Creating Action View Templates

To create a new action view template:

  1. Click the Action Views tab.
  2. Click New Action View Template.
  3. Specify a unique name for the action view template.
  4. Pick a dataview for the action view template to use. For information about restrictions on editing dataviews when they have been attached to an action view template, see Editing Dataviews.
  5. Define the action view template using the tabs:

Specify the columns you want to appear in your action view template and manage their settings. For more information, see Columns in Action View Templates.

Note:

The more columns you add to an action view template, the longer the results take to load.

Create a rule that determines what data is retrieved when you run the action view. Selection rules are built using one or more selection criteria, such as "Account Name starts with S". For more information, see Filter Statements.

Note:

Only fields that have the Selectable checkbox selected on the dataview can be used in selection rules.

Create a rule that defines when numeric values should be shown with the reverse sign. Sign reversal rules are built using one or more reverse sign criteria, such as "Account Name starts with S". For more information, see Filter Statements.

If you want to suppress the reverse sign on subtotals, select the Ignore reverse signage in subtotals checkbox.

Any row that evaluates to TRUE in the Reverse Sign tab has signs reversed on their value. You can suppress reverse signage on the subtotal rows of your display. The subtotal value will be displayed as the true value.

Notes:
  • Only fields that have the Presentable checkbox selected on the dataview can be used in the reverse sign rule.
  • Only fields that have the Reversible checkbox selected on the dataview will show the reverse sign.

Select the default sort order to display the results and group the rows. For example, you can display transactions from the most recent periods at the top of the grid by sorting the period in descending order.

You can also choose to group the results by certain fields. For example, you may want to group transactions by year, then account name.

The settings on the action view template are the defaults for sorting and grouping when you run an action view. You can override the defaults at runtime. Any changes you make at runtime do not affect the action view template.

Change the common name used for a field in the dataview. This affects the selection context when drilling. For more information, see About Common Names and Drilling.

Select the related content panes that can be viewed from the results of running the action view. A related content pane can display additional information about a transaction. A related content pane is available for selection if its driving entity is associated with the action view template's dataview.

If the underlying dataview has more than one possible context for the information, you need to specify the field you want to use. Set one of the related content panes (and fields, if necessary) as the default. For more information, see About Related Content Panes.

Select the type of chart you want to use to display the results of running the action view, then define your chart settings. You can display your data as a chart either by default or at runtime. You can also add labels to your chart and select its orientation. For more information, see Action Views Fields.

At runtime your chart settings are saved. However, when you create a new action view template, the default columns are displayed.

Note:

Charts are not affected by the settings on the Sort and Group tab because you select sort and group options specific to them.

Manage how filtered columns display data and set a base reference period. For example:

  • Column Filtering: select Column Filter Drill to view debtor transactions in separate columns based on due date. You can separate columns for debtor transactions up to 30 days overdue, up to 60 days overdue, and more than 60 days overdue.
  • Soft Periods: set the Base Reference Period to select data from a specific period. You can specify the period using hard dates or soft dates. The default period is the current period. The hard date format is yyyy/ppp, for example 2012/001 where 2012 is the year and 001 is the first period (of 2012). The Base Reference Period setting is promptable. For more information about soft periods, see Soft Periods.
  • Aggregation: select Summarize Duplicate Rows to display the document count in filtered columns. You can ensure that when drilling on a filtered column, the drill results are specific to the value in the filtered column (rather than including values across the whole row). For more information, see Aggregating the Inquiry Results.
  • Available Actions: deselect actions that you do not want to make available, for example, if they are not appropriate to the action view template. Any actions configured on the underlying dataview are available by default in the action view template.

  1. Click Save or, if you want to run the action view immediately, click Save and Run.

Note:

If you clone an action view template, any unsaved changes are saved to the new template, but are not saved back to the original template.