DynaChange Portals Guide. version

Transcription

1 version

2 This manual contains information about software products from Epicor Software Corporation. The software described in this manual and the manual itself are furnished under the terms and conditions of a license agreement. The software consists of software options that are separately licensed. It is against the law to copy the software on any medium, or to enable any software options, except as specifically permitted under the license agreement. In addition, no part of this manual may be copied or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of Epicor Software Corporation. From time to time, Epicor Software Corporation makes changes to its software products. Therefore, information in this manual is subject to change, and the illustrations and screens that appear in the manual may differ somewhat from the version of the software provided to you. Created by: Yardley Technical Communication 2013, Epicor Software Corporation. All rights reserved. Epicor and the Epicor logo are registered trademarks and Epicor Prophet 21 is a trademark of the Epicor Software Corporation. All other company or product names are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Epicor Software Corporation 7683 Southfront Road Livermore, CA Version Publication Date: 10/17/

3 Revision History Build Description of Update Page (3/1/10) General release n/a (3/4/10) Fixed token offset syntax for days / periods into the future (3/4/10) Added new token <days_from_today> (3/16/10) General improvements to InfoMaker installation instructions (screen captures and clarification of reboot message) (3/16/10) Noted that you must be in the Select window to access the Retrieval Arguments (6/23/10) Added drill options for PO: requisition or normal (10/13/10) Typeface changed from "MS Sans Serif" to "Microsoft Sans Serif" (10/13/10) Fixed screen tips in tutorial (11/5/10) Clarified license requirements for InfoMaker (11/5/10) Documented the ability to open a customer in the Validate Open Orders window using drillable fields 74 n/a (3/15/11) Updated product name from Portal Designer to DynaChange Portals. n/a 12.6 (4/1/11) Added Contact ID to drillable fields (2/22/13) Added a section for the Tab Creator tool

4 Table of Contents 1 About This Manual 6 About This Manual 6 Scope of the Manual 6 Finding Information 7 Important Terms 7 2 Portal Designer Setup 9 Portal Designer Setup 9 Prerequisites 10 Run the Licensing Script 11 Install the Predesigned Portal Elements 12 Install InfoMaker 19 Connect to a Data Source 41 Create Portal Libraries 43 3 Creating Portal Elements 45 What Is a Portal Element? 46 Support for Portal Elements 47 Creating a New Portal Element 48 Connecting to the Prophet 21 Database 48 Creating Portal Elements: a Tutorial 49 Creating a Web Site as a Portal Element 69 Adding Totals Information 71 Drillable Fields 72 Tokens 75 Prompting Users to Enter Values 80 Opening Other Applications from a Portal Element 82 Code Groups 85 Finding Codes for a Field 85 Using Code Group Fields in Queries 86 Displaying Code Descriptions Instead of Codes 86 Fitting In: Tips for Prophet 21 Style 89 Examples: Predesigned Portal Elements

5 Quick Steps 92 4 Managing Portal Elements 94 Installing Portal Elements in Prophet Sharing Portal Elements 98 Sharing Portal Elements Using InfoMaker 100 Moving Portal Elements Between Libraries 101 Changing the Path of Installed Portal Elements 103 Adding Portals to a New Tab 104 Create the Tab 104 Specify Portal 104 Name Tab 105 Map Fields 106 Adding Web Pages to User-Defined Tabs 108 Uninstalling Portal Elements 111 Quick Steps 112 Index

6 About This Manual 1 About This Manual This manual is designed to help you: Create custom portal elements Install custom portal elements in Prophet 21 Share custom portal elements with other distributors Scope of the Manual The covers the Prophet 21 side of the DynaChange Portlas, including how to install and share portal elements. It also covers some integration basics with InfoMaker, including how to get started, how to create drills, how to use tokens, and some best practices. However, the manual does not cover how to use InfoMaker in detail. For more information on how to use InfoMaker, you should refer to the InfoMaker help for complete documentation (go to Start > Programs > Sybase > InfoMaker > Compiled HTML Help File). Suggested Reading About InfoMaker Since this manual does not cover InfoMaker in detail, and you will use InfoMaker to create and modify portal elements, Epicor recommends that you review the following help topics in the InfoMaker Compiled HTML Help (Start > Programs > Sybase > InfoMaker > Compiled HTML Help File). In User's Guide book: Chapter 1: Working with InfoMaker In User's Guide book: Reports (and all its sub-topics) Connecting to Your Database book This information will be extremely helpful in learning to create portal elements. You can find these in the Contents tab

7 About This Manual Finding Information This manual comprises three chapters, each of which helps you do one of the following: Set up DynaChange Portals - This chapter covers what you need to do before you can use the DynaChange Portals feature. Starts on page 9. Create portal elements - This chapter covers how to create new portal elements, including many of the available features specific to Prophet 21. Starts on page 45. Manage the elements you have created - This chapter covers how to install, share, and remove portal elements in Prophet 21. Starts on page 94. Important Terms This section defines many of the important terms you may encounter when reading this manual

8 About This Manual Term: Code Group Drillable Field DataWindow Library Portal Element Token Definition: Some database columns (such as row_status_flag) store a numeric value (such as 700) in the database, but Prophet 21 displays a description instead of that numeric value (such as Delete instead of 700). This type of field is a Code Group. See Code Groups on page 85 for more information on how to use code group fields in queries and display. You can make certain fields "drillable" fields in your portal elements. A drillable field enables you to click a value in the field in Prophet 21, and the system will open the window associated with that field (for example, an order number field would open Order Entry, an item ID field would open Item Maintenance, etc.). See Drillable Fields on page 72 for a list of drillable fields and how to use them. The name InfoMaker uses to refer to a portal element. A container that holds portal elements (the container file has a.pbl file extension). All portal elements must be a part of a library. See Create Portal Libraries on page 43 for more information. A mini-application, report, or web page that you insert into one of the portal areas in Portal Maintenance in Prophet 21. Most portal elements are created using InfoMaker. Used in InfoMaker to "stand in" for information from Prophet 21. For example, if you want a portal element to filter by the user's default location, you can use a token to represent the default user location. See Tokens on page 75 for a list of available tokens and how to use them

