspace Tab Order attributes in the same way. Remember, lower numbers will sort to the left of higher numbers. If two workspaces have the same sort number, there is no way to determine which one will sort ahead of the other. 

    Info

    The Visible Workspace Tabs tab does not refresh automatically. You will not immediately see your changes reflected in the list.

  9. When you have finished making your changes to the Tab Order attributes, click OK.
    The Edit Application dialog closes and the current application view refreshes with your changes. Additionally, if you reopen the Edit Application dialog, you will see the new tab order reflected in the Visible Workspace Tabs tab.

The changes that you make to the Tab Order value affect all instances of the workspace across all applications and users. After making changes, it is good practice to review the Visible Workspace Tabs tab for your key user types to ensure that the tab ordering for these users is still acceptable after you have made your changes.

Personalizing tab sets

You can personalize a tab set for a specific user type, or a specific user, by replacing one of the tabs in the application with another one.

Personalizing tab sets allows you to replace tabs configured at the system level with tabs specific for a user or user type, and to replace tabs configured for specific user types with tabs for a specific user.
To personalize a tab set:

  1. In your NexJ application, click the Options button
    and select Show Portal Admin.
    The Portal Tools menu opens.
  2. Click Application > Edit.
    The Edit Application dialog opens.
  3. Click the Tabs tab.
  4. In the Available User Types list, select the user or user type that you want to personalize the tab set for.
    The Visible Workspace Tabs tab displays a list of all of the tabs visible to the selected user or user type. The Workspace Tab Hierarchy list groups those tabs according to the user group they are visible to, or indicates that the tab is visible only to the single user.
  5. In the Workspace Tab Hierarchy area, select the tab that you want to replace and click Personalize.
    The Select Workspace dialog opens.
  6. Select the workspace that you want to use to replace the selected tab and click OK.

The Visible Workspace Tabs tab updates, replacing the personalized tab with the workspace you selected. The Workspace Tab Hierarchy section lists the newly added workspace, indicating the workspace that it replaces in the Parent Template column.

Inspecting tabs

Use the Tabs tab in the Edit Application dialog to review the tabs that appear to a specific user, and where those tabs are defined.

Even though all application users can access the workspaces of an application through the View menu, workspace administrators have a great deal of flexibility in determining which workspaces will appear as application tabs by default. Administrators can create tabs for an application at the system level, at the user type level, or specifically at the user level. Additionally, tabs can be replaced for specific users and types through tab personalization.

Inspect the tabs for a specific user when you want to check the tabs that are available, at what level they became available, and whether or not they replaced other tabs through personalization.

To inspect the tabs defined for a user or user type:

  1. In your NexJ application, click the Options button
    and select Show Portal Admin.
    The Portal Tools menu opens.
  2. Click Application > Edit.
    The Edit Application dialog opens.
  3. Click the Tabs tab.
  4. In the Available User Types list, select the user or user type that you want to inspect the tab set for.
  5. You can now inspect the tabs that the user will see when the application opens.
    The Visible Workspace Tabs displays all of the tabs available to the specified user, and the order in which they appear, from left to right.
  6. The Workspace Tab Hierarchy groups the tabs together, indicating the level at which the tab is assigned to the user:
    • If a tab appears under the System heading, then it is visible to the user because it is visible to all users on the system.
    • If a tab appears under the User Type heading, then is visible to the user because it is visible to all users of the specified user type.
    • If a tab appears under the User heading, then it was made available specifically to that user.
    • If a tab had a value specified under the Parent Template column, then the tab replaces the Parent Template tab due to personalization of the workspace. The parent template may still be available under the user's View menu, but will not appear automatically as a tab.

Finally, the Available Workspaces tab shows all of the workspaces available through the user's View menu.

Note

Clicking Remove in the Available Workspaces tab does not just remove the workspace from the available list for the application. It deletes the workspace completely from the server. Only click this is you are sure you want to permanently delete a workspace. If you want to remove the workspace from the specific application, but not delete it completely from the server, use the Workspaces tab of the Edit Application dialog to update the list of available workspaces.

Removing workspaces from applications

You can remove a workspace from the View menu by removing it from the Application Workspaces list.

This also makes the workspace unavailable for addition to the application in a new tab.

However, removing a workspace from the Application Workspaces list does not remove it completely from the application. If the workspace had previously been added to the application as a tab, that tab will remain visible and operational.
You must have portal administration privileges to complete this task.
To remove a workspace from an application:

  1. In your NexJ application, click the Options button
    and select Show Portal Admin.
    The Portal Tools menu opens.
  2. Click Application > Edit.
    The Edit Application dialog opens.
  3. Click the Workspaces tab.
    The Application Workspaces list displays all of the workspaces currently available in your application as well as the user types that can access it.
  4. In the Application Workspaces list, select the workspace that you want to remove from the application and click Remove.
  5. Remove additional workspaces in the same way.
  6. When you have removed all of the workspaces that you want, click OK.

The workspaces that you have removed will no longer be available to users through the application's View menu, nor will they be available to add as new tabs in the application. However, if they already appear as tabs in the application, then to fully remove the workspace, you must additionally remove those tabs. See Removing tabs from applications for more information. 

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