Bellvue - User Interface Help

Version 1.0 2003

This document introduces the basic functionality of the web gui.

Bellvue is a Platform Framework for interactive Applications with centralized Data storage.
This means it can be accessed by multiple concurrent users in the way internet web sites are usually accessed.
The major current web browser brands IE, Netscape, Mozilla and Opera are tested and supported and all others supporting HTML 3 and frames should work as well.

main help
Index

Logon
Create a new Account
Change Password
Log off
Change Applications
Create new Objects
What are Objects?
Change and save
Retrieve Data
Switch Query/Result view: [F/L]
Switch Table/Object view: [T/O]
Put Objects in the Clipboard: [clip]
Object Collections and References
Select and insert Objects [sel] [ins]

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Logon

Bellvue Logon

Username :
Password :
New Password :
Verify New Password :
Email :
Full Name :
Create New Account :

After pointing the browser to the bellvue server URL the logon page get displayed. To log on only username and password are needed. After entering these in the fields on the logon page hit enter or click the logon button. The entry cursor position can be moved between fields with the tab key or shifted tab key.

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Create a new Account

Via the logon page new accounts can be created as well. Users creating a new account can only access the default application which should not contain data with special authorizastion needs. To create a new account enter all fields and check the box labeled with "Create New Account". The three password fields must contain the same password in this case.

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Change Password

To change the existing username, the old password and the new password (twice) needs to be entered. Passwords can get changed via the user object which is linked on the top left when logged on.

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Log off

Log off the system with a click on the icon in the upper left showing a blurred star.

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Change Applications

If the user account is authorized for applications a selection box labeled App gets displayed on the top left.

Selecting changes the objects displayed.

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Create new Objects

Below the App selection box on the top left a list of objects gets displayed with an icon left to its name:
Account
Clicking on the icon shows a finder object, which is a form to enter queries to retrieve objects of this type. Clicking on the name creates a new object of that type. Both finders and objects get displayed in the right side.

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What are Objects?

Objects can be seen as sets of data with functionality. A data set consists of fields holding numeric or alphanumeric values like a phone number or a street name. Each time an object gets saved, the fields are written to the data store. When an object gets displayed the functions, if any, are available to be executed and the data fields can be edited.

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Change and save

Here is a typical object as rendered on the right hand side:

[XX] [X] [clip] [sel] [del] [prev] [next]
Testset
[function1] [function2] [function3]
title
numeric
date/time
number x Enter number between 100 and 300!



<-- Object functions can be triggered by links here.

The values can be changed in the text fields and upon hitting enter or clicking the save button the entered values get stored and the page gets re rendered in the browser. Multiple objects on a page must get changed and saved sequentially to avoid data loss. Hitting enter/save in one object discards unsaved changes from other objects.
The date/time fields must be entered in the format as shown in the field. In this case which is year, month and day separated by dots, then a space and hour, minutes and seconds separated by colons. Data validation errors get shown in red aside the field they occured in.
On top of each object there is a row of general functions where
[XX] - blanks the page. Only appears on the upper left object.
[X] - closes this object. Appears on all objects.
[clip] - makes a link to this object in the clip area on the lower left side. These links get stored between user sessions until explicitly deleted.
[sel] - places the object in the selection area in the middle of the left hand side for it to be inserted into a different object.
[del] - deletes this object from the data store. Since the object is still on the page the values are still visible until removed from the page. Hitting the save button after a [del] has no effect on the data store.
[prev] - retrieves the previous object of the same type from the data store.
[next] - shown the next object from store.
Hitting any of these function links discard unsaved changes on the page. So unless explicitly mutated via pressing enter or clicking the save button no unwanted data gets stored.

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Retrieve Data

To get data from the store a finder object can be opened by clicking an icon from the upper left hand side list. A finder object has three views. One to enter query values in the according fields, one for a list of links to found objects and one view to edit found objects in a table.
Use the [T/O] and [F/L] links to switch between them.

[XX] [X] [F/L] [clip]
Test
name
street
<-- Complex queries can be stored in the clip for the next session.

1. The query view, matching rules

Supported matching modifiers: (explained below)

* . ! to > < | 

For each field a query value can be entered which gets matched against the data sets when the search is performed. The query fields can logically be linked with logic "and", "or", and "xor" functions when needed. The default logic for combining multiple query fields is "and". For example a data set matches only if the query field one AND query field two match. Empty fields does not get used in a query, so no empty fields will get matched by default.

For text fields a match occurs when the query is a regular expression matching a data field.
Regular expressions work like this:

For numeric fields a match occurs if data set number and query number including the fraction part in case of real numbers are equal. For numerics and date fields these ranges are supported:

Booleans must be matched with putting "true" or "false" in the query.

For all types (boolean, Date, String and numerics) the negation operator "!" is supported. It can only be applied to the whole query and must only be put in the first position of the query.
Valid examples:

Using the "!" more than once does not have effect on negation.

2. The result link list view

Here links to the found objects get shown. The result list can be browsed with the [prev] [next] [first] [last] links.

[XX] [X] [F/L] [T/O] [clip] [prev] [next] [first] [last]
BClass 5
net.methodyne.demo.Test sel clip
net.methodyne.demo.Account sel clip
net.methodyne.demo.CashFlow sel clip
net.methodyne.test.BOI sel clip
net.methodyne.demo.Address sel clip

3. The result table edit view

Multiple objects can be edited concurrently and saved in one step in this view. The maximum number of objects in these views is ten by default but can be configured for the whole system.

[XX] [X] [F/L] [T/O] [clip] [prev] [next] [first] [last]
CashFlow
title amount first periodic last

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Switch Query/Result view

Clicking the [F/L] link toggles between finder query and link view in case there is a result.

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Switch Table/Object view

Clicking the [T/O] link toggles between edit table and link view.

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Put Objects in the Clipboard

Whenever the [clip] link is used a link to the object or finder is added to the lower left hand side of the screen. Clicking it brings back the object on the main page. The [X] beside the link removes the link itself not the data object. In case a finder is in the clip the finder gets dismissed by [X]. The links stay in the clip even if the user logs off until they get deleted by the user with [X].

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Object Collections and References

Sometimes associations exist between objects. For example a person-object can have one or many addresses wich are stored in address objects. Then there is a field in the person object wich is a collection of references to address objects. Or if there can be only one reference there could be a field wich can only hold one reference to a another object. In the object view reference and collection fields are marked with the icon of the objecttye they can reference.
To make a reference click [sel] in the object to reference. A green underlaid icon and title of the object appears on the left side. Clicking [ins] in the reference or collection field with the same icon creates the reference. The title of the referenced object appears in the reference or collection field.

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Select and insert Objects

Example:
Click [sel] in the object to reference and on the left side the icon/title appear in a green box:
my Account 33

Hit "ins" in the reference or collection field of the referencing object:
bois ins
acc my Account 33 ins

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Copyright 2003 Methodyne GmbH Impressum