Layout templates

Technically, the layout editor offers such components for which templates are available. Such a layout template is a file *.template.xml in the folder WEB-INF/layouts of the running application. A template can either be provided by the application itself, or by a TopLogic module.

Structure of a layout template

A layout template is an XML file in the namespace http://www.top-logic.com/ns/config/6.0 with the root tag template:

<config:template
  xmlns:config="http://www.top-logic.com/ns/config/6.0"
  groups="..."
>
  <properties extends="...">
    <property name="myProp"
      type="..."
    >
      ...
    </property>

    ...
  </properties>

  <component name="..." 
    class="..."
    option="${myProp}"
  >
    ...
  </component>
</config:template>

A property of a layout template behaves like a property of the typed configuration, which is defined instead of over the Getter of a Java interface in XML. The name of the property is given in the attribute name. The type of the property is specified either directly in the type attribute as a fully qualified class name if it is a primitive property. If it is a list-valued property, the type is equal to List and the list value type is given in element-type. If it is an instance subconfiguration, the type or element-type is equal to PolymorphicConfiguration and the type of the configured instance is given by instance-type. Examples of properties are:

A simple Boolean property "tabVisible" (the default value can be given via the default attribute):

<property name="tabVisible"
  default="true"
  type="boolean"
/>

An instance configuration of a model builder (annotations to the property can be given in the content area of the property):

<property name="modelBuilder"
  instance-type="com.top_logic.mig.html.ListModelBuilder"
  type="PolymorphicConfiguration"
>
  <mandatory/>
  <options fun="com.top_logic.layout.form.values.edit.AllInAppImplementations"/>
</property>

A list of button instance configurations:

<property name="buttons"
  element-type="com.top_logic.basic.config.PolymorphicConfiguration"
  instance-type="com.top_logic.tool.boundsec.CommandHandler"
  type="List"
>
  <acceptable-classifiers value="commons, dialog"/>
</property>

Wizard templates

Normal templates expect the same set of options for the creation of a new component as for the subsequent editing of an already created component. However, sometimes it is useful to request only a small set of initial values when creating a new component and use them to fill the parameters of the actual template with meaningful default values. Thus from the input of a type a good default value for various lookup and test functions of a model builder can be generated.

In order to simplify the component generation in such a way, there are assistant templates, which call another template with few initial parameters to be filled and occupy the "real" parameters from the entered values. If a component created via a wizard template is edited later, the complete parameters of the actual template are then offered for editing. The following template is a wizard for the actual template my-real-component.template.xml, which is specified in the assistant-for attribute. In the content area of a wizard template, no component configuration is created, but the configuration of the parameters of the target template (config):

<config:template
  xmlns:config="http://www.top-logic.com/ns/config/6.0"
  assistant-for="my-real-component.template.xml"
>
  <properties>
    <property name="initProp" type="String">
    ...
  </properties>

  <config>
    <realProp>${initProp}</realProp>
  </config>
</config:template>

<config:template
  xmlns:config="http://www.top-logic.com/ns/config/6.0"
  assistant-for="com.top_logic/layout.template.xml"
>
  <properties extends="com.top_logic.layout.editor.config.TypeTemplateParameters">
    ...
  </properties>

  <config>
    <components>
      <config:template-call
        layout-scope="__tableTemplateScope__"
        template="com.top_logic/table.template.xml"
      >
        <arguments name="..."
          type="..."
        >
          <dialogs>
            <config:template-call template=".../genericCreateDialog.template.xml">
              <arguments>
                ...
              </arguments>
            </config:template-call>
          </dialogs>
        </arguments>
      </config:template-call>

      <config:template-call template=".../form.template.xml">
        <arguments 
          model="selection(__tableTemplateScope__#Table)"
        />
      </config:template-call>
    </components>
  </config>
</config:template>