Managing Interface Preferences
Manager Contents
User Contents
Contents

Introduction

Quick Tip - Web Safe Colors

When specifying colors for your Interface Preference, try to use only Web Safe Colors.


CATSWeb Interface Preferences allow multiple, customized user interfaces to be created. Interface customizations include colors, fonts, text fonts and sizes, etc.
  • If the optional Translations feature is installed, Translations may also be defined via the Manage Translations link that appears near the top of the Interface Preference form when in edit mode.
  • When using a CSS Layout, use the Preview Interface CSS Classes link to show a preview of the styles within the Interface Preference.
  • Special interface rules apply to mobile devices.

A default Interface Preference for the system may be specified on the Database Properties page. An Interface Preference may also be specified for each CATSWeb Personality. Users who have been granted the Choose Interface Preference permission may select from available Interface Preferences on the My CATSWeb page.

The Interface Preference page includes many sections, with most sections related to a specific segment of the user interface such as forms, queries, etc. You can choose to limit who can modify the Interface Preference by specifying ownership.

When creating a new Interface Preference, you may select an existing Interface Preference to use as a template via the "Add Interface Preference using Template" list. The Add Interface Preference form will open with settings from the template Interface Preference already in place. Note that if the template Interface Preference has Translations defined for it, these translations will not be copied to the new Interface Preference. Use the Copy Translations form to copy translations from one Interface Preference to another, as needed.
Quick Tip - Designing Interface Preferences
  • Create your Interface Preference by copying it from a pre-existing one (select a template Interface Preference prior to clicking Add).
  • Select your new Interface Preference on the My CATSWeb page. Your Administrator may need to grant you permission to do this.
  • Edit your Interface Preference, modify settings and submit. You will immediately see the effects of your changes, but other users will not see the effects until their next login.
  • For most efficient editing, use two browser windows. To open a second browser window, point at any link in CATSWeb, right-click, and choose the option to Open in New Window. Submit your changes in the first browser, then reload the page in the second browser to see the results.
  • When using a CSS Layout, use the Preview Interface CSS Classes link to show a preview of the styles within the Interface Preference.

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Common Settings

Common settings used in many sections include:

  • Font Face - The font face used for text. Available selections are from the HTML Font Face list, which you may add to if you wish.
  • Font Size - The HTML font size value, with a range of -8 to 8. Larger numbers result in larger text.
  • Color - The color to be used for text or background. Colors are specified using HTML color codes, which consist of a "#" character followed by a six-digit hexadecimal number (e.g. "#00FFC4").
    • The six-digit hexadecimal number is a RGB (Red, Green, Blue) triplet.
      • Byte 1: Red value (color type red). #FF0000 denotes red,.
      • Byte 2: Green value (color type green). #00FF00 denotes green.
      • Byte 3: Blue value (color type blue). #0000FF denotes blue.
    • One byte represents a number in the range 00 to FF (in hexadecimal notation), or 0 to 255 in decimal notation. This represents the least (0) to the most (255) intensity of each of the color components.
    • This allows over 16 million different colors to be specified.
    • Utilizing only Web Safe Colors will provide the best consistency across the widest variety of web browsers and platforms.
  • Bold - Check to use bold text.
  • Italic - Check to use italic text.

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General Section

  • Interface Preference Name - The name of the Interface Preference.
  • Fixed Settings - Indicates whether or not the Interface Preference settings have been fixed by AssurX. These Interface Preferences cannot be edited or deleted.
  • Graphics Subdirectory - An optional web server subdirectory containing graphical elements to be used with this Interface Preference. If specified, the subdirectory must exist under the standard CATSWeb\graphics subdirectory. If not specified, standard graphical elements are used. For more information on establishing custom graphics subdirectories, refer to CATSWeb Installation Guide. If your system includes the AssurX Alternative Graphics, these values may be entered.
  • Layout/Style Type - Indicates whether the Interface Preference should use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) for page layout or classic HTML. CSS Interface Preferences allow greater control over look and feel of CATSWeb forms. See Interface Element help for details regarding CSS capability.
  • Help Subdirectory - An optional web server subdirectory containing help (HTML) files to be used with this Interface Preference. If specified, the subdirectory must exist under the standard CATSWeb\Doc subdirectory. If not specified, standard help files are used. For more information on establishing custom help subdirectories, refer to CATSWeb Installation Guide.

