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).

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).

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).

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).

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).

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).

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).

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).

Options Tab for a Dynamic Element

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).

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).

Setting Help Text

When the dialog is run the help text is available from the i icon (see screenshot Displaying Help Text).

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).

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).

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).

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
end

Summary

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.