Alfresco Process AutomationAlfresco Process Automation Docs ModelUser interfaces

User interfaces

The user interfaces (UI) section sets an end user interface for users to interact with content, tasks and processes for the project using the Alfresco Digital Workspace.

Properties

The basic properties of a user interface are:

Property	Description
UI name	Required. The name of the interface. Must be in lowercase and between 1 and 26 characters in length. Alphanumeric characters and hyphens are allowed, however the name must begin with a letter and end alphanumerically, for example `order-template`.
UI description	Optional. A description of what the interface should be used for, for example `A template for orders to follow.`

Create a user interface

To create a user interface:

Sign into the Modeling Application and open a project.
Click the NEW dropdown.
Select how to create the interface:
- Create > UI creates a new, empty user interface.
- Upload > UI allows for uploading an existing user interface into the Modeling Application.
Alternatively use the + or Upload buttons next to UI in the left-hand menu.
Enter a name and optional description.

User interface modeling

Once a user interface has been created, set the type to content to deploy the Digital Workspace with the application. This can be accessed by users once a project has been deployed using the format ui/<name>, for example https://alfresco.com/finance-project/ui/content-app.

Note: An instance of Digital Workspace will be deployed with each application that can only start processes created within that same application. Only users assigned user access to the application will be able to access the interface.

Custom end user actions can be created for the Digital Workspace. This enables custom options to be added to various menus displayed to users. Rules can be set for the actions to only display on files or folders with specific names, or when an aspect is applied to a node. There are three parts to defining custom actions:

The action itself that will executed when the option is clicked.
A list of one or more rules to describe which nodes the action will be displayed on.
The feature the action will be displayed on, for example the header or a context menu.

Actions

There are four types of end user actions that can be configured:

Events that are used in conjunction with a trigger to start a trigger action when clicked by a user.
Forms that display a form to the user to fill in, independent of a user task or process.
Navigation to set a URL to redirect to when clicked by the user.
Start process to start a named process when clicked by the user, and optionally include the file the action was launched from when clicked.

Event

Event actions are directly referenced by triggers when they are clicked. This means that an action can post a predefined message to a Slack channel or send an email notifying an email group about the document.

Note: If a user interface trigger action is not created that references the event action then nothing will happen when the action is clicked by an end user.

The properties of an event action are:

Property	Description
Name	Required. The name of the action. Note: This is not the text that will appear to the end user in a menu.
Type	Required. The type of action will be `Event`.
Use selected nodes in action	Optional. Sets whether the nodes selected when the action is clicked can be used in the event or not, for example `true`.

Form

Form actions open a form in Digital Workspace that users can fill in when the action is clicked. The form in question can be completely independent of a process and user task. Forms allow users to enter some information and use the output, for example to use a trigger on the form submission event.

The properties of a form action are:

Property	Description
Name	Required. The name of the action. Note: This is not the text that will appear to the end user in a menu.
Type	Required. The type of action will be `Form`.
Form	Required. The name of the form to display when the action is clicked.
Use selected nodes in action	Optional. Sets whether the nodes selected when the action is clicked can be used in the form or not, for example `true`.

Navigation

Navigation actions open a link when they are clicked by an end user. The link can be relative, for example opening another document from the repository, or the link can be absolute, such as to open another application.

The properties of a navigation action are:

Property	Description
Name	Required. The name of the action. Note: This is not the text that will appear to the end user in a menu.
Type	Required. The type of action will be `Navigation`.
Target	Required. The absolute or relative link the action will direct to, for example `https://wikipedia.org`.
Open in new tab	Optional. Sets whether the link opens in a new tab or not, for example `false`.
Use selected nodes in action	Optional. Sets whether the nodes selected when the action is clicked can be used in the navigation URL or not, for example `true`.

Note: The Target can use the variable ${nodes} if Use selected nodes in action is set to true to pass the node ID to the link, for example personal-files/(viewer:view/${nodes})?location=%2Fpersonal-files.

Start process

A start process action will start a process when the action is clicked. If the selected process contains a form on the start event with an attach file field and Use selected nodes in action is set to true, then the file that was selected when the action was clicked will be attached to it automatically.

