Page item properties

The page item properties specify characteristics that are meaningful when an item or array is declared in a PageHandler part.

The properties are as follows:

In the descriptions that follow, a bind property is a property whose value is in effect when a page designer places the item (or a record that includes the item) on the Web page. The page designer can override the value, which is a default.

action

The action property is a bind property, which means that the assigned value is used as a default when you are working in Page Designer. The property is meaningful only if the value of the item property displayUse is button or hyperlink.

The value of action refers to the code that is invoked when the user clicks the button or hypertext link.

The format for setting action is as follows: 

  action = actionValue

actionValue

One of the following:

  • The name of an event-handling function in the page handler

  • A label that maps to a Web resource (for example, to a JSP) and that corresponds to a from-outcome attribute of a navigation-rule entry in the JSF Application Configuration Resource file

  • The name of a method in a Java bean, in which case these rules apply:

    • The format is the bean name followed by a period and a method name

    • The bean name must relate to one of the managed bean-name entries in the JSF Application Configuration Resource file

If you do not specify a value for action, the user's click of the item has the following effect:

displayName

The displayName property is a bind property, which means that the assigned value is used as a default when you are working in Page Designer. The property specifies the label that is displayed next to the item.

The format is as follows: 

  displayName = literal

literal

A quoted string.

displayUse

The displayUse property is a bind property, which means that the assigned value is used as a default when you are working in Page Designer. The property associates the item with a user-interface control.

The format is as follows: 

  displayUse = displayUse

displayUse

One of these values:

  • button means that the control has a button command tag.

  • secret means that the data is not visible to the user; this value is appropriate for passwords.

  • hyperlink means that the control has a hyperlink command tag if the action property is the name of an event-handling function; the control has a link tag if the action property is a label. No validation occurs and no input data is returned when the user clicks the link.

  • input means that the control accepts user input; the control also may display a value provided by page handler.

  • table means that the data is within a table tag.

  • output means that the control is an output field that is visible.

help

The help property is a bind property, which means that the assigned value is used as a default when you are working in Page Designer. The property specifies the hover-help text that is displayed when the user places the cursor over the input item.

The format is as follows: 

  help = literal

literal

A quoted string.

If you do not specify a value for the item-specific help property, the help property is in effect for the pageHandler part that contains the item. For details, see PageHandler part in EGL source format.

newWindow

The property newWindow indicates whether to use a new browser window when the EGL run time presents a Web page in response to the activity identified in the action property.

The format is as follows: 

  newWindow = yesOrNo

yesOrNo

One of these values:

  • No is the default and means that the current browser window is used to display the page.

  • Yes means that a new browser window is used.

The property newWindow is meaningful only when the property action is specified; otherwise, the current browser window is used to display the next page.

numElementsItem

The property numElementsItem is specified on a static array variable or record item and identifies the name of another item in the page handler. At run time, the page handler code sets that item to indicate to the JSP how many array elements to display. This property is only used for output.

The property is meaningful for either of these:

  • Static arrays of records or data items

  • Structure items that have an occurs value greater than 1

The format is as follows: 

  numElementsItem = itemName

itemName

Name of the page-handler item that contains the number of array elements to display.

The property numElementsItem is not valid for dynamic arrays because each dynamic array includes an indicator of how many elements are in use. For details, see Arrays.

selectFromList

The property selectFromList is a bind property, which means that the assigned value is used as a default when you are working in Page Designer.

The property refers to an array or table column from which the user selects one or more values; and the property indicates that the array or item being declared will receive data in response to the user's selection from that list.

If the user is allowed to select multiple values, the property is specified for an array. Otherwise, the property is specified for an item.

The values received from the user must correspond to one of these types:

  • The content of the array element or table column that the user selected; or

  • An array or table index, which is an integer that identifies which element or column was selected. The index ranges from 1 to the number of elements available.

The property selectType indicates the type of value to receive, whether the content selected by the user or an index into an array or column.

The format of selectFromList is as follows: 

  selectFromList = listName

listName

One of these values, which must be qualified as necessary to fully resolve the reference:

  • An array of any kind; or

  • A table column such as myTable.myColumn.

For details on resolving names, see References to parts.

selectType

The property selectType is a bind property, which means that the assigned value is used as a default when you are working in Page Designer.

The property indicates the kind of value that is retrieved into the item being declared.

The format is as follows: 

  selectType = selectType

selectType

One of these values:

  • index is the default and means that the array or item being declared will receive indexes in response to a user selection. In this case, the item must be of a numeric type.

  • value means that the array or item being declared will receive the user's selection value in response to a user selection. In this case, the item can be of any type.

For background information, see the property selectFromList.

validationOrder

The value of the property validationOrder is an integer that indicates when the item's validator function runs in relation to any other item's validator function. The property is important if the validation of one item depends on the previous validation of another.

Validation occurs first for any items for which you specified a value for the property validationOrder, and the items with the lowest-numbered values are validated first. Validation then occurs for any items for which you did not specify a value for validationOrder, and the order of validation in this case is the order in which the items are defined in the page handler.

The format of the property is as follows: 

  validationOrder = integer

integer

A literal integer that indicates when the item is validated in relation to other items.

value

The property value is a bind property, which means that the assigned value is used as a default when you are working in Page Designer. The property specifies a character string that is displayed as the item content when a Web page is displayed, before the user changes the value.

The format is as follows: 

  value = literal

literal

A quoted string.

Related concepts
PageHandler part
References to parts

Related reference
Arrays