9 Portal Designer Setup 2 Portal Designer Setup Welcome to the Epicor Prophet 21 DynaChange Portals Manual! This chapter guides you through the process of setting up DynaChange Portals. After you purchased the DynaChange Portals package, you received a DVD containing the installation files and this document, and you received an containing: Your DynaChange integration license script Your InfoMaker license file To set up the designer, you must: Run the license script (see Run the Licensing Script on page 11 for more information) Install the predesigned portal elements (see Install the Predesigned Portal Elements on page 12 for more information) Install and license InfoMaker (see Install InfoMaker on page 19 for more information) Connect InfoMaker to your database (see Connect to a Data Source on page 41 for more information) Create portal libraries (see Create Portal Libraries on page 43 for more information) The following sections in this chapter detail the steps you must follow to set up DynaChange Portals

10 Prerequisites Prerequisites Before you can use DynaChange Portals, you must ensure that you fulfilled the following requirements: DynaChange Portals Package (to purchase DynaChange Portals, contact Epicor Direct Sales) Prophet 21 v12.2 or higher

11 Run the Licensing Script Run the Licensing Script To enable you to use the DynaChange Portals integration, you must run the licensing script you received via . Use SQL32.exe to run the licensing script, just like you run any other script. For more information about running scripts, see Support Solution #4022 on the Customer Web Site. Note: This script licenses DynaChange Portals' integration with Prophet 21. You must still license InfoMaker using the.lic license provided, but you will do that later, during InfoMaker installation. You must have 1 InfoMaker license for each person who will design portals using InfoMaker. See Install InfoMaker on page 19 for more information

12 Install the Predesigned Portal Elements Install the Predesigned Portal Elements The Epicor predesigned portal elements provide you with some additional portal capabilities right out of the box. However, their real power lies in their ability to teach you how to create your own portals (see Examples: Predesigned Portal Elements on page 90 for more information). Use the following instructions to install the predesigned portal elements. Note: You should install the predefined portal elements on the PC where you will be designing portal elements. However, you will not be able to use the predefined portal elements (or any other portal elements) in Prophet 21 until you add them to a location where the database can find them (typically, your Crystal Reports folder). See Installing Portal Elements in Prophet 21 on page 95 for more information on how to use the predesigned elements in the system. 1. Place the DVD into the DVD-ROM drive of the client PC where you will be designing portal elements. It should autorun and bring up the installation. 2. If it does not autorun, open the DVD drive in Windows Explorer and double-click autorun.exe. The installation program opens

13 Install the Predesigned Portal Elements 3. Click Install the Portal Designer Files

14 Install the Predesigned Portal Elements 4. Click Next to start the installation

15 Install the Predesigned Portal Elements 5. This path is the path to which your library of predesigned portal elements will be installed. Change the path if desired. 6. Click Next to continue

16 Install the Predesigned Portal Elements 7. Click Next to install the library

17 Install the Predesigned Portal Elements Once the installation is complete, the following screen appears:

18 Install the Predesigned Portal Elements 8. Click Close to close the installer. You can now use your predesigned portal element library; the library is named customportal_deployment.pbl. Before you can install these portals in Prophet 21, you must put this library file in a folder to which everyone has access (such as your Crystal Reports folder, which you can find in the Files and Folders node of the System Setup system settings). In addition to the library, there are two supporting files that the predesigned elements use: a picture file and a batch file. These files are used for the act_salesrep_of_the_month and the act_salesrep_ list elements (respectively). If you changed the path in Step 5 above, you will need to change the path to those files in those two elements

19 Install InfoMaker Install InfoMaker In your licensing , you received directions to find and download the DynaChange Portal installer files. After you downloaded them, you will need to install InfoMaker on the client for every user you want to design portals. To install InfoMaker, you must complete several installations: SQL Anywhere 11.0 (optional; if you want to use the InfoMaker demo database and tutorial, it is a good idea to install this first) InfoMaker 11.5 InfoMaker Update You must install InfoMaker on the PC on which you intend to create portal elements (e.g., if your system administrator will create the portal elements, you should install InfoMaker on the administrator's PC). You must install InfoMakerfrom the computer's local drive and not a shared directory or CD drive. You need an InfoMaker license for each installation of InfoMaker. Use the following instructions to install InfoMaker. Make sure you have the InfoMaker license key that came when you purchased Portal Designer (it is the.lic file included with your introductory ). You will provide the license information when you install InfoMaker. Note: The InfoMaker installation requires a system restart between installing InfoMaker and checking for InfoMaker updates and connecting it to a data source 1. Insert the DynaChange Portals installation DVD into the DVD-ROM drive of the client PC where you want to install InfoMaker. This is the PC where you will design portal elements. The autorun installation menu opens. 2. If the DVD does not autorun, open it in Windows Explorer and double-click the autorun.exe file to start the installation. The installation opens

20 Install InfoMaker 3. Click Install InfoMaker The installer starts

21 Install InfoMaker 4. Click Next to continue the installation

22 Install InfoMaker 5. Click OK, then click No. If you want to install SQL Anywhere, you can click Yes now, or you can go back and install it later. However, it is not required for Portal Designer; only for the Info- Maker tutorial (the InfoMaker tutorial does not cover Portal Designer; only InfoMaker). The installation continues. 6. Select Standalone Seat - Local License

23 Install InfoMaker 7. Click Next. 8. Click the Load button in the upper-right corner, so you can install the license key

24 Install InfoMaker 9. Browse to your license file and click Open. Note that you need a separate license file for each workstation on which you want to install InfoMaker

25 Install InfoMaker 10. Click Next to continue installing

26 Install InfoMaker 11. Select your country from the drop-down field at the top of the window, and then select I AGREE to the terms. 12. Click Next

27 Install InfoMaker 13. Enter your name and company name. 14. Click Next

28 Install InfoMaker 15. If desired, change the path for the installation. Click Next to continue

29 Install InfoMaker 16. If desired, change the path of the shared folder. Click Next to continue

30 Install InfoMaker 17. Click Next to install. 18. Click OK. The Personal Server install starts

31 Install InfoMaker 19. If desired, change the path. Click Next to continue

32 Install InfoMaker 20. If desired, change the path. Click Next to continue

33 Install InfoMaker 21. Select the components you want to install. You should leave the defaults. You may additionally enable InfoMaker Tutorial and Demo Database if you want to use the tutorial and if you have already installed SQL Anywhere (note that this is an InfoMaker tutorial, and not a demo for Portal Designer). 22. Click Next to install

34 Install InfoMaker 23. Select the path for InfoMaker (or leave the default). 24. Click Next to continue

35 Install InfoMaker 25. Review the current settings before you install. 26. Click Next to start copying installation files

