Administering Record Templates

By default, users can create record templates and manage their own record template preferences using the record template dialogs. This functionality is described in Working with Record Templates.

In addition, the record template infrastructure is also used for view templates. As with record templates, users can create view templates as needed, but record template preferences are not applicable to view templates.

Administrators can also manage record template functionality for users directly from the Entity Record Templates services, which appear under the Aptify Framework Administration application. For more information on these services, see About the Entity Record Template Categories Form, About the Entity Record Template User Preferences Form, and About the Entity Record Templates Form.

Each time a user creates a new Record Template (this includes a view template), Aptify automatically creates an Entity Record Templates record that stores the relevant details about that template.

This topic provides an overview of how to perform the following administrative tasks for record and view templates:

• Creating Record Template Categories
• Administering Record Template Security Settings
• Editing a Record Template Using the Save Template Dialog
• Editing a Record Template Using the Entity Record Templates Record

Creating Record Template Categories

Entity Record Template Categories apply to both record templates and view templates. By default, users can create new Entity Record Template Categories directly from the Save Template dialog by clicking the New button to the right of the Category field, as shown below.

In addition, you can create new categories directly from the Entity Record Templates Categories service, following these steps:

1. Expand the Aptify Framework Administration application heading in the Navigation Bar.
2. Right-click the Entity Record Template Categories service and select New Entity Record Template Categories Record from the pop-up menu.
3. Enter a Name for the category.
4. Enter a Description for the category (this is optional).
5. Specify the Entity to which this category applies.
   • For example, if this category applies to templates for the Persons service, enter Persons in the Entity field.
   • For view template categories, enter Views in the Entity field. 
     
     
6. Leave the Parent field blank. (This field is reserved for future use.)
7. Specify a Rank, if desired.
   • Rank determines the order in which category tabs appear in the Select A Record Template dialog from left to right. The General tab always appears first.
   • By default, the Rank for new Entity Record Template Categories is set to 0. With this setting, categories appear on the Select A Record Template dialog in ascending order based on a category's record ID.
8. Leave the User Flag and User Value fields blank. (These are reserved for future use.)
9. Specify the security settings for the category.
   • If you want this category to be visible for all users, select the Available To All Users? option, if necessary.
   • If you want this category to be available to only specified groups and/or users, select the Available To All Users? option and add the specified groups and/or users to the Group Permissions or User Permissions tab.
     • See Administering Record Template Security Settings for more information on setting Group and User permissions for Record Templates and categories.
10. Save and Close the record.

Administering Record Template Security Settings

By default, users create and manage their own Record Template preferences, and the templates and categories created by users and administrators are available to all users.

However, the system also allows administrators to create and manage user preferences and to limit access to Record Templates and categories to a specific set of users.

This topic provides the following sub-topics for information on how an administrator can manage Record Template functionality for system users.

• Managing Record Template User Preferences
• Specifying User Access for a Record Template or Category
• Creating Templates for Multiple Users

Managing Record Template User Preferences

The system automatically creates an Entity Record Template User Preferences record the first time a user modifies the default Record Template Options within the Select A Record Template dialog. This record stores the user's preferences, such as the list of services for which the dialog appears automatically.

Entity Record Template User Preferences do not apply to view templates.

An administrator can modify these preferences as necessary to control the Record Template behavior for a particular user. See About the Entity Record Template User Preferences Form for more information.

In addition, an administrator can define a user's preferences even before the user accesses the Select A Record Template dialog for the first time.

Follow these steps to create an Entity Record Template User Preferences record for the user:

1. Expand the Aptify Framework Administration application heading in the Navigation Bar.
2. Right-click the Entity Record Template User Preferences service and select New Entity Record Template User Preferences Record from the pop-up menu.
3. Specify the system user in the User field.
4. Configure Show Template on New and Show Template Scope to determine when the Select A Record Template dialog will appear for the user:
   • To disable the dialog, clear the Show Template on New option and set Show Template Scope to Global.
   • To enable the dialog for all services, select the Show Template on New option and set Show Template Scope to Global.
   • To enable the dialog on a per-service basis, select the Show Template on New option and set Show Template Scope to Service. If you select this option, you must also configure the Service Details tab. 
     
     
5. Leave the Hide Template Help field at its default setting. This field is reserved for future use.
6. Enter optional Comments in the field provided.
7. Follow the steps below that corresponds to the Show Template Scope value you selected:
   • If you set the Show Template Scope field to Service, proceed to Step 8.
   • If Show Template Scope is set to Global, Save and Close the record. No additional configuration is necessary. 
8. Click the Service Details tab.
9. Create a Service Details record to specify a default Record Template for a service or to specify that the Select A Record Template dialog should appear automatically for a service.
   1. Click the New Record... icon.
   2. Specify a service in the Service field.
   3. Configure the remaining field depending on the behavior you want to implement:
   4. To show the dialog for each new record opened in the service, leave the Default Template field blank and select the Show Template Dialog When Creating New Records? option, as shown below. 
      
       
   5. To display a default template for the service, specify a template for that service in the Default Template field and clear the Show Template Dialog When Creating New Records? option, as shown below.  
      
       
   6. Click OK and add additional Service Details records as necessary. 
10. Save and Close the record.

If you want to assign the same preferences to a large number of users, you can create a record template for the Entity Record Template User Preferences service and then use that template to quickly generate user records.

Specifying User Access for a Record Template or Category

By default, all users have access to new Record Templates and Record Template Categories. Follow these steps to limit access to a template or category to a specified list of users:

These instructions apply to both record templates and view templates.

1. Open an Entity Record Template or Entity Record Template Categories record.
2. Clear the Available To All Users? option.
3. Click the Group Permissions tab.

4. Add Groups as necessary to allow members of these groups to access the template or category.
   
    

   The members of the Groups you add to this tab will have Read and Edit permissions for the template or category, regardless of which permission check boxes you select. The Read, Edit, and Delete check boxes are reserved for future use.

5. Click the User Permissions tab.
6. Add Users as necessary to allow access to the template or category.

   • You do not need to add a user if he or she is already a member of one of the groups you added to the Group Permissions tab.

     The Users you add to this tab will have Read and Edit permissions for the template or category, regardless of which permission check boxes you select. The Read, Edit, and Delete check boxes are reserved for future use.

7. Save and Close the template or category record.

If a user does not have permission to view a category, the user cannot access any of the templates contained in that category from the Select A Record Template dialog, even if the user has permission to use those templates. 

Creating Templates for Multiple Users

Aptify recommends that an administrator follow the process outlined below to create templates for system users:

1. Follow the standard procedure for creating a new template that is available to all users. This process is described in the Creating Record Templates. For information on view templates, see the Creating a View Template.
   • Aptify automatically generates the Object XML data (and the User Flag and User Value data, if applicable) in the correct format that defines the default fields for the template. 
2. Follow the steps in Specifying User Access for a Record Template or Category if you want to limit access to this template to a specified set of users.

Editing a Record Template Using the Save Template Dialog

This procedure describes how to edit a record template. See Editing a View Template for information on how to edit a view template.

1. Load an existing template from the Select A Record Template dialog.
   • Depending on your user preferences, the Select A Template dialog may open automatically. Otherwise, open a new record in a service and select New From Template... from the Data Control Bar's right-click menu. 
2. Modify the template as necessary.
3. Right-click the record's Data Control Bar and select Save As Template... from the pop-up menu to open the Save Template dialog.
   • The Update Template dialog appears with the name of the template and template category already populated. These fields are disabled, indicating that an existing template is being modified. If you want to save a record template as a new template, select the New Template option.
     
      
4. Enter any information about the modification in the Description field, if desired.

5. Select the template's category from the Category drop-down list

   The system will create a new template if you fail to specify the exact Name and Category for the existing template that you are attempting to edit.

6. Click OK.
   • Assuming that you entered the correct name and category, Aptify displays a message box indicating that this template already exists. 
7. Click Yes to update the existing template with your new changes.

Editing a Record Template Using the Entity Record Templates Record

If necessary, an administrator can also change a Record Template by modifying the corresponding Entity Record Templates record.

Each time a user saves a new template, Aptify automatically creates an Entity Record Templates record. This record stores the field values you specified in XML format (in the Object XML field).
If necessary, you can manually scroll through the Object XML field and modify one or more field values.

Keep in mind that when Aptify creates a template, it captures the record values as they current appear on the form. Therefore, in some cases, the template may carry over a value that was not intended.

For example, consider a Date/Time field, such as a Topic Code's Start Date, that has default value of GETDATE() defined in its Entity Fields record. Each time a user opens a new Topic Codes record, the system automatically populates this field with the current date.

However, if you create a Topic Codes template and leave the Start Date at its default setting, the template will subsequently load using that date rather than the current date (in the example shown below, the template stores the StartDate using the date it was created).

To reinstate the current date functionality for this field, you can modify the Object XML for the record template to either change the Start Date field's value to GETDATE() or blank out the template's Start Date (in this case, the template will not populate the Start Date and it will use the entity field's default setting, that is the current date).

See About the Entity Record Templates Form for more information.