Customized Pane Editor

Toolbar and menu

Field

Description

Save and Exit

This saves the changes you made and exits the program.

If you are adding a new customized pane, then the pane is added to the current docking pane layout in the position indicated at the Initial docking position field.

Preview

Previews the selected object type.

Edit VBScript

This loads the VBScript Editor program to maintain the VBScript file for the selected object.

Edit Window Title

This enables you to maintain the window title of the customized pane.


	Be careful about changing window titles of customized panes after they have been created, as this could cause the associated VBScript to fail.

Design Form

This is enabled when you select the Object type - Form. It loads the Form Design program to design a full-featured form.

A form in a customized pane has the same look-and-feel and behavior as the standard forms used throughout SYSPRO.

Pane Properties

Field Description

Window title The title of the window required for your customized pane (which cannot be a VBScript reserved word).

Object type

Select the type of object you want to add as a new pane (see Object types).


	You cannot change the object type once the customized pane has been saved.

VBScript file name

This indicates the name and location of the VBScript file associated with the customized pane.

The first six letters of the filename relate to the SYSPRO program name in which it resides.

If the pane is being created for an operator, the VBScript file will be stored in the SYSPRO \Base\Settings folder. If the pane is being created for a role, the VBScript file will be stored in a Role folder under the SYSPRO \Base\Settings folder (e.g. Role_xxx where xxx indicates the role number).

Initial docking position

The position on the screen where you want to initially place the new pane.

If you select Float, then the customized pane is made floating (not docked) when initially created.


	You cannot change this field once the customized pane has been saved.

Form attributes

This is only enabled when the Object type is Form.

Option	Description
Editable form	This indicates whether you can change values against the form (i.e. editable) or if the form can only display information.
Custom form type	This displays the custom code linked to the key field of a form that was created using the Insert Associated Pane->Custom form function (e.g. STK for stock codes, CUS for customers, ORD for sales orders, etc.). This code is also available using the `CustomFormType` variable within the `CustomizedPane` section of the Variables pane of the VBScript Editor.
Form design name	This name is generated by the system and cannot be changed. If the Design Form screen has been used to create the form, then this field indicates the name and location of the XML used to build/store the design.

Pane Caption

Option	Description
Show icon	Displays an icon with the heading of the customized pane.
Icon	The icon you want to associate with the customized pane.
Show toolbar	Displays a toolbar in the customized pane, to which you can add buttons.
Show caption using XAML theme	Apply a XAML theme to the section immediately below the toolbar (if one is to be shown). Placeholder `%1%` will be populated with the contents of the Window title field. This option is only available for Form or Search Window object types.

Refresh details

Option	Description
Ignore OnLoad VBScript	This prevents the `Onload` event from firing when the customized pane loads. Instead, the `OnLoad` event only fires when the first `OnRefresh` event fires. This improves the loading time of any application that includes customized panes. For example: This can be particularly useful when deploying Executive Dashboards as these can be slow to initialize as the `OnLoad` event in the associated VBScript for the customized pane is executed while the application is initially loading. It is in the `OnLoad` event that the VBScript creates the XCelsius chart and retrieves the data to populate the chart object. This can all take some time to execute depending on the complexity of the script and the amount of data to be processed.
Automatic refresh	This fires the `OnRefresh` event automatically for the pane at a set interval.
Refresh time	The time period after which the pane contents of the pane must be refreshed.
Refresh period	The unit of measure for the time period (e.g. minutes or seconds).

Toolbar control 1 - 2

This enables you to add functionality to a customized pane's toolbar.

Each customized pane can have up to two toolbar controls which can be a combination of entry field, button or checkbox. There is also a Refresh button that can be included on the toolbar.

Option	Description
Caption	A caption for the control.
Icon	The icon to use for the control.
Control type	The indicates the type of toolbar control to add (e.g. a button, a check box or an input field). VBScripting can interact with the toolbar controls (e.g. when an operator clicks a toolbar control defined as a button, the macro event associated with this button fires and the VBScript associated with the function is executed).