36 Install InfoMaker 27. Wait for the installation to finish. Click Cancel if you want to stop the installation process

37 Install InfoMaker 28. Click Finish. You will return to the original installation

38 Install InfoMaker 29. Click Finish again. InfoMaker is now installed.it will prompt you to restart

39 Install InfoMaker 30. Restart your PC, and then proceed with the next steps to update InfoMaker to the supported release. 31. Open the InfoMaker installer again (double-click the autorun.exe file). 32. Click Install InfoMaker Update (required). The update launches

40 Install InfoMaker 33. It may take a few minutes for the update to complete. The update is complete when the window pictured above closes. InfoMaker is now ready to use. Continue to the next section

41 Connect to a Data Source Connect to a Data Source Before you can use InfoMaker to do anything else, you must connect to your Prophet 21 database. InfoMaker uses the data source to provide you with lists of tables and fields, as well as to validate SQL and provide lists of existing values. The easiest method to connect to your Prophet 21 database using the SQL Native Client, if you have it installed (by default, it is installed with SQL Server). However, you can also use ODBC connections. For more information on connecting to a database, see Connecting to Your Database in the InfoMaker Compiled HTML Help File (Start > Programs > Sybase > InfoMaker > Compiled HTML Help File). Tip! If you already have an ODBC connection to your Prophet 21 play database, you can use that data source in InfoMaker. Skip steps 1-13 below. The following instructions describe process of connecting InfoMaker to your database using an ODBC data source. Note that the process was documented using Windows XP; the process for creating an ODBC connection may be slightly different using another operating system. 1. Open the ODBC Data Source Administrator (Start > Programs > Administrative Tools > Data Sources (ODBC)). If you run a 64 bit system, the default ODBC DSN administration tool creates an unusable DSN. Use the odbcad32.exe file located in C:\Windows\SysWOW64\ to instead. For information about using this file, see the Microsoft support web site. 2. Click Add. The Create New Data Source dialog opens, displaying a list of available ODBC drivers. 3. From the list, select SQL Server. 4. Click Finish. The Create New Data Source to SQL Server dialog opens. 5. In the Name field, enter a name for the data source. 6. In the Description field, enter a description for the data source (such as "InfoMaker ODBC data source"). 7. In the Server field, enter the name of the SQL Server that contains your database. 8. Click Next. 9. Select the authentication options you want to use. The options must be valid for your server and database; if in doubt, use the same login information you use to log into Prophet Click Next. 11. Change the default database to the database you want to connect to (e.g., Prophet21Play). 12. Click Finish. A summary of your data source setup opens

42 Connect to a Data Source 13. Click Test Data Source to test your data source. If the test fails, you must address the problem before you can connect (data source troubleshooting is beyond the scope of this document). Otherwise, click OK to exit the test. 14. Click OK, then close the ODBC Data Source Administrator. 15. Open InfoMaker. 16. Open the Database Profile window (Tools > Database Profile). 17. Select the ODB ODBC node and click New. 18. In the Profile Name field, give your profile a name. This name appears in the Database Profile in InfoMaker. 19. In the Data Source field, select the ODBC data source for your database. 20. Click OK. 21. Expand the ODB ODBC node and select the profile you just created. 22. Click Connect. The Database Profile dialog closes and returns you to InfoMaker. InfoMaker is now connected to the database. Best Practice: Production Versus Play Data Sources In InfoMaker, you can create multiple profiles to connect to several data sources. You can use this capability to create a connection to both your production database and your play database. Epicor recommends connecting InfoMaker to your play database for developing portal elements, and connecting it to your production database for a quick test of your portal element before you install it in production. This ensures that you do not create a query that adversely impacts the performance of your production system. You can set up multiple database connection profiles in Info- Maker to make it easy to switch between databases (Tools > Database Profile > New). In some cases, however, going through this process may be more trouble than it is worth; in such cases, you should use your judgment as to if it is appropriate to use your production system for developing a portal element

43 Create Portal Libraries Create Portal Libraries A library contains portal elements (also known as DataWindows). You must create at least one library in InfoMaker in order to store the portal elements you create. When you install a portal element, you must select the library which contains it. Use the following instructions to create a library: 1. Open InfoMaker (Start > Sybase > InfoMaker 11.5 > InfoMaker 11.5). 2. Select File > New. 3. Click Library. 4. Click OK. 5. Name the library. Tip! By default, the library will be created in the My Documents \ Sybase \ InfoMaker 11.5 \ Tutorial folder. To choose a different location, click the... button to the right of the Library field. 6. Click Finish. The new library dialog closes, and your new library opens in InfoMaker. You may also want to open the predesigned portal elements library. See Opening the Predesigned Portal Elements on page 92 for more information. Best Practice: Libraries Suggested Libraries In theory, you could create a single library, add it to your Crystal Reports default folder, and build, install, and manage all of your portal elements from there. However, that may not be the best option, especially if you want to share portal elements with other users or distributors. Instead of creating one library, you could create several libraries: elementsinprogress scratchpad elementscomplete elementsshare The exact names are not important; the idea is to create a system by which you can ensure that you do not add portal elements to your play or production systems before the elements are ready, and to make it easier to share individual portal elements

44 Create Portal Libraries Use the scratchpad library for experimentation and playing with new ideas. Use the elementsinprogress library for portal elements that you are developing that you plan to include in your portals. Use elementscomplete for elements that you are ready to install in your production environment. Use elementsshare to store portal elements you want to share, so you can package them up and send them to another user. Put scratchpad in your My Documents folder, elementsinprogress in the Crystal Reports default folder for your play Prophet 21 system, and put elementscomplete in the Crystal Reports default folder for your Prophet 21 production system. When you are ready to start testing a portal element, copy / paste it from the scratchpad library to the elementsinprogress library. When you are ready to install the library in production, copy / paste it from the elementsinprogress library to elementscomplete library. See Moving Portal Elements Between Libraries on page 101 for more information on copy / pasting portal elements between libraries. When you want to share a particular portal element with someone else, copy / paste it from whichever library it is in to the elementsshare library so you do not have to share all of the elements in another library to share one portal element. See Sharing Portal Elements on page 98 for more information on sharing libraries. Tip! You can use the Library painter to easily manage a library. Select Tools > Library Painter to open it. Then right-click in the Library List and select Set Root. Select Library, browse to your library, and click OK. You will see your library whenever you open the Library painter. You can change the root any time using this method

