New Service Dialog Editor
CloudForms 4.6 (ManageIQ Gaprindashvili) has introduced a new drag-and-drop service dialog editor.
The dialog editor is invoked through the Automation -> Automate -> Customization menu, and from the Configuration button (see screenshot Adding a New Dialog).
Creating a New Dialog
The empty dialog editor displays the list of possible element types as a vertical column along the left-hand side of the editor (see screenshot Empty Dialog Editor).
The empty dialog "canvas" can be designed as required. New tabs or sections can be created by clicking the Create Tab or Add Section links.
Adding Elements
Elements are added to the dialog by dragging from the sidebar and dropping onto the appropriate section (see screenshot Dragging a Text Box onto the Dialog).
Multiple elements can be reorganised within a section by dragging and releasing (elements cannot be dragged between sections).
Editing Elements
Element details can be edited by clicking on the pen icon on the right of the element (see screenshot Editing an Element).
Field Information Tab
The Field Information tab contains entry fields for general information, and a slider to determine whether or not the element is to be populated dynamically (see screenshot Field Information Tab).
Options Tab
The Options tab contains entry fields, sliders and drop-down selections that define the element characteristics (see screenshot Options Tab for a Static Element).
Advanced Tab
The Advanced tab allows an element to be defined as Reconfigurable if required (see screenshot Advanced Tab).
Dynamic Element Fields
If the Dynamic slider in the Field Information tab is switched to Yes, the available options in the Options tab change and some are moved to a new Overridable Options tab (see screenshots Options Tab for a Dynamic Element and Overridable Options Tab).
Overridable Options Tab
Element options on the Overridable Options tab can be overridden programmatically from the dynamic method, if required.
Entry Point Field
The Entry Point field on the Options tab presents an Automate Datastore browser that can be used to select the dynamic method to populate the element values at run-time (see screenshot Selection of Method to Populate Dynamic Element).
Optional Help
The Field Information tab contains a Help box that can be used to populate an informational message when the dialog is run (see screenshot Setting Help Text).
When the dialog is run the help text is available from the i icon (see screenshot Displaying Help Text).
Fields to Refresh
Prior to CloudForms 4.6 (ManageIQ Gaprindashvili) dynamic service dialog elements could be set to refresh automatically with the Auto refresh option. A corresponding option Auto Refresh other fields when modified could be defined on other elements that would trigger all Auto refresh elements in the dialog to update.
The new service dialog functionality has extended this auto-refresh capability to make it much more granular. The Options tab for an element now has a Fields to Refresh drop-down that allows individually selected dynamic elements to be refreshed (see screenshot Setting Fields to Refresh).
Warning
Care should be taken that circular references are avoided and that elements are not set to mutually refresh each other.
Multi-Select Elements
A Dropdown element has an Options tab option of Multiselect (see screenshot Defining a Multiselect Element).
When the dialog is run the user has the option of selecting multiple values from the dropdown list (see screenshot Selecting Multiple Values from a Dropdown List).
Element Visibility
Elements can be optionally marked as hidden using the Visible slider from the Options tab for a static element, or the Overridable Options tab for a dynamic element. Hidden elements are not visible when the dialog is initially loaded, however dynamic element methods can toggle the visibility status for an element to unhide them, perhaps based on the input from a previous element.
The following dynamic method sets an element to be conditionaly visible depending on the input from a previous radio button:
service_name_required = $evm.root['dialog_service_name_required']
list_values = {
'required' => false,
'protected' => false,
}
case service_name_required
when 't'
list_values['visible'] = true
else
list_values['visible'] = false
end
list_values.each do |key, value|
$evm.object[key] = value
endSummary
This chapter has discussed the new service dialog functionality with CloudForms 4.6 (ManageIQ Gaprindashvili). Dialogs can be created more easily, and to be more dynamic than ever before.
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