Object types

Type Description

Graph

This enables you to add a graph to the pane.

Graphs comprise the graph properties themselves (i.e. graph title, legends, etc) and the data required to populate the graph.

The basic properties for a graph are indicated in the design editor, including setting simple conditional attributes (highlight exceptions). However, these properties can be further defined in the graph properties XML.

A list of available standard graph templates that can be inserted into the pane are displayed.

Additional information for a graph is displayed when you hover your mouse pointer over the graph template name.

Listview

This enables you to create listviews from the most basic means of displaying rows of data, to those using XAML to render multiple pieces of data per row.

Listviews can be displayed in a data grid (the default) or a form style.

A data grid is used for recurring items (e.g. a list of AR invoices for a customer or inventory warehouses for a stock code).

A form listview is used to display single occurrence information in form style such as all the information on a specific stock code or supplier.

Smart Links work with both data grid and form style list views. Data grids and form style list views are editable.

This displays the available standard listview templates that can be inserted into a pane.

Additional information for a listview is displayed when you hover your mouse pointer over the listview template name.

Web browser

This enables you to create a customized pane that displays the contents of an existing web page, or displays a web page for which you have built up the HTML code within the customized pane.

Navigating to a specific URL is done either by pointing the web browser to a URL at load time, or by using a VBScript to point to a new URL.

Each time the pane is refreshed it can display a different page, whether this is an existing web page, or built dynamically in the VBScript code.

It is also possible to launch standard SYSPRO programs directly from any web page by embedding special code in the HTML page. You can also invoke SYSPRO programs from a web page.

You will be required to indicate the address of the web page you want to initially display.

SRS/Crystal report

This enables you to add a previously-generated SRS report to the pane (hosted in the Crystal report viewer). You can point the report viewer to a crystal report (.rpt) either at load time, or you can use a VBScript to view any report you require.


	When you embed a SRS report in a customized pane, the report must already have been generated (i.e. you can view the output of an SRS report in a customized pane, but you cannot actually run the report nor pass it any parameters).

You will be required to indicate the Report file name you want to display in the pane.

PDF Viewer

This enables you to add a PDF viewer so that you can display an existing PDF document within the customized pane. You can point the viewer to a PDF document either at load time, or you can use a VBScript to display any document you require.

The name of this document can be built in your code, and you can have a default PDF document that displays when one has not been selected. For example: you could have technical documents for stock codes and the PDF Viewer can be configured to display the relevant document for each stock code.

Rich text notepad

This enables you to display the contents of RTF files in the customized pane.

The notepad contents can be supplied directly using a filename, or by supplying the RTF text using VBScript (see Loading an RTF file into the notepad).

Multiple notepads can be applied to any docking pane application in SYSPRO.

One of the benefits of this is that the notepad contents can be modified while in a different SYSPRO application.

For example: The contents of SYSPRO's built-in notepad (on the main SYSPRO menu) cannot be modified while you are running a SYSPRO application. However, this does not apply to the notepad in a customized pane. You could therefore insert a notepad into the main SYSPRO menu layout and have its notes available to read and modify no matter where you are in SYSPRO (the notepad must be floating for this behavior to be effective).

Option	Description
Notepad file	Indicate the name of the RTF file that must be displayed when the pane is initially loaded.
Read only	Prevents operators from changing the text in the notepad pane. You typically select this option if you want to display the notepad text in the application for information purposes only.
Auto save on exit	Automatically saves any changes made to the notepad text in the pane when you exit the application. Also saves any changes made to the text when selecting Save. This option does not apply if you selected the Read only option.
Add Save button to toolbar	Adds a Save button to the toolbar of the notepad form, enabling the operator to save any changes made to the notepad text in the form. This option does not apply if you selected the Read only option.

.NET User Control

This object type enables you to create interactive panes that can communicate with SYSPRO in real time. These controls can also communicate with the business objects via the VBScript to query and post data.

The .NET controls can be made to look exactly like standard SYSPRO panes and, being embedded within the program, the operator will be unable to tell the difference.

.NET applications can be written in any .NET language, VB.NET, C#, Microsoft's .NET Framework, etc.