45 Create Portal Libraries 3 Creating Portal Elements You can create a wide variety of portal elements which can significantly improve workflows and efficiency in your business. For example, you could create a portal element that displays all of the open tasks for a salesrep, and you can enter the salesrep's ID when you open the portal. You could then use that portal to handle a salesrep's tasks if the salesrep is out sick. Alternatively, you could create a portal element that lists all cash collection calls with a callback date of today. Or you could create a portal element that displays recently shipped orders which contains a button that will display the shipment's tracking information. The following sections detail many aspects of creating portal elements for Prophet 21. Note: You can find the majority of information about creating portal elements in the Info- Maker Compiled HTML Help (Start > Programs > Sybase > InfoMaker > Compiled HTML Help File). The following sections specifically detail aspects of creating portals that are either unique to Prophet 21, or are critical to creating a portal element. You should also use the Epicor-provided pre-built portal elements as examples of how to use various techniques when creating portals. See Examples: Predesigned Portal Elements on page 90 for more information. What Is a Portal Element? 46 Support for Portal Elements 47 Creating a New Portal Element 48 Connecting to the Prophet 21 Database 48 Creating Portal Elements: a Tutorial 49 Creating a Web Site as a Portal Element 69 Adding Totals Information 71 Drillable Fields 72 Tokens

46 What Is a Portal Element? Prompting Users to Enter Values 80 Opening Other Applications from a Portal Element 82 Code Groups 85 Finding Codes for a Field 85 Using Code Group Fields in Queries 86 Displaying Code Descriptions Instead of Codes 86 Fitting In: Tips for Prophet 21 Style 89 Examples: Predesigned Portal Elements 90 Quick Steps 92 What Is a Portal Element? A portal element is a mini-application, report, or web page that you insert into one of the portal areas in Portal Maintenance in Prophet 21. Most portal elements are created using InfoMaker

47 Support for Portal Elements Support for Portal Elements DynaChange Portals requires a level of technical acumen in that it requires a knowledge of SQL, query creation, and the Prophet 21 database structure. Support for this product covers any issues with the application itself not including query design. Questions related to the actual design of portals in InfoMaker should be directed to Professional Services Sales as they will require an engagement with an application consultant

48 Creating a New Portal Element Creating a New Portal Element You can create new portal elements using InfoMaker (except if you want to create a portal element that contains a web site -- see Creating a Web Site as a Portal Element on page 69 for more information). Before you try to create portal elements, you should read Creating Portal Elements: a Tutorial on next page. This section steps you through the process of creating a very simple portal element. More detailed information on creating a new portal element is detailed in the InfoMaker Compiled HTML Help (Start > Programs > Sybase > InfoMaker > Compiled HTML Help File), under Chapter 5 Defining Reports. Epicor currently supports the following presentation styles: Freeform - Creates a form area similar to what you might find in a Form View tab in Prophet 21: it is a form on which you can place fields in arbitrary layouts. Graph - Creates simple charts and graphs for data visualization. If you want more complex charts and graphs, or more control over your charts and graphs, you are better off using a separate graphing tool (such as fusion charts). Grid - Creates a grid of fields, where each column is a field and each row is a record, similar to what you might find in a Prophet 21 inquiry window. Tabular - Creates a grid of fields similar to the Grid option, but you can move the fields anywhere you want, similiar to the Freeform option. TreeView - Creates a set of fields that can "roll up" using + and - symbols, similar to the folder "tree" in Windows Explorer, or the Prophet 21 System Settings window. While the Compiled HTML Help File and the InfoMaker Walkthrough can help you with how to create a basic window, there are several shortcuts and features built into the integration that can help you through some situations common to many portal elements. These are documented over the other sections of this chapter. Important! While InfoMaker enables you to update, create, and modify columns in your database, Epicor does not support this functionality. Connecting to the Prophet 21 Database Before you can create portal elements using your database fields and data, you must connect to your Prophet 21 database. You can connect using ODBC or SQL Native Client. See Connect to a

49 Creating a New Portal Element Data Source on page 41 for more information. Note: Epicor recommends connecting to your play database, rather than production, because you may, in the course of experimenting or creating new portal elements, inadvertently create a query that significantly affects system performance. Creating Portal Elements: a Tutorial Note: This tutorial assumes you have already connected to a data source (as described above) and selected a library in InfoMaker. See Create Portal Libraries on page 43 for more information. For the purpose of this tutorial, assume you want to keep tabs on order profitability, so you want to create a list of all unapproved orders with their profitability, so you can check on any abnormal orders. You can do this by creating a portal element of unapproved orders with profitability. Note that this is not a very realistic portal (you would certainly want more filters in place), but it is appropriate to show the simple parts of creating a portal element

50 Creating a New Portal Element Start a New Element Before you can do anything else, you need to create the "shell" for your new portal element. First, in InfoMaker, you need to create a new element. Go to File > New. Note: Do not save your portal element before you click Return (which you do at the start of Design the Visual Elements and Add Features on page 57). If you want to save before that point, click the Return button first. Otherwise, you will save your element as a query instead of a portal element

51 Creating a New Portal Element Create the Query After you have the type of element you are creating, you need to determine how to get the data, and which data to get. To do that, you build a query

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57 Creating a New Portal Element Design the Visual Elements and Add Features After you complete the query, you can define the visual aspects of the element as it will appear in Prophet 21, such as fonts, layout, colors, etc. You can also add features to the element, such as buttons, calculated fields, etc

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67 Creating a New Portal Element Save the Portal Element Now that we have made our basic portal element, we must save it to the library so that we can install the element in Prophet 21. Note: Do not save your portal element before you click Return (which you do at the start of Design the Visual Elements and Add Features on page 57). If you want to save before that point, click the Return button first. Otherwise, you will save your element as a query instead of a portal element

68 Creating a New Portal Element You have now created your first portal element! Here's what it will look like after you install it in Prophet 21:

69 Creating a New Portal Element See Installing Portal Elements in Prophet 21 on page 95 for more information on how to install your portal elements. Creating a Web Site as a Portal Element You can create a portal element that is simply a web site. For example, you may want to add the Epicor Customer Web Site as a portal, or you may want to add the FedEx tracking web site. Use the Portal Maintenance window (Setup > System Setup > System > Portal Maintenance) to create a web site portal element. To create a web site portal element, right-click in the Portal Layout tab in Portal Maintenance and select Install Portal Element. Select any library (.pbl file); the library is irrelevant. On the Install Portal Elements dialog, ensure that all the Install checkboxes are deselected (you can use the right mouse

