FlexGrid - Designer screen

In the designer screen it is possible to design new View Wizard or to change existing Views.

1. Select a System, Subsystem of Part

2. Click in the menu bar the FlexGrid icon

3. Choose "Designer".

   

   The View designer screen will now be opened
   
   

   The designer screen with a selected View being edited

Click a view on the left side of the screen, e.g. 'Failure Causes' to start editing it. Alternatively, start the View Wizard by right-clicking a folder and selecting New > View Wizard to create a new View.

Just as in the Views screen, a preview will be given of the data. In the designer, based on the template selected in the View wizard, the View will have a certain default format. This format can be changed, be rearranging columns, settings column width, changing column names in the Column properties grid, and by defining which columns to display in the first place. A number of buttons on top may help this process:

• Add column

  Press this button to add a new, empty, column. The new column can then be designed by changing the column properties. The column can be linked to data in the database, or be used as 'Unbound Column' data by applying expressions and formula calculations.

• Choose columns

  Press this button to get a list called Customization, containing all available fields for the entity at hand. Drag a field from this list onto the view to place it as a new column between existing columns, e.g. between Type and Description in the example above.

• Hide columns

  This button makes it easy to redesign a new view. When this button is pressed, all existing columns will be hidden. A new View can then be created by using the button Choose columns and dragging all desired columns in place.

• Remove column

  An undesired column, can be removed by clicking it and pressing this button.

• Mandatory

  Select a column and define it as mandatory by clicking this button. A mandatory field will cause a message to appear when a new entity is created, that the field must be filled before the entity can be saved. Since new objects can only be created in a hierarchical View, using this button only makes sense for this type of View, not for a Flat View.

Example: Assume in the View Failure Causes the Description field was made mandatory. If a user decides to remove a Description in the FlexGrid View, an error message will be displayed. The field needs to be filled before the user can continue.

The effect of making a field mandatory in a View

• Save layout

  By default a View will be saved when the Designer screen is closed, or when a different View is chosen. To explicitly save the designed View, use this button.

• Design view

  This button will change what the Column Properties grid shows: instead of showing column properties it will show the fields related to the View as a whole. In this way the user can design what the View as whole will look like.

• Design report

  This button will start the Design report, a powerful instrument to create personal reports based on Views. When invoking the report designer the current View settings in the View designer define the starting point of the report appearance.

  Note: The report designer can only be opened from Views based on FMECA Systems, not from Views based on the FM Library. The report designer requires the full FMECA context to work.