Option	Description
Assembly name	Select the .NET application at this field.
Assembly namespace	This displays the assembly namespaces once the assembly name has been selected.
Namespace methods	Select the relevant method at this field.

Form

This enables you to create a full-featured form to display or capture information.

A form within a customized pane has the same look-and-feel and behavior as the forms used throughout SYSPRO.

The Design Form button enables you to create your fields, specify their type, and group them. Alternatively, you can build the form programmatically in the VBScript, so that the form changes dynamically with the data to be displayed.

You will be required to indicate whether it is an editable form.

Search Window

This enables you to embed a search window (similar to those available within SYSPRO) into the pane.

A search window in a customized pane is used to enter search criteria in a form and to enable the search results to be displayed in an associated list view. It therefore contains two panes - one for the selection criteria and one to display the results in a list view.

The search results can be derived from a business object (using the CALLBO mechanism within a VBScript) or any preferred method as long as the returned data is in XML format.

You will be required to indicate the XAML theme to use for captions.

Executive Dashboard

This enables you to embed a SWF file (created using XCelsius and a VBScript that provides the XML data to the SWF file) into the pane provided that you are licensed to use Executive Dashboards. Executive Dashboards assist you in producing easily understood visual representations of your data and is typically retrieved using business objects.

Only the standard dashboards located in the \Base\ExecDashboards folder are displayed here. To display customized dashboards that you have created you need to copy them from the Base\ExecCustomized folder to the \Base\ExecDashboards folder.

You can also add dashboards onto your desktop as gadgets (see SYSPRO Desktop Gadgets).

A variety of dashboard types are available. Mouse-over an entry in the listview to view additional information on that dashboard.

Dashboard	Description
Flowcharts	Builds the steps on which different financial ratios are calculated. Years and budgets are compared for up to 10 years.
Gauges	Displays trends of financial ratios between current and previous years, as well as the current year versus the current budget.
Timelines	Displays timelines of financial ratios for the past two years and current budget performance.
Trend Analysis	Displays financial ratio trends of the percentages of the past three years including budgets.
Widgets	Compares the past three years and budget values of financial ratios.
Performance overviews	Displays the top and bottom 10 suppliers based on measures, including period detail, for the past three years.
Scorecards	Displays a scorecard of the top and bottom five suppliers based on the average purchase price, backdated for three years.
Sales	Displays %profit, %budget attained, total units and sales values.
WIP	Displays expected and actual costs, efficiencies and cost variances for Work in Progress.

Loading an RTF file into the notepad

There are three ways of loading a RTF file into the notepad:

You can define the initial notepad filename as part of the pane definition.
You can define a notepad filename programmatically using the CustomizedPane variable RTFFileName in the VBScript to point to the notepad file (e.g. CustomizedPane.CodeObject.RTFFileName = "c:\temp\financials.rtf").

You could define this in the OnLoad or OnRefresh event in the VBScript.

This is a write-only variable.

You can check if the contents of the RTF text have changed using the variable: CustomizedPane.CodeObject.RTFChanged. This is a read-only variable and is set to '1' if the RTF content has changed. This is particularly useful when OnRefresh and OnSave events fire, as you can decided whether to save the RTF file or not.
You can stream RTF text directly into the notepad using the variable: CustomizedPane.CodeObject.RTFText.

This is a write-only variable.

You could use the Business object COMNOT to retrieve notes for a specific key in the SYSPRO database and to display the notes in the notepad: CustomizedPane.CodeObject.RTFText = XMLOUT.

You can access the contents of the Notepad RTF text when the OnSave or OnRefresh events using the variable: CustomizedPane.CodeObject.RTFTextFileIn.

This is a read-only variable and contains the name of the file on the client machine that contains the actual RTF text. Typically, the filename is \Base\Settings\RTFTextIn.rtf. You can then read the RTF directly from the file, or copy the file to the actual location to which you want to save the RTF text.