70 Creating a New Portal Element button menu to do this), then right-click and select Add. A new line appears on the dialog. Enter the web site's URL (its web address) in the URL for a Browser Element field. Make sure that you use the fully-qualified URL (i.e., make sure that you include the or the at the start of the URL). Then give the portal element a display name, and click OK. It will appear in the list of portal elements and you can add it to a portal like any other element

71 Adding Totals Information Adding Totals Information You can add totals information to your portal elements using InfoMaker. For example, if you have a portal element that includes extended price for order lines, you may want to include totals information for all the extended prices. To add totals information, select the field you want to total in InfoMaker and click Insert > Control > Sum. InfoMaker creates a calculated field that calculates the sum of the column's values and adds it to the Summary band of the designer. It is important that the total field is in the Summary band, because then it will appear at the end of the report, rather than being repeated with each record as it would be in the Detail band

72 Drillable Fields Drillable Fields In some cases, it may be useful to be able to drill into a record or transaction from a portal element. For example, you have a portal element that displays all the past due open production orders for which you are the scheduler. You can make the production order number "drillable" so that when you click it, the system opens the production order in Production Order Entry. Most fields which you can make drillable are drillable by default. You can add drillable fields in InfoMaker. To make a field drillable, first make sure you are in the visual design interface (not the data interface); to get to the visual design interface if you are not already there, click the Return button. Making a field drillable depends on using a specific value in the Name field of the Properties pane in InfoMaker. The valid values for each drillable field is listed in the table below. There are two values for each field, and you can use either one. The following table lists the currently available drillable fields

73 Drillable Fields Note: For most of the fields below, you do not have to change the value in the Name field; one of the two values will be present by default. Field: Invoice Number Order Number Description: Opens the invoice number in Invoice Entry. Values to enter in Name field: invoice_no, invoice_hdr_invoice_ no Opens the order in Order Entry, RMA Entry, Consignment Replenishment Order Entry, Manufacturer Rep Order Entry, or Service Order Entry (depending on which type of order it is). Values to enter in Name field: order_no, oe_hdr_order_no Note: For RMAs, you can open RMAs in RMA Entry, as long as the oe_hdr.rma_flag is in the SELECT statement for the portal element. For all other order types, ensure that the order_type field is in the SELECT statement for the portal element. Purchase Order Number Opens the PO in Purchase Order Entry. Values to enter in Name field: po_no, po_hdr_po_no Note: To open Requisition POs in Requisition Purchase Order Entry, ensure that po_hdr.po_type is in the SELECT statement for the portal element, and that it is named po_type or po_hdr_po_type in the Name field of the General tab. Production Order Number Transfer Number Return Number Opens the production order in Production Order Entry. Values to enter in Name field: prod_order_number, prod_order_ hdr_prod_order_number Opens the transfer in Transfer Entry. Values to enter in Name field: transfer_no, transfer_hdr_transfer_no Opens the inventory return in Inventory Return Entry. Values to enter in Name field: return_number, inventory_return_ hdr_return_number

74 Drillable Fields Field: Opportunity ID Secondary Process Transaction Number Item ID Contact ID Customer ID Description: Opens the opportunity in Opportunity Maintenance. Values to enter in Name field: opportunity_id, opportunity_opportunity_id Opens the secondary process transaction in Process Transactions. Values to enter in Name field: process_x_transaction_uid, process_x_transaction_process_x_transaction_uid Opens the item in Item Maintenance. Values to enter in Name field: item_id, inv_mast_item_id Opens the contact in Contact Maintenance or opens Contact Inquiry depending on the application security setting for the user in User Maintenance. Values to enter in Name field: contact_id, contacts_id Opens the customer in Customer Maintenance. Tip! If you want the field to still open Customer Master Inquiry when you press F8, make sure you use customer_ id as the value. Values to enter in Name field: customer_id, customer_customer_id Opens the customer in Validate Open Orders. Values to enter in Name field: validate_customer_id Supplier ID Portal Name Activity Subject Pick Ticket Number Opens the supplier in Supplier Maintenance. Values to enter in Name field: supplier_id, supplier_supplier_id Opens the portal in Portal Maintenance. Values to enter in Name field: portal_name, portal_portal_name Opens the task in Task Maintenance. Values to enter in Name field: subject, activity_trans_subject Opens the pick ticket in Shipping. Values to enter in Name field: pick_ticket_no, oe_pick_ticket_ pick_ticket_no

75 Tokens Tokens In some cases, you may want to use a "stand-in" for dynamic information, such as a username or default location. Tokens are the "stand-in" you can use for various types of information. For example, you want to create a portal that displays all the open sales quotes set to expire this week where the currently logged-in user is the order taker. You can use the <user_id> token in your WHERE oe_ hdr.order_taker = '<user_id>' clause (or on the Where tab in the Data Source view) in Info- Maker, and any user using that portal will see only the expiring open quotes they have entered. Note: Tokens are always surrounded by less than (<) and greater than (>) symbols. You must always enclose them in single quotation marks (like '<user_id>'). Epicor Pre-Built Portal Element Examples: act_booking_ytd_top_10, act_customer_anniversary, act_financial_actual_vs_budget, act_forecast_deviation_report, act_purchase_order_late, act_transfer_list_with_valuation Here is an example of using tokens in a SQL statement:

76 Tokens Here is an example of using tokens in the graphical query builder:

77 Tokens Note: Tokens for columns that contain a data type other than string present an error message in InfoMaker when you manipulate data. This is because the token is a string, and the database is expecting a different data type. The correct data type will be used at runtime. The error can be safely ignored. The following table lists all of the currently available tokens. Token: <user_id> <default_company_id> <default_branch_id> <default_location_id> <crm_salesrep_id> Is replaced with: The user ID for the user who is currently logged in. The company ID for the current user's default company. The branch ID for the current user's default branch. The location ID for the current user's default location. The salesrep ID associated with the current user in CRM Security Maintenance

78 Tokens Token: <oe_salesrep_id> <buyer_id> <current_fiscal_period> <current_fiscal_year> <current_demand_ period> <current_demand_year> Is replaced with: The salesrep ID associated with the current user in Order Entry and Commissions. The buyer ID associated with the current user. The number of the current fiscal period when the portal element is run in the system. This token also supports a special offset value, which enables you to create comparisons with previous periods without hard-coding values. For example, you may want to see account balances for the trailing 3 periods. You can use an offset value of -3 to ensure you always see the trailing 3 periods. To use the offset value, use the following syntax: <current_fiscal_period offset-x> (where X is the number of periods prior to the current period to display; also, note the space between "current_fiscal_period" and "offset-x"). You can also use <current_fiscal_period offsetx> to see data X periods into the future. The current fiscal year when the portal element is run in the system. The current demand period when the portal element is run in the system. This token also supports a special offset value, which enables you to create comparisons with previous periods. For example, you may want to see any large deviations from forecast usage over the trailing 3 periods. You can use an offset value of -3 to ensure you always see the trailing 3 periods. To use the offset value, use the following syntax: <current_demand_period offset-x> (where X is the number of periods prior to the current period to display; also, note the space between "current_demand_period" and "offset-x"). You can also use <current_demand_period offsetx> to see data X periods into the future. The current demand year when the portal element is run in the system

