The Composer Workspace

Composer This topic is related to Transact Composer. | Form Builder | v4.3 & Higher This feature is related to v4.3 and higher.

The Workspace in Composer is the container for all forms and their environments. Libraries are integrated into the workspace and their allocation and sharing across projects are now dynamic and efficient. The implementation of compatibility with older versions, of patching and of service pack installation is all available to authorized users.

The Hierarchy and Environment

Workspace Hierarchy

The Workspace divides into "Accounts". Accounts can have several "Organizations". Each Organization has several "Projects". Each Project has its set of forms. In this model, forms are not dynamically shared between projects but can be between Organizations.
When designers require personal workspaces, they do this at the Project level.
All forms can be saved to version control and can be rolled back to a previously versioned revision, if required. If designers delete forms, they are actually not deleted from the Composer database and can be recovered.
If a form is open in Composer by one designer, other designers are locked out. There is a form lock override available however this needs to be used with caution to ensure changes are not lost.
Each Account can have a number of Libraries which are dynamically shared at the Organization and Project levels. Administrators are free to allocate whole Libraries as they see fit, or the components of Libraries.

Merits of this Structure

Composer caches Organizations allowing faster navigation times around the Workspace. By default, Composer caches 3 organizations. This is configurable using the Options=>Cache.

Both Global Libraries and Access Control sit above the Account hierarchy. Global Libraries can be shared dynamically across Accounts, allowing — if desired — patching to these Global elements without intervention by end users or administrators.
Users can be given access to several Accounts, and within those be given access to different functions. Libraries are shared at the Account level, and the one Account can have several Libraries so that branding can be controlled across the Enterprise in both similarity and difference from department to department.

The Composer Hierarchy

Accounts

An Account is the top level of the Composer tree hierarchy. It holds one or more Organizations which in turn can contain one or more projects. Most users only belong to one Account.

The screen below shows the Account "Avoka RnD". It houses several Development Organizations.

Organizations

Organizations are a way of splitting up the account into entities that match the client's business. For example this may be by department or distinct business units. Users can belong to one or more organizations depending on the way their permission set. The following screen shot shows the organization "Development 42". It has expanded to display its underlying projects.

There are several capabilities that are accessed at the organization level.

Asset Type	Description
Projects	A grouping for forms. To create a new project, click on the Create New Project button.
Style Sheets	A list of style sheets available for your organization. Many of the standard style sheets will be inherited from Composer default style sheets, and these cannot be modified. If you want to modify one of these style sheets, you must first make a copy of it. For an explanation of style sheets, see this topic: Overview
Custom Types	Custom types are the widgets or blocks that have been created for your organization. You can modify or delete these types if you have the required privileges. Some types available to your organization are not modifiable. This are either types that are inherited from Composer defaults, or complex types that are not editable using the standard block editor. You can view these types by clicking the "Include non-editable types" checkbox. Warning: Be very careful of modifying or deleting custom types, as they may be in use by multiple forms. Always perform an impact analysis before modifying. If in doubt, make a copy of the type rather than modifying it. For more information on Impact analysis, see this topic: Impact Analysis
Resources	A resource can be any file used in your forms. Typically these are images and JavaScript libraries.
Templates	A template allows you to customize the form-design experience and the forms that are produced by Composer. This is for advanced users only.
Administration	This contains the next 3 sub-tabs
	Assigned Users A list of users assigned to this organization. Administrators can create new users, add and remove users from the organization, and change their roles. Users are global to the Composer instance. Note: Depending on the way that your organization is set up, you may need to add users to individual projects as well as to the organization. Note: It is strongly suggested to use a user's email address as their user-id. This avoids possible name conflicts.
	Property Sets This is a list of the set of properties that can be used on the Bulk Editor page.
	Settings This tab displays several settings about the current user and organization, including: publish targets the ability to perform impact analysis on widgets, blocks, style sheets, and templates.
Problems	This shows any issues in the organization.

Projects

A project is a convenient container of a number of forms - usually forms get created in groups or batches, and a project is a simple way to group them. Restrictions can be placed on which users have access to each project.
Click on the Create New Project button at the organization level to create a project, and follow the wizard steps.

There are several capabilities that are accessed through project level tabs:

Asset	Description
Forms	A list of forms in this project. You could double-click on the form in the list in order to open it. You can perform a number of actions on a form: Open Form: allows form editing. You can do this by clicking the icon, or by double-clicking. Open Form - No Wireframe: Opens a form for editing with no wireframe shown. This is especially useful for large forms that may take a long time to open. Update Form Details: Modify a form's properties, including its name and description. Save As: Make a copy of a form. Delete Form. Preview Form. The rendition types and defaults are controlled by the template being used. Unlock form. (Administrators only.) This allows a form that has been opened by another user to be unlocked. Use this with caution, as the current user will no longer be able to save their changes. Publish form. Publish the form to Transaction Manager or as a zip file. View Form Statistics. Various statistics about the form such as how many fields, dependencies and so forth. Manage Form Revisions: This can be used to create new and use old form revisions, for example, revert to a previous version. Generate Form Specification. Note: You cannot open a form that is currently being edited (i.e. "checked out") by another user, who is identified in the "Checkout by" column. Note: if you open a form in a Read-only organization, you will be able to modify the form, but not save it.
Assigned Templates	The templates available to this project. Advanced users only.
Assigned Users	The users that are assigned to this project. The user must first be assigned to the organization.

Asset

Description

Forms

A list of forms in this project. You could double-click on the form in the list in order to open it.
You can perform a number of actions on a form:
Open Form: allows form editing. You can do this by clicking the icon, or by double-clicking.

Open Form - No Wireframe: Opens a form for editing with no wireframe shown. This is especially useful for large forms that may take a long time to open.
Update Form Details: Modify a form's properties, including its name and description.
Save As: Make a copy of a form.
Delete Form.
Preview Form. The rendition types and defaults are controlled by the template being used.
Unlock form. (Administrators only.) This allows a form that has been opened by another user to be unlocked. Use this with caution, as the current user will no longer be able to save their changes.
Publish form. Publish the form to Transaction Manager or as a zip file.
View Form Statistics. Various statistics about the form such as how many fields, dependencies and so forth.
Manage Form Revisions: This can be used to create new and use old form revisions, for example, revert to a previous version.
Generate Form Specification.

Note: You cannot open a form that is currently being edited (i.e. "checked out") by another user, who is identified in the "Checkout by" column.
Note: if you open a form in a Read-only organization, you will be able to modify the form, but not save it.

Assigned Templates

The templates available to this project. Advanced users only.

Assigned Users

The users that are assigned to this project. The user must first be assigned to the organization.

Creating a Form

To create a new form, click on the Create New Form button in the project's toolbar, and follow the wizard's instructions. The wizard content can change depending on the template that has been selected. The Avoka Maguire template adds a screen where the form developer can choose various functions that can be included directly in the form.

Here are the steps to the New Form Wizard:

Step	Description
1. Name and Description	Enter the name and description of your form. Choose the name carefully, as this will appear in the form header by default (this can be changed if desired). The description is not used within the form, and is used only to describe the form to other users of Composer.
2. Template	Select a template. This will vary based on how your organization has been set up. Most organizations will only have a single template.
3. Additional Values	Select additional values, such as the heading lines of your form. These will vary depending on how your template has been configured. Some of the fields entered here will appear on the header or footer of your form, and some options may control they way in which your form is generated. There are a number of special values that may be used: $FORM{NAME} - this is the name of your form as you typed it in the first page of the wizard, and as it appears in the list of forms in your project. Using this will ensure that the name of your form in Composer matches the name at the top of your form. However, this may not always be what you want, so feel free to delete this formula, or change it later. $GENERATION{DATE} - this is the most recent date and time at which the form has been generated. This is used as the default form identifier, because it will always increase whenever a new version of the form is generated. However, you may choose to set your own form identifier, such as "VA 22-1995".

Step

Description

1. Name and Description

Enter the name and description of your form. Choose the name carefully, as this will appear in the form header by default (this can be changed if desired). The description is not used within the form, and is used only to describe the form to other users of Composer.

2. Template

Select a template. This will vary based on how your organization has been set up. Most organizations will only have a single template.

3. Additional Values

Select additional values, such as the heading lines of your form. These will vary depending on how your template has been configured. Some of the fields entered here will appear on the header or footer of your form, and some options may control they way in which your form is generated.
There are a number of special values that may be used:

$FORM{NAME} - this is the name of your form as you typed it in the first page of the wizard, and as it appears in the list of forms in your project. Using this will ensure that the name of your form in Composer matches the name at the top of your form. However, this may not always be what you want, so feel free to delete this formula, or change it later.
$GENERATION{DATE} - this is the most recent date and time at which the form has been generated. This is used as the default form identifier, because it will always increase whenever a new version of the form is generated. However, you may choose to set your own form identifier, such as "VA 22-1995".

Click Finish to complete the wizard, and your form will open for editing.

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