Configuring & using rich-text fields in the process grid

In order to improve the flexibility of the process grid and give users more possibilities regarding the data that they can input in process grid fields, it is now possible to configure rich text fields in the grid using a new indicator field type. Prior to this improvement, the process grid only supported plain free-input string fields for comments, which had the following limitations:

• No support for hyperlinks

• No text formatting capabilities

• No collaborative editing features

This article details the procedure to follow to configure and use a rich-text field in a process grid.

Creating the field in Admin Portal

To create a rich-text indicator field in Admin Portal, proceed as follows:

1. Open the Admin Portal interface, and then navigate to DESIGN > Administration > Indicator Fields. A grid containing all currently existing indicator fields is displayed.

2. Click the + icon located on the lower-left side of the grid. A new panel is opened under the grid.

3. Populate the fields with the relevant information:

   • Enter a name in the Name field.

   • In the Format drop-down, select String.

   • In the Unit drop-down, select N/A.

   • In the Label field, enter the display name of the indicator field.

   • In the Source drop-down, select Rich Text.

   • In the Code field, enter a code for the field.

   • In the Type field, select the option you want to apply to the new field.

   • You can leave the Decimal Precision field empty and the boxes Show aggregates data, Use percentage format and Allow Thousand Separator uncheckled.

4. Click the save icon, in the lower-left corner of the panel. A confirmation pop-up is displayed.

5. Click Yes. The field is created and added to the list. You can search for it using the quick filters.

Adding the field to an indicator

The next step in the process consists in adding the new field to an indicator. To do so, proceed as follows:

1. Still in the Design component, navigate to Administration > Indicators.

2. Locate in the list of existing indicators the indicator to which you want to add the newly created field. Alternatively, you can create a new indicator by clicking the + icon in the lower-left corner of the grid and filling in the fields in the Indicator Properties tab.

3. Open the Fields tab of the indicator. The list of fields currently added to the indicator is displayed.

4. In the list located in the right part of the panel, locate the new indicator field. If required, use the search field at the top of the list.

5. Click the row corresponding the field, and then drag & drop it into the left-hand list, as illustrated in the following figure:

Indicator configuration

Once this operation is done, you can create a process, or add the indicator to an existing process. For more information about the creation and management of processes, refer to theAdmin Portal User guide.

Behavior in the process grid

Once a rich-text indicator field has been fully configured, the column in the process grid behaves as follows:

When the field is editable, the user can perform the following actions in the rich-text editor:

• Apply bold, italics and strikethrough formats.

• Insert hyperlinks

• Apply heading levels (H1 and H2)

• Insert bullet lists and ordered lists.

• Clear formatting.

The following figure illustrates the field and the various formatting options:

Rich-text editor

This is an attention message.

Content entered in the rich-text field editor are saved into the database when the user saves the process grid. The Continue button simply closes the rich-text editor.

Limitations

The following limitations apply to the use of rich-text fields in process grids:

• Collaborative editing is not supported.

• Filtering and conditional validation operate on the plain text version of the content. HTML syntax cannot be used for filtering;