After logging out and back in, the screen will appear in the menu. Open the new screen.
A mistake folks will commonly make when creating web service prompt fields is to
populate the Next Sequence for a field with a value that does not exist in the prompt.
In this case the system will display a nice error message when attempting to load
the prompt screen and no fields will be displayed on the prompt screen. The easiest
way to avoid this is to let the system assign all Sequence and Next Sequence values
on the prompt setup screen without regard for logical order. The system will make
sure that only valid values are used. You can then use the Screen Design feature to
change field position on the screen.
HxGN EAM™ loads the page based on the prompt definition (boiler text, display type, field type, tab order, etc.). The field Sequence defines the tab order and therefore, the order in which the fields appear on the screen. The system orders the left-most column from top to bottom, in ascending order by Sequence. The next column, if necessary, is filled in much the same way. But before we get into the specifics here are some key points about the basic screen layout and behavior all web service prompt screens. See the image on page 26.
By default, all web service prompt screens display 2 blocks for each web service in the prompt. See Step 4: Use screen designer to make final screen configuration changes on page .
Each web service has its own section title bar that can be used to describe the purpose of the fields in that section that is, Add Building Assets or Add Asset to Structure. If you provided a Screen Section Title on the Web Service tab for Web Service Prompts, it will be displayed here. Otherwise, the web service name will be displayed.
All fields selected for the prompt will be displayed in the main body of the web service prompt screen for the appropriate web service.
All alphabetic, numeric, and date fields will be, visually, the same length. The actual amount of data that can be entered is based on the Minimum and Maximum Length for the fields in the prompt definition.
Fields with a Field Type =’check box’ will be displayed as a check box.
If a long field such as Comments is selected for the prompt it will be displayed as a double wide field several rows in height. This is like the Comments fields throughout the application.
A Custom Field block will be displayed for each web service…even if no custom fields were selected for the web service (see the image on page 26). This is also the case if it is not possible to associate custom fields to the web service entity (see the image on page 26).
The prompt screen is a stand-alone, record view style screen with no tabs and no Dataspy filtering features.
Common tabs and pop-ups (Comments, Documents, Addresses, etc.) do not apply to these screens.
The only toolbar options that will be available for these screens are as follows: Previous Screen, Save, Reset Screen, Help, and Screen Designer.
The right-click menu is not available on these screens.
Dataspy, Export to Excel, Quick Filter, and Save Layout options are not available for these screens.
Your web service prompt screen is created and can be successfully viewed. The objective of the prompt is collect attribute data for new assets, provide any applicable comments about the new asset at the time of data collection, and finally associate the new asset to an existing parent equipment record in the object hierarchy with HxGN EAM™.
Navigating a web service prompt screen is somewhat different than other screens with the system in that the order in which data is entered is strictly controlled. You must go from field to field in the order defined by the Sequence and Next Sequence values for fields in the prompt that is, you cannot randomly jump all over the screen entering data in any order you prefer. When the prompt screen is initially opened, the cursor focus is placed in the first available field in the upper left hand corner. In this case, this is the asset Organization field.
There are 2 methods for navigating from field to field. The preferred method is by tabbing from field to field. The system will follow its own rules by tabbing into the field identified by the Next Sequence or by the Go To field if a branching condition is met. See If Data Is, Pattern, Go To in Select specific fields for the user defined screen (Web Service Prompt > Fields tab). If the field identified by the Next Sequence is either hidden or protected the system will tab through these fields automatically and into the following field. You can also move from field to field by clicking in the next field; however, you must understand the tabbing rules described above and follow them or the system will not respond to your mouse clicks. So, again, tabbing would be the preferred method of navigation.
As you may have guessed, the system allows you to leave ‘optional’ fields without supplying data; however, a field triggered error will be received when leaving a ‘required’ field null.
Now that you understand how data is entered into fields of a web service, let’s discuss this in the context of the entire prompt screen when multiple web services are used. In the image on page 26, 3 web services are present and each is contained within its own block on the screen. The web services are in ascending order by the Process Group you assigned them on the Web Service tab for Web Service Prompts. Therefore, viewing the image on page 12 confirms the following order from top to bottom:
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Process Group 10 - Add Building Asset (add asset equipment web service)
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Process Group 20 - Add Asset Comment (add comment web service)
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Process Group 10 - Add Asset to Structure (add equipment structure web service)
The tabbing order for fields within each web service is defined on the Fields tab for Web Service Prompts, but what happens when the user tabs out of the last field in a web service? The system will always place focus on the first custom field in the Custom Field section that is associated with the web service, if any custom fields exist. Once tabbing through the custom fields for that web service the system will place focus on the first field in the next web service (that is, ascending per the Process Group value). Following our example, the system will tab into the Comments fields when tabbing out of the Pipe Diameter field and from the Comments field into Parent Position.
It is important to note that even though this screen is composed of 3 separate transactions (that is, web services) the system does not actually submit each web service to the database until the user tabs completely through all the web services on the prompt (at which point the system always attempts to save all transactions in the web service) or the Save button is clicked. When tabbing out of the last tab on the prompt screen the system will save all transactions on the prompt (completing the first Process Group before proceeding to the next Process Group and so on) and then enter insert mode ready for data entry once again. The Save and F10 buttons serve the same purpose. So, not only does the Process Group define the order (ascending from top to bottom on the screen) in which the web services are displayed but also the order in which the web services are submitted to the database when a prompt record is saved. This makes sense because the asset record must first be created before any asset comments can be entered. In addition, the asset must exist before it can be added to an object hierarchy. In fact, in this example, the order of the 2nd and 3rd web services do not make a difference if they are both after the Add Building Asset web service.
When saving a prompt record, the system will display a success or error message accordingly.
Prior to making any final screen configuration changes it’s a good idea to run some simple tests to make sure the prompt screen processes the transactions as intended.
Check box fields on some web services throughout the system expect valid values of
‘+’ or ‘-’ and some expect ‘true’ or ‘false’. If an invalid value error is received
when submitting the transaction using a check box, the administrator may need to change
the Display Type of this check box on the Fields tab for Web Service Prompts from
‘check box’ to ‘alphabetic’. If the user then enters a ‘+’ or ‘-’ as a value on the
prompt engine screen the error should not be received.