The properties of a start process action are:

Property	Description
Name	Required. The name of the action. Note: This is not the text that will appear to the end user in a menu.
Type	Required. The type of action will be `Start process`.
Process	Required. The name of the process to start when the action is clicked.
Use selected nodes in action	Optional. Sets whether the nodes selected when the action is clicked can be used in the process or not, for example `true`.

Rules

Rules are used to define when an action is displayed to the end user. This is achieved using a series of evaluators, operators and optional nested groups.

Rule groups must:

All be met for the action to display using Every.
At least one met for the action to display using Some.
Must not be met for the action to display using Not.

Note: Individual evaluators in a rule can be set to evaluate negatively using the ! against them. For example, if the evaluator app.navigation.isTrashCan is set to evaluate negatively then the user must not be in the trashcan for the action to appear.

Some evaluators take additional operators such as contains, equals or matches. For example, the evaluator selection.currentFolder.name can use a fully qualified folder name such as Invoices or use a regular expression such as ^(I|i)nvoices.

Application evaluators

Application evaluators check a user's permissions on files and folders to set whether action will be displayed.

The application evaluators are:

Evaluator	Description
app.selection.canDelete	User has permission to delete selected node(s).
app.selection.canDownload	User can download selected node(s).
app.selection.notEmpty	At least one node is selected.
app.selection.canUnshare	User is able to remove selected node(s) from public sharing.
app.selection.canAddFavorite	User can add selected node(s) to favorites.
app.selection.canRemoveFavorite	User can remove selected node(s) from favorites.
app.selection.first.canUpdate	User has permission to update selected node(s).
app.selection.file	A single File node is selected.
app.selection.file.canShare	User is able to share the selected file.
app.selection.file.isShared	A shared node is selected.
app.selection.file.isLocked	File is locked for editing.
app.selection.file.isLockOwner	File is locked and current user is the lock owner.
app.selection.file.canUploadVersion	User can update file version.
app.selection.library	A single Library node is selected.
app.selection.isPrivateLibrary	A private Library node is selected.
app.selection.hasLibraryRole	The selected Library node has a role property.
app.selection.hasNoLibraryRole	The selected Library node has no role property.
app.selection.folder	A single Folder node is selected.
app.selection.folder.canUpdate	User has permissions to update the selected folder.
app.selection.file.canLock	User has permissions to lock file.
app.selection.file.canUnlock	User has permissions to unlock file.
repository.isQuickShareEnabled	Whether the quick share repository option is enabled or not.
canCopyNode	Checks if user can copy selected node.
canToggleJoinLibrary	Checks if user can perform 'Join' or 'Cancel Join Request' on a library.
canEditFolder	Checks if user can edit the selected folder.
isTrashcanItemSelected	Checks if user has trashcan item selected.
canViewFile	Checks if user can view the file.
canLeaveLibrary	Checks if user can Leave selected library.
canToggleSharedLink	Checks if user can toggle shared link mode.
canShowInfoDrawer	Checks if user can show Info Drawer for the selected node.
canManageFileVersions	Checks if user can manage file versions for the selected node.
canManagePermissions	Checks if user can manage permissions for the selected node.
canToggleEditOffline	Checks if user can toggle Edit Offline mode for selected node.
user.isAdmin	Checks if user is admin.
app.canShowLogout	Whether logout action should be present or not.
app.isLibraryManager	Checks if user is library manager.

Navigation evaluators

Navigation evaluators use the location within the repository structure to set whether an action will be displayed.