79 Tokens Token: <days_from_today> <database> <server> <version> Is replaced with: The current date when the portal element is run in the system. This token also supports an offset value, which enables you to create comparisons and trending. For example, you may want to see the profit on all orders created over the last 7 days. You can use an offset value of -7 to ensure that you always see the trailing 7 days of orders. To use the offset value, use the following syntax: <days_ from_today offset-x> (where X is the number of days prior to the current date; also, note the space between "days_from_ today" and "offset-x"). You can also use <days_from_today offsetx> to see data X days into the future. The currently connected database. The currently connected server. The Prophet 21 version

80 Prompting Users to Enter Values Prompting Users to Enter Values In some cases, you may create a portal that requires the user to specify a particular field value so the portal element will use that value. You can use retrieval arguments to prompt your users for a value. For example, you may want to create a portal element for a substitute salesrep if one of your salesreps is out sick. This portal element lists all the sick salesrep's tasks, so the substitute can take over. However, rather than hard-coding the salesrep name and having to create a portal for every salesrep, you can create one report and use retrieval arguments to prompt the user for the salesrep ID. Epicor Pre-Built Portal Element Examples: act_tasks_to_substitute Use the Specify Retrieval Arguments dialog in InfoMaker (Design menu > Retrieval Arguments) to create a retrieval argument. Note that, to access the Design menu, you must be in the Select window (the view where you select your tables and columns), and not the Report window (the view where you format your data). To reach the Select window, click the Data Source button (or go to Design > Data Source). To create a retrieval argument, enter the name for the argument in the Name field. Make sure you select the correct data type in the Type field for the data the user will enter (it should match the data type of the column you will use). You can create multiple arguments using the Add or Insert buttons. Then, you can specify an argument either in SQL code or in the graphical query builder. To add an argument in graphical mode, go to the Where tab and, in the Column field, select the database column to use for the argument and your operator. Then right-click the Value field and select Arguments. You will see the following dialog:

81 Prompting Users to Enter Values Select the argument you want to use, and click Paste. When you run the portal element, it will prompt you for the value. InfoMaker automatically adds the colon. To specify an argument in the WHERE clause of your SQL code, prefix the name of the argument with a colon (such as :po_no_arg). When the user runs the portal element, the following screen appears

82 Opening Other Applications from a Portal Element Opening Other Applications from a Portal Element In some cases, you may want to be able to open a web site or a document from a portal element. You can use button operands to open a document or application outside of the system. For example, you may want to open a UPS tracking web page from a list of recently shipped orders. You can create a button and use button operands to open the web page. Epicor Pre-Built Portal Element Examples: act_salesrep_list There are two types of button operand: OPEN and RUN. OPEN - Uses the default program defined by Windows to open the file type or URL specified. For example, if you use a web site URL, it will open the URL in the default browser. If you use a text file, it will open in the default text editor. RUN - Mimics using the Run command in Windows (Start > Run) to run the specified string. For example, if you want to use a specific program to open a file (useful if the program you want to use is not the default). You could open an.htm file in Notepad instead of your web browser. Use the Tag field on the General tab of the Properties dialog in InfoMaker to create button operands. First, you need to insert a button. To do so, click the band inside the Design dialog where you want the button to appear (a band is the screen area for your fields -- for example, header, detail, etc.). Then, go to Insert > Control > Button, and the button appears at the end of the row in the band (it may appear below the line of the band, depending on how your bands are set up; if so, drag the band so that you can see the button. To set up your operand, click the button to select it. In the Tag field of the Properties dialog, enter either OPEN or RUN (depending on which operand you want to use), add a space, and then add whatever text you want to either open or run (e.g., a URL, file path, run command, etc.). Edit the button's position, appearance, etc. as desired

83 Opening Other Applications from a Portal Element You can also use fields from your query inside a button operand. To do so, you must use the name of the field as it appears in the Column Specification dialog enclosed in < >. If you change the name of your column on the left side of the screen, you must make sure to update the field in your button operands

84 Opening Other Applications from a Portal Element For example, you might want to create a button for a list of pick tickets that opens the UPS tracking web site with the tracking number from the system. To do so, first make sure that the tracking number field is a part of the query. Then create a button operand as normal, and enter the web address. In the part of the web address where you have to enter the tracking number, enter the text <tracking_no>. When you click the button, the system will replace that text with the value of the tracking_no column for the row of data

85 Code Groups Code Groups For some fields in Prophet 21, the field stores not a text value, but a code that represents a text value. So when you add the code group field to your query, you will not see the text you expect, but rather, a code. For example, if you add a row_status_flag field to your query, you will likely see codes like 700 or 704 instead of text values like Delete or Active. Other examples of code group fields are things like order types, statuses, and many drop-down fields. Epicor Pre-Built Portal Element Examples: act_opportunity_by_stage Code group fields present several challenges: Figuring out which codes go with which fields (see Finding Codes for a Field below for more information) Using code group fields in a query (see Using Code Group Fields in Queries on next page for more information) Displaying code group fields in a portal element (see Displaying Code Descriptions Instead of Codes on next page for more information) Finding Codes for a Field Note: Not every field that uses codes is a code group field that uses the code_group_p21 table. Many user-defined records (such as carriers, classes, etc.) may use codes without the code group tables (they use their own tables, and you will have to review the database to understand how to use each one). Code groups are typically used for values that are not user-defined, such as status fields, order types, etc. The simplest way to find the codes that apply to a particular field is to use the SQL Server Management Studio to run a couple of queries against your database. First, you must return a list of the code groups. Use the following SQL query: SELECT * FROM code_group_p21 This query shows a list of code group numbers and descriptions. You should review the list of group descriptions until you find the one you want. Then, copy the value of the code_group_no column for that group, and run the following query (replacing "<copied_value>" with the value you copied): SELECT code_p21.code_no,code_p21.code_description FROM code_x_code_group_p21 INNER JOIN code_group_p21 ON code_group_p21.code_group_no = code_x_code_group_p21.code_group_no INNER JOIN code_p