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Defaults Section

The default settings in this section will be used whenever settings are omitted for specific segments of the user interface (in the sections below). For example, if a font face for page titles is not specified, the Default Font Face will be used. Some of the settings are:
  • Default Cell Padding - Cell padding is an HTML parameter that specifies how much space is placed around entries in table cells, and is specified in pixels. Typical values are between 0 and 5.
  • Default Cell Spacing - Cell spacing is an HTML parameter that specifies how much space is placed between cells in tables, and is specified in pixels. Typical values are between 0 and 5.
  • Page Background Color - The color used as a background for pages. Setting a light color is generally best (white = "#FFFFFF").
  • Text Color - If this color is not specified, the web browser will choose the appropriate color for the context of the text (typically black for normal text, blue for links, etc.). If this color is specified, the web browser will use the color regardless of context.

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Margins Section

Margins are specified as percentages (whole integer numbers). Setting both margins to 0 typically provides the best look.

Page Header Section

The settings in this section determine how the page header will be formatted. The page header is the common region at the top of the window that is visible on all CATSWeb pages. This section includes a background color setting, and two sets of settings related to text. One set is for the company name (value set in Database Properties) and the other set applies to all other text in the header.

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Page Titles and Subtitles Sections

The settings in these sections determine how page titles and subtitles are formatted. Here is an example of a page title and subtitle from the CATSWeb Add Note page:

Add Note
Customer Complaint #281

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Dashboards Section

This section will only be present if the optional Dashboards feature has been installed. The settings are similar to those in the Defaults and Forms sections, but apply only to Dashboard view pages.

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Utility Links

This section determines how links for general purpose functionality (other than workflow functionality) will appear on record view pages. Examples include links for adding notes, editing the record, forwarding the record via E-mail, etc. Utility links may either be positioned immediately under the page header, or under the page title. The typical settings for font, text color, background color, etc. are included, as well as the following special purpose settings:
  • Position - Specifies where the links will be positioned, either in a single row immediately under the page header, or under the page title.
  • Alignment - This setting only applies when the links are positioned under the page header, and allows them to be aligned left, center or right.
  • Border - This setting only applies when the links are positioned below the page title. The links are shown in a table, and this setting determines whether or not borders appear around the cells.
  • Display As - This setting only applies when CSS layout type is used. The links are displayed as buttons when  Button Bar is selected.

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Workflow Links

This section determines how links for workflow functionality will appear on record view pages. Workflow links always appear below the page title (and below the utility links if they are also positioned below the title). Settings are similar to those for utility links, except that position and alignment settings are omitted.

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Forms

The forms section provides a variety of settings that determine how CATSWeb forms are presented. The typical settings for font, text color, background color, etc. are included. Background colors may be set independently for a field and its caption (which are separate cells in the table that CATSWeb uses to render forms). Fields/captions are of the following types:
  • Mandatory - A field where the user must make an entry.
  • Optional - A field where the user is allowed to omit an entry.
  • Read-only - A field that the user cannot modify. Whenever a record is viewed, all fields are in read-only mode. Because there is no editable aspect of a read-only field (e.g. a text box), a setting for the field's text color is provided in addition to the setting for caption color.
  • Form Comment - A form comment is a region of text on a form (generally below the form) that CATSWeb may display during certain modes and usage scenarios. Settings for the background and text colors are provided.
  • Ad-hoc Caption - An ad-hoc caption is a caption that is associated with a special field that CATSWeb may place outside the boundary of the form, or in locations where a true form is not visible during certain modes and usage scenarios (e.g. the fields on the CATSWeb Query Menu page). Settings for the background and text colors are provided.

Two additional settings are provided:

  • Child Record Links - This setting determines whether the utility links (e.g. Edit) associated with child records (e.g. Notes, File Attachments) are shown as graphical buttons or text links when a record is viewed.
  • Record ID Term - This setting determines how a record's title is stated when it has a numeric record ID:
Setting Title Example
None Manufacturing Nonconformance 371
Number Manufacturing Nonconformance Number 371
# Manufacturing Nonconformance #371

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Query and Filter Headers

This section provides a variety of settings that determine how CATSWeb formats the header row (where the column labels are placed) in the output of queries and filters. The typical settings for font, text color, etc. are included.

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Query and Filter Output

This section provides a variety of settings that determine how CATSWeb formats the data records in the output of queries and filters. The typical settings for font, text color, etc. are included, and some are independently settable for queries or filters. Two of the settings may be used for alternate background coloring of the rows:
  • Odd Row Color - Specifies the background color used for the 1st, 3rd, 5th, etc. rows in the output.
  • Even Row Color - Specifies the background color used for the 2nd, 4th, 6th, etc. rows in the output.