The navigation evaluators are:

Evaluator	Description
app.navigation.folder.canCreate	User can create content in the currently opened folder.
app.navigation.folder.canUpload	User can upload content to the currently opened folder.
app.navigation.isTrashcan	User is using the Trashcan page.
app.navigation.isNotTrashcan	Current page is not a Trashcan.
app.navigation.isLibraries	User is using a Libraries or Library Search Result page.
app.navigation.isNotLibraries	Current page is not a Libraries page.
app.navigation.isSharedFiles	User is using the Shared Files page.
app.navigation.isNotSharedFiles	Current page is not Shared Files.
app.navigation.isFavorites	User is using the Favorites page.
app.navigation.isNotFavorites	Current page is not Favorites.
app.navigation.isRecentFiles	User is using the Recent Files page.
app.navigation.isNotRecentFiles	Current page is not Recent Files.
app.navigation.isSearchResults	User is using the Search Results page.
app.navigation.isNotSearchResults	Current page is not the Search Results.
app.navigation.isSharedPreview	Current page is preview Shared Files.
app.navigation.isFavoritesPreview	Current page is preview Favorites.
app.navigation.isSharedFileViewer	Current page is shared file preview page.
app.navigation.isPreview	Current page is Preview.
app.navigation.isPersonalFiles	Current page is Personal Files.
app.navigation.isLibraryFiles	Current page is Library Files.

Node property evaluators

Node property evaluators use the types, aspects and properties of folders and files to set whether an action will be displayed.

The node property evaluators are:

Evaluator	Description
selection.files.type	All the selected files are of the input type.
selection.files.aspect	All the selected files have the input aspect.
selection.files.property	All the selected files have the indicated property and their values satisfy the condition.
selection.files.name	All the selected files match the condition in their name.
selection.folders.type	All the selected folders are of the input type.
selection.folders.aspect	All the selected folders have the input aspect.
selection.folders.property	All the selected folders have the indicated property and their values satisfy the condition.
selection.folders.name	All the selected folders match the condition in their name.
selection.currentFolder.type	The current folder is of the input type.
selection.currentFolder.aspect	The current folder has the input aspect.
selection.currentFolder.property	The current folder has the indicated property and their values satisfy the condition.
selection.currentFolder.name	The current folder matches the condition in their name.

Features

A user action can be associated to a feature once it has been defined and the rules for when to display it have been configured. This determines in which menu or view the action is displayed.

The properties to configure the action feature are:

Property	Description
Title	Required. The text displayed to the end user in the menu, for example `Start invoice process`.
Description	Optional. The tooltip for the action in the menu, for example `Start the invoice process with the intial invoice attached.`.
Icon	Required. The icon that will be displayed to the end user in the menu next to the `Title`.
Order	Optional. The order the action will appear in the menu list. The higher the number the lower down the list, or further right in a list it is displayed.
Action	Required. The selected action to execute.
Visibility	Optional. The rule to use for evaluating whether a user can see the action.
Enabled	Optional. The rule to use for evaluating whether the action is enabled or not.

Actions can be displayed in different parts of the Digital Workspace by associating them with different features.

Application header feature

The application header will display an action next to the search bar and user information:

Application header menu feature

The application header menu will display an action in the application header menu next to items such as Settings and About:

Application toolbar feature

The application toolbar will display an action underneath the header where items such as a breadcrumb are normall placed:

Dropdown button feature

The dropdown button will display an action in the left-hand menu as a new item:

Context menu feature

The context menu will display an action in the menu displayed when right-clicking a node:

Sidebar feature

The sidebar will display an action in the properties sidebar:

Sidebar toolbar feature

The sidebar toolbar will display an action on the toolbar within the properties sidebar:

Viewer feature

The viewer will display an action on the file viewer page:

Viewer toolbar feature

The viewer toolbar will display an action on the toolbar located on the file viewer page:

Viewer toolbar menu feature

The viewer toolbar menu will display an action in the dropdown menu in the toolbar located on the file viewer page:

Viewer shared feature

The shared viewer will display an action on the file viewer page of a shared file:

Viewer shared toolbar feature

The shared viewer toolbar will display an action on the toolbar located on the file viewer page of a shared file:

Custom user interfaces

Custom user interfaces can be developed with the Application Development Framework and deployed as part of the project.

User interrace actions

The actions that can be run against an interface are:

Action	Description
Download UI	Download the JSON for the interface.
Validate	Run validation against the interface. Any errors can be seen in the log history at the bottom of the Modeling Application and are flagged in a pop-up box.
Save	Save any changes made to the interface.
Delete	Delete the interface.

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