Defining View Hierarchies

Many records in Aptify have sub-type records or are linked to records in other services. For example, a person can have multiple functions, which are stored in the Person Functions sub-type. Also, there can be multiple Contact Log records linked to the same person. Aptify saves contact logs in their own Contact Log top-level service, but a user can see the list of Contact Logs associated with a person from the Person form's Contact Log tab.

A user can display sub-type and linked record information for a top-level record directly within a view; the user does not need to open the record first in order to review information about related records.

Aptify refers to this ability to display a record's sub-type and related records as hierarchical viewing since related records appear below a top-level record. For each service, the system can display any of the service's sub-types and those related services with which the top-level service has a one-to-many relationship.

A sub-type is typically a tab on a form that contains a list of records. Within the tab, you can add, remove, or organize the sub-type records as necessary. For example, in a Persons record, the list of functions that person performs are displayed on the Functions tab. Person Functions is a sub-type of Persons. See Using the Sub-Type Tab Listing for more information.

A link box on a form typically represents a one-to-many relationship. For example, the Person field on a Payments form is a one-to-many relationship between Persons and Payments (a Person can make multiple payments, but each payment is made by one person). Therefore, you can create a hierarchical view of the Persons service to display the Payments associated with each Person.

When you click the Hierarchy tab on a View Properties dialog, Aptify automatically displays the list of available hierarchies that you can add to the view based on the selected service's relationship with other entities in the system.

This topic covers the following sub-topics:

• Creating a Hierarchical List View
• Navigating a Hierarchical View
• Collapsing All Open Hierarches

Creating a Hierarchical List View

Follow these steps to add sub-type and/or related record information to a List view:

1. Open the View Properties dialog for a new or existing List view.
   • For new views, right-click a service and select Create View from the pop-up menu.
   • For existing views, right-click within the view and select View Properties from the pop-up menu.
     
2. Enter a Name and Description (for new views).
3. Click the Hierarchy tab.
   

4. Select the Include column for the sub-types and/or one-to-many relationships that you want to display in the view.

   For best results, try to create targeted views that display only the required information, thereby minimizing the number of hierarchies that you include in the view. If you add too many hierarchies, you may find the view difficult to navigate.

5. For each related top-level entity that you selected, you can specify a view for the hierarchy listing, if desired. This view specifies the amount and layout of the information that is displayed for the records when you expand the hierarchy in the main view.

   • Click in Hierarchy's Manage View field to display an ellipsis (...) button.
   • Click the ellipsis (...) button to open the Select a Sub View dialog.
     
     
   • Use the Sub-View link box to specify an existing view for the related service. To create a new view for the hierarchy, click the Views link to open a new Views record.
   • Click OK to close the Select a Sub View dialog.
   • If you leave the Manage View field blank, the related records will use the default view for that service.
     

   The Manage View option is only available for top-level entities; it is not available for sub-types. For sub-types, the sub view displays the sub-type's default view.

6. Click OK twice to load the view.

Navigating a Hierarchical View

If you configured a view to display one or more hierarchies, a plus sign (+) appears to the left of the first column heading in the view. Also, a plus sign (+) appears next to a record if you place your mouse cursor over this column in a particular row (as shown below).

Click this (+) sign to the left of a record to display the list of hierarchies that you added to this view.

Click the (+) sign to the left of a hierarchy heading to open the sub-view and display the records related to the top-level record via the selected hierarchy. In the example below, the hierarchy displays the Contact Logs for the specified Persons record.

• Note that if only one sub-view is defined for the view, opening the parent node opens the sub-view automatically.

You can double-click any record in the sub-view to open its corresponding form to see additional data or to make changes to that record. If you open a sub-type record from a hierarchical view, edit it, and then save your change, the system also automatically saves the top-level record to reflect this change.

To collapse an expanded hierarchy, click the negative (-) sign to the left of the record or to the left of a hierarchy heading. Alternatively, you can click the Collapse All button to close all hierarchies or click the Refresh button to refresh the view and collapse all open hierarchies.

A view can support multiple levels of hierarchies. If the View you specified for a hierarchy in the Managed View field has its own set of hierarchies, you can view those as well.

Collapsing All Open Hierarches

You can collapse all the open hierarchies in a view by clicking the Close All Hierarchies icon on the toolbar. Note that this icon only appears in the toolbar for views that include one or more hierarchies.