These settings are ignored in outputs where color coding is applied (e.g. filter outputs) but used in many instances where CATSWeb displays a list of entities or other data, such as the Employee list.

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Color Coding

This section allows background colors to be set for data rows (e.g. filter outputs) when presented in a color-coded format. Most of the settings have captions relative to filters, such as Open Tasks, Overdue Tasks, etc. However, these same settings are re-used by CATSWeb is a variety of color coding scenarios, such as color-coding field definition lists as General Purpose fields, System fields, etc. This reuse of color codes allows a consistent color scheme to be present throughout the user interface. Two settings are only applicable if the CATSWeb Record Archiving feature is installed and the View Edit History link is clicked on a record:
  • Edited Archive Records - Specifies the background color used for listing archived versions of records that have been edited, and for the initial supplemental information in the archived record such as Archive Date, Archive ID, etc.
  • Deleted Archive Records - Specifies the background color used for listing archived versions of records that have been deleted, and for the initial supplemental information in the archived record such as Archive Date, Archive ID, etc.

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Text Highlighting

This section specifies how text will be highlighted when the Highlight Changes feature is used, and for special applications such as Full Text Search (when an item is viewed via a link in the search results, the search terms are highlighted). Here are explanations for the unique types of settings:
  • Font Size Increment - Specifies a numeric increment to be applied to the font size, relative to the surrounding font, when highlighting occurs within a CATSWeb record view page. For example, if this value is 2 and the surrounding font has a size of 1, the hightlighted text will use a font size of 1 + 2 = 3. This setting has no effect when the highlighting occurs in pages that derive from files, such as in highlighted CATSWeb help files.
  • Text Before Highlight/Text After Highlight - In addition to changing the text color and font, these settings allow extra text to be placed before and after the highlighted term (ex: "**"). These settings are ignored during change highlighting.

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Table Titles

This section provides a variety of settings that determine how CATSWeb formats the single row that may appear at the top of a data table above the header row, or above a special purpose form. For example, the query form includes special purpose forms for Query Options and Save Options. The first row of each form (where "Query Options" or "Save Options" is displayed) is a table title.

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General Text

General text is miscellaneous text that may appear on a page that is not a part of some other user interface object, such as a form, message box, etc. General text utilizes the settings in the Defaults section for most formatting, but provides Bold and Italic settings here.

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Message Boxes

Message boxes are the confirmation or error messages that may appear above a record or form after submissions are made. This section provides typical settings for font, text color, etc. and segments many of them between title and body, and between the types of messages (Success, Warning, Error). The title is the row that appears at the top of the message (e.g. "Success"). The message is all the text that appears in the row below it, which may include multiple bulleted items.

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System Section Breaks

System section breaks are the section breaks that are not part of user-configurable forms (i.e. Issues, Actions, Subtasks, Subforms) such as section breaks on the Classic Home page, the Query Menu page and the My CATSWeb page. This section provides typical settings for font, text color, etc. and also enables the text within a number of section breaks to be customized.

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Form Section Breaks

Form section breaks are the section breaks that are part of user-configurable forms (i.e. Issues, Actions, Subtasks, Subforms) and appear in the field lists. Section breaks in these forms have individually configurable settings for text color and background color. Entering any settings in this section causes the section break-specific settings to be overriden with these settings. Leave these settings blank to allow the individual section break settings to control their own behavior.

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Fixed Text Areas

Fixed text areas are part of user-configurable forms (i.e. Issues, Actions, Subtasks, Subforms) and appear in the field lists. Entering settings in this section causes the individual fixed text area configurations to be overriden with these settings, in a manner similar to the Form Section Break settings above.

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Miscellaneous

This section contains the following miscellaneous settings:

  • Category In Status Messages - If checked, the actual name of the form (category) is used in many status messages, instead of the generic Issue, Action, Subtask and Subform nouns.

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AssurX Alternative Graphics

If your system administrator installed the Alternative Graphics provided by AssurX, the Graphics Subdirectory and Header Background Color settings may be set according to the table below:

Graphics Subdirectory Header Background Color
Black #000000
Blue #333399
Burgundy #660033
DeepRed #990000
Earth #663300
Green #009966
Grey #666666
Silver #CCCCCC
Sunrise #FFCC66
Twilight #CCCCFF
White #FFFFFF

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