Preview

This pane displays a preview of the currently selected object. For example: If the Object type is a graph, you can highlight the graph and select the Preview option from the toolbar to display the selected graph. It also allows you to see the output of templates (using your data) without having to save and exit the customized pane.

VBScript

This pane displays the VBScript associated with the current customized pane. Although you cannot edit the script here, you are able to view the script without having to call up the VBScript editor.

Customized Panes

This listview displays details of the customized panes you created.

You use the Customization Management program to view details of customized panes created using roles.

Toolbar and menu

Option	Description
Refresh	This retrieves the details about the customized panes and populates the listview. The panes created for the current operator are not automatically displayed. You need to use this option to show the panes. This was done to improve the performance of the initial loading of the program.
Print	This enables you to print the contents of the listview.
Export to Excel	This creates an HTML file in SYSPRO's `\Base\Settings` folder (using the operator code for its name) and opens the HTML file using Excel.
Search	This looks through all the columns for all rows and filters out those that do not contain the value being searched. If multiple values are added to the search, all of these values must exist somewhere on the row for it to appear. The search is not case-sensitive.

Notes and warnings

File considerations

Information about customized panes is contained in the following files:

File Description

Docking pane layout information

File	Description
Docking pane layout information	The file contains references to each of the customized panes associated with a docking pane layout. This is stored in the `ADMLSD.DAT`/`IDX` file (located in the `\Base\Settings` folder on the client machine). If you are using a role-based user interface, then this is stored in the `ADMLAY.DAT`/`IDX` file in the \`Base\Settings` folder on the application server.
Customized pane information	This is stored in the `ADMPNL.DAT`/`IDX` file in the `\Base\Settings` folder on the client. If you are using a role-based user interface, then this is stored in the `ADMLAY.DAT`/`IDX` file in the `Base\Settings` folder on the application server.
VBScript for each customized pane	This is located in `\Work\Vbscripts` folder on the application server. When a customized pane is added to a docking pane layout, the system creates a unique VBScript name consisting of the docking pane name itself (often the name of the program, such as `ARSPEN`, followed by the characters `LZ`) plus a two-digit number starting from `00` upwards. For example: if you created two customized panes for `ARSPEN`, you should see two new VBScripts created: `ARSPENLZ00` and `ARSPENLZ01`. When a customized pane is deleted, the VBScript, the record in `ADMPNL` (or `ADMLAY`, if role-based user interface is in use) and the docking pane itself are all removed. In addition, if the customized pane contained a List view object then the List view settings record (located in `\Base\Settings\ADMLSR.DAT`, or `ADMLAY` file), is also removed. For a graph object, the graph settings XML record in the `\Base\Settings` folder is deleted.

The file contains references to each of the customized panes associated with a docking pane layout.

This is stored in the ADMLSD.DAT/IDX file (located in the \Base\Settings folder on the client machine). If you are using a role-based user interface, then this is stored in the ADMLAY.DAT/IDX file in the \Base\Settings folder on the application server.

Customized pane information This is stored in the ADMPNL.DAT/IDX file in the \Base\Settings folder on the client. If you are using a role-based user interface, then this is stored in the ADMLAY.DAT/IDX file in the Base\Settings folder on the application server.

VBScript for each customized pane

This is located in \Work\Vbscripts folder on the application server.

When a customized pane is added to a docking pane layout, the system creates a unique VBScript name consisting of the docking pane name itself (often the name of the program, such as ARSPEN, followed by the characters LZ) plus a two-digit number starting from 00 upwards.

For example: if you created two customized panes for ARSPEN, you should see two new VBScripts created: ARSPENLZ00 and ARSPENLZ01.

When a customized pane is deleted, the VBScript, the record in ADMPNL (or ADMLAY, if role-based user interface is in use) and the docking pane itself are all removed.

In addition, if the customized pane contained a List view object then the List view settings record (located in \Base\Settings\ADMLSR.DAT, or ADMLAY file), is also removed.

For a graph object, the graph settings XML record in the \Base\Settings folder is deleted.

Program access

You can access this program by right-clicking the heading of a docking pane and selecting the Customized Pane->New or Customized Pane->Properties option.