86 Code Groups ON code_p21.code_no = code_x_code_group_p21.code_no WHERE code_group_p21.code_group_no = <copied_value> This query lists the valid codes and their descriptions for the code group. Using Code Group Fields in Queries There are two different approaches you can use to creating queries that contain code group fields. First, you can hard-code the code value into your SQL query, like so: SELECT opportunity.* FROM opportunity WHERE opportunity.row_status_flag <> 700 This query returns all opportunities with a status other than Delete (code value 700 is Delete). Hardcoding the value is useful only if you know the value. Alternatively, you can join the code_p21 table and use the value description, like so: SELECT opportunity.* FROM opportunity INNER JOIN code_p21 ON code_p21.code_no = opportunity.row_status_flag WHERE code_p21.code_description <> 'Delete' This query returns the same results as the query above, except that you are able to use the description in your query instead of the code. This can be useful because it makes your SQL more readable later. Displaying Code Descriptions Instead of Codes Best Practice: Code / Description Fields There are two ways to display descriptions instead of code values: Use the joins above (or similar joins for non-code group value / description fields) in a query to display the code description in your selected results (described above) Change the properties of the field to DropDownListBox style type that enables you to create a code table that associates codes with a description you specify (described below)

87 Code Groups Which method you use depends on your needs. If you want a simple, quick description rather than a value, especially if you are not going to use the value over and over again in other queries, it may be simplest to use the DropDownListBox style type. The drawbacks are that you will have to redo the same procedure every time you need a description for the field, and if the code values change, the field will once again display codes instead of descriptions. To display code descriptions using the DropDownListBox method, first use the method described in Finding Codes for a Field on page 85 to find the code group you want, and then use the second SQL statement to find the list of code-description matches. Next, open or create the portal element in which you want to use the code description. In the design view, select the code value field, then go to the Properties dialog and click the Edit tab. Change the Style Type to DropDownListBox. Scroll down to the Code Table fields. In the Display Value column, enter the descriptions you want to use. In the Data Value column, enter the corresponding code values

88 Code Groups The code value field will now display descriptions. Save the portal element

89 Fitting In: Tips for Prophet 21 Style Fitting In: Tips for Prophet 21 Style After you have created the queries and code for your portal element, you may want to polish the styling to better fit into Prophet 21's look and feel. This section contains tips for doing that. Ignore the Freeform and Grid Report Generator Dialogs The Report Generator dialogs in InfoMaker for Freeform and Grid portal elements ask if you want to change things like background colors, borders, etc. These settings are all overridden by Prophet 21's themes, so changing them in InfoMaker will not change the appearance of your portal element. Text Styles To match Prophet 21 text styles, you should make your text use the Microsoft Sans Serif font. The size should be 8pt. To change all the text in your portal element: Select a field in the Design dialog. Select Edit > Select > Select All. Change the font to Microsoft Sans Serif and the size to 8. Save the portal element

90 Examples: Predesigned Portal Elements Examples: Predesigned Portal Elements While you may be able to use the Epicor predesigned portal elements out of the box (or with slight modifications), the real value the predesigned portal elements offer is to demonstrate many techniques you can use to build your own portal elements. For example, if you want to understand better how to use tokens, you can look at the predesigned portal elements that use tokens to see how they are used. This section briefly describes each predesigned portal element, and lists the techniques used so you can refer to them as examples. Portal Element Description Techniques act_bom_list Bill of materials / assembly list. Simple treeview act_booking_ytd_top_10 act_contact_list act_customer_anniversary act_financial_actual_vs_ budget act_forecast_deviation_ report act_opportunities_ close_in_60_days act_opportunity_by_ stage act_orders_unapproved Top 10 customers in year-to-date bookings. Simple contact list. Constructed graphically. Shows cleaner, larger font size. Clicking on address will compose a new . List of customers with anniversaries this month. Actual versus budget view of revenue and expenses for prior period / year. Shows items with +/- 20% deviation from forecast. List of opportunities anticipated to close in the next 60 days. Lists opportunities by stage. List of unapproved orders by sales location. Top X SQL, embedded tokens Simple SQL query Embedded tokens, date manipulation Embedded tokens, period offsets Embedded tokens, period offsets Totaling, salesrep security, date manipulation, two-line text headers Code groups (two ways; one join, one code field + drop-down listbox) Report format, derived table

91 Examples: Predesigned Portal Elements Portal Element Description Techniques act_pick_ticket_list List of open pick tickets. Button controls, OPEN command, tag value in URL in button control act_purchase_order_late act_salesrep_list act_salesrep_of_the_ month act_supplier_scorecard act_tasks_to_substitute act_transfer_list_with_ valuation Shows purchase orders at the user's location that are overdue. Shows a list of salesreps. Requires testvcard.bat file. Shows salesrep of the month. Requires frank_heenan.jpg file. Displays key vendor metrics as defined on Note: Data in this element does not tie out to the ontime delivery reports; it uses a formula from supplychainmetric.com. Prompts for a user id and displays tasks for that user. List of open transfers at the branch of the logged in user with current inventory valuation (MAC) for insurance purposes. Simple joins, embedded tokens RUN command Form view, picture control Using stored procedures to source data Prompt to enter value, graphical join of two tables Embedded tokens, derived table

92 Quick Steps Quick Steps This section contains very quick, to-the-point instructions, handy if you just need a quick reminder of how to do something, or need to get started immediately. Opening the Predesigned Portal Elements Start here: InfoMaker File > Select Library. Browse until you find customportal_deployment.pbl (by default, installed to C:\Program Files\Activant\Prophet 21 Portal Designer\). (This path could also be C:\Program Files\Epicor\Prophet 21 Portal Designer\) Tools > Library Painter. Right-click the left pane and select Set Root. Select Library List. Choose the predesigned portal elements from the list. Creating a New Portal Element Start here: InfoMaker Open the library to which you want to add the element. File > New to create the new element. Choose the object type (Freeform, Grid, TreeView). Choose the data source. Select your tables. Select your columns and perform any manipulations / SQL. Click Return, then polish the result. Creating a Web Site Portal Element Start here: Portal Maintenance Right-click and select Install Portal Element. Select any library and open it. Right-click and add a record. Enter the URL for the web site. Click OK. Adding Totals Information Start here: InfoMaker Designer panel

