Custom Parts

With ‘Form Parts’ you can design custom forms via the BPMN model.

A custom part is a HTML element located under the path /pages/workitesm/parts/. The location of a part can be defined in the attribute path of a custom input type:

<item name="mycustomitem" 
      path="[PART_NAME]" 
      type="custom" 
      label="My Custom Label" 
      required="true" 
      readonly="false" />

Note: A custom item is defined by a JSF ui:composition placed in the directory /pages/workitems/parts/

/pages/workitems/parts/[PART_NAME].xhtml

The mandatory path attribute contains the path for JSF component relative to the /pages/workitems/parts/ directory with the .xhtml extension. You can also use sub directories to group custom input items.

/pages/workitems/parts/[SUB_DIR]/[PART_NAME].xhtml

See the following example of a custom input field definition:

<ui:composition xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
	xmlns:ui="http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsf/facelets"
	xmlns:f="http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsf/core"
	xmlns:c="http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsp/jstl/core"
	xmlns:a="http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsf/passthrough"
	xmlns:h="http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsf/html">
	<span class="custom-class"> 
	   <h:inputText style="border:2px solid blue;" 
	                value="#{workitem.item[item.name]}"
	                a:placeholder="enter custom data..." 
	                rendered="#{!readonly}" />
	    <h:outputText style="border:2px solid blue;" 
	                value="#{workitem.item[item.name]}"
	                rendered="#{readonly}" />
	</span>
</ui:composition>

Note: This custom input form uses also the attributes ‘readonly’ and ‘required’ to determine if the input component is editable or readonly.

Custom Input Section

As an alternative to the custom input fields you can also define custom sections. A custom section defines a complete form section and is used for more complex input forms including ajax.

<imixs-form-section label="My Custom section" path="sub_custom_form" />

Note: A custom section is defined by a JSF ui:composition placed in the directory:

/pages/workitems/forms/

See the following example of a custom input field definition:

<ui:composition xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
	xmlns:ui="http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsf/facelets"
	xmlns:f="http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsf/core"
	xmlns:c="http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsp/jstl/core"
	xmlns:h="http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsf/html"
	xmlns:i="http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsf/composite/imixs"
	xmlns:marty="http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsf/composite/marty">
	<!-- show outgoing references -->
	<div class="imixs-form-section">
		<dl>
			<dt class="imixs-no-print">
				<h:outputText value="#{message['form.reference.outgoing']}" />
			</dt>
			<dd>
				<marty:workitemLink workitem="#{workitem}" readonly="#{readonly}" 
					filter="" />
			</dd>
		</dl>
	</div>
</ui:composition>

Note: Also in a custom section you can use the attribute ‘readonly’ to determine if the input components are editable or readonly.

Ajax Support

Within a custom form part or a custom section you can also trigger Ajax events refreshing other form parts or sections within the same page. For this behavior you can refer to the clientId of the component ‘formComponents’. See the following example:

<h:selectOneMenu 
	required="#{empty required?false:required}"
	value="#{workflowController.workitem.item['space.ref']}">
		<f:selectItem itemLabel="a"></f:selectItem>
		<f:selectItem itemLabel="b"></f:selectItem>
		<f:selectItem itemLabel="c"></f:selectItem>
		
	<!-- trigger refresh over all components -->	
	<f:ajax render="#{formComponents.clientId}"  />
	
</h:selectOneMenu>

In this example choosing a new option from the select menu will refresh all other form components on the current page.

The customFormComponents

If you just want to update the elements within the custom form you can refer to the custom form only by the customFormComponents binding:

<h:selectOneMenu value="#{workitem.item['myselection']}">
		<f:selectItem itemLabel=""></f:selectItem>
		.....
		<f:ajax render="#{customFormComponents.clientId}"/>
</h:selectOneMenu>

This will trigger a render event only on the custom form parts of the current page

Input Fields & Item Names

Even if you can define the item names of your input fields in your custom form free, it is recommended to use a naming concept. This allows you to reuse code in a more easy way. Imixs-Office-Workflow defines already a set of standard item names used for different business objects. This naming convention makes it more easy to group related items and to exchange data with your business process architecture.

The following sections list the business items predefined by Imixs-Office-Workflow. For application specific item names the ‘dot.Case’ format is recommended. It’s basically a convention that makes it easier to see what properties are related.