Populating profile controls with values

 

For each entry you include in a Profile Set, define the UI display element that will represent the object in the Profile Manager. For example, if you include "Geographic Region" as a profile set entry, you might represent this entity with a select list (displaying North, South, East and West) or with a set of similarly labeled radio buttons.

When you create an entry, the Add Entry dialog's UI Type select box has seven interface types from which we can choose:

  • TextInput &#8212 Creates a text input area in which the user can enter a text string.

  • TextArea &#8212 Creates a scrollable text input area in which multiple lines of text can be entered.

  • Select &#8212 Creates a list from which an item can be selected.

  • SelectableInput &#8212 Creates a list from which an item can be selected, but the user also has the option of entering a new value.

  • Checkbox &#8212 Creates a check box that can be toggled between enable and disable.

  • RadioBox &#8212 Creates an array of radio buttons.

 

Specifying Extra Data

The Extra Data field (in the Entries tab of the Profile Manager) determines the content displayed by the input control. This field is populated by the data that you enter in the UI control fields of the Add Entry or Edit Entry dialog. The table below lists the UI control fields that the dialog displays for each UI type.

UI Type UI Control Field In
Add/Edit Entry Dialog 		Description of Field
TextInput Width A number specifying the width of the input box, in characters.
TextArea

Columns
Rows
Wrap

Number of columns in display region
Number of rows in display region
On to enable text wrapping or Off to disable it

Select Select Data Choices for the list items, specified as:
choice-1, choice-2, choice-3,...choice-n
SelectableInput Extra Data Choices for the list items, specified as:
choice-1, choice-2, choice-3,...choice-n
Checkbox

Label After Check Box
Checked Value
Unchecked Value

Prompt for the checkbox
True (the checkbox is checked)
False (the checkbox is not checked)

RadioBox Data Choices for the radio buttons, specified as:
choice-1, choice-2, choice-3,...choice-n

 

Specifying Choices

For the RadioBox, Select, and SelectableInput UI types, you must specify the UI controls in the form of:

choice-1, choice-2, choice-3,...choice-n

For these three UI controls, the delimiter is the comma (,) character; for example:

East, West, North, South

When providing choices for the Select and SelectableInput types, we can start the list with a blank choice (thus forcing the user to enter or select an item). To start with a blank choice, simply enter the delimiter twice.

Note that place a list item within quotes if the item contains the delimiter; for example:

"Paris, France", "London, England", "Tokyo, Japan"

These following examples illustrate various ways we can specify fixed input to an interface control:

  • Five choices using the default delimiter: One, Two, Three, Four, Five

  • Four choices, including a blank first choice: ,,One, Two, Three

  • Choices that include the delimiter character within the choice: "Reno, NV", "Ely, NV", "Bow, NH" (In this example spaces are stripped from the beginning and end of each choice, unless the space character is placed within quotes.)