93 Quick Steps Select the column you want to total. Insert > Control > Sum. Save the portal element. Creating a Drillable Field Start here: InfoMakerProperties panel General tab Enter the correct drillable name in the Name field. Save the portal element. Using a Token Start here: InfoMaker Open or create a portal element. Insert a valid token in a SQL query, or in the graphical designer. Save the portal element. Prompting a User to Enter a Value Start here: InfoMaker Open or create a portal element. Open the Specify Retrieval Arguments dialog (Design > Retrieval Arguments). Name any arguments you want to add and specify the correct type for the data. Set up the Where tab with the proper column, then right-click the Value field. Select Arguments and choose the desired argument. Save the portal element. Opening Other Applications / Documents from a Portal Element Start here: InfoMakerProperties panel General tab In the Tag field, enter either RUN (to use a pseudo-run command) or OPEN (to open a file using the default Windows program). To the right of OPEN or RUN, enter the path to the file, or the syntax for the RUN command. Save the portal element

94 Quick Steps 4 Managing Portal Elements You can add portal elements to your system, remove them, move them from one library to another, and share them with other users and distributors. This chapter describes how to manage the portal elements you create. Installing Portal Elements in Prophet Sharing Portal Elements 98 Sharing Portal Elements Using InfoMaker 100 Moving Portal Elements Between Libraries 101 Changing the Path of Installed Portal Elements 103 Adding Portals to a New Tab 104 Create the Tab 104 Specify Portal 104 Name Tab 105 Map Fields 106 Adding Web Pages to User-Defined Tabs 108 Uninstalling Portal Elements 111 Quick Steps 112 Index

95 Installing Portal Elements in Prophet 21 Installing Portal Elements in Prophet 21 Before you can add a portal element to one of your portals, you must install the portal element in Prophet 21. You can install portal elements using the Portal Maintenance window (Setup > System Setup > System > Portal Maintenance). Installing a portal element makes it available in the list of portal elements in the Portal Maintenance window. You can install portal elements from a library (a.pbl file). To install a portal element, right-click in the Portal Layout tab and select Install Portal Element. Browse to the library that contains the portal element you want to install and open it. The library opens in the Install Portal Elements dialog, displaying all of the portal elements in the library that you have not yet installed

96 Installing Portal Elements in Prophet 21 Name any portal elements you want to install, and ensure that the Install checkbox is enabled for those elements, then click OK to install the elements. They will now appear in the list of portal elements in the left box in Portal Maintenance (the field labeled 1 below) and you can drag-n-drop them onto a portal pane (the field labeled 3 below)

97 Installing Portal Elements in Prophet 21 If you want to add more portal elements than you have spaces available, select a new layout from the Layout drop-down field (the field labeled 2 above). Note: Portal elements that have a wrench icon in field 1 have been created as a part of the DynaChange Portals feature. Portal elements that use the Epicor logo are baseline elements included with Prophet

98 Sharing Portal Elements Sharing Portal Elements You can share portal elements with another user or another distributor. Sharing enables a community of users to leverage each others' expertise and effort to build a wide variety of useful portal elements relatively quickly. Note: While you can share portal element libraries with anyone, only distributors with a DynaChange Portal license can take advantage of them. To share portal elements, you must share a library that another user can install. You can share libraries directly from Portal Maintenance, or you can create a library in InfoMaker and share it manually. Tip! If you want to share only a single portal element, or only one or two, you may want to move them to a separate library so that you do not include any unrelated portal elements you may happen to have stored in the same library. See Moving Portal Elements Between Libraries on page 101 for more information. To share a library, right-click in the Portal Layout tab and select Share Portal Element. Click... to browse for the library that contains the element you want to share (libraries are.pbl files)

99 Sharing Portal Elements Open the desired library. Click Library to open an message with the.pbl file attached. Send the to the desired recipient, and that person can then use your portal element in their own system

100 Sharing Portal Elements Note: This functionality only works if you use Microsoft Outlook as your client. If you use a different client, or you use Prophet 21 from a terminal server without an available client, you must use InfoMaker to share libraries. Sharing Portal Elements Using InfoMaker To share portal elements using InfoMaker, create a new library in InfoMaker. Then open the library that contains the portal elements you want to share and, using the right mouse button, copy the desired elements to the library you just created (if your elements exist in multiple libraries, repeat this process for each library). See Moving Portal Elements Between Libraries on next page for more information on copying elements to a new library. Then zip the library and distribute it as you desire (using , FTP, network folders, etc.)

101 Moving Portal Elements Between Libraries Moving Portal Elements Between Libraries In some cases, you may want to copy a portal element from one library to another, or move it from one to another. You can copy or move portal elements from one library to another using the Library painter. For example, if you want to copy a portal element from your production library to a library for sharing with another distributor, you can copy it using the Library painter. To copy or move a library, open InfoMaker and open the Library painter (Tools > Library Painter). Right-click in the Library List and set the root to the source library (the library that contains the portal element you want to copy). Right click the element (or elements) you want to copy or move, and select Copy (if you want to copy the element, which leaves the element in this library and adds it to the destination library) or Move (if

102 Moving Portal Elements Between Libraries you want to move the element, which removes it from the current library and adds it to the destination library). Browse to the destination library (where you want the element to be copied or moved to) and open it. The element will be copied or moved, as you selected

103 Changing the Path of Installed Portal Elements Changing the Path of Installed Portal Elements In some cases, you may have to change the location of your portal elements. Since portal elements must be attached to a library, and the location of the library may have to change, you must be able to change the path to the library. For example, you might have a new server you use for your Crystal Reports default folder, so you want to move your portal elements' libraries to the new server, and then change the path in Prophet 21 to reflect the new location. To change a portal element's path, use Portal Maintenance. Right-click in the Portal Layout tab and select Reconfigure Portal Elements. In the Portal Element Configuration dialog, change the library path for one of the portal elements that requires a path change (you can double-click the Library File field to browse for the library). When you change the path and tab off the Library File field, the system will ask if you want to replace all the other paths that are the same as the path you just changed with the path you just defined. That way, if you have moved an entire library, you can easily change the paths for all of the portals that use that library

104 Adding Portals to a New Tab Adding Portals to a New Tab You can add portals to a new tab you create specifically to hold them. This process consists of several distinct steps. Important! You can only create new tabs using this process if you have the proper permissions. To enable a user to create new tabs, set the Allow Creation of User Defined Tabs setting to yes. Find this setting in the Application Security tab in User Maintenance. Create the Tab The first step is to create the new tab which will house your portal. Do this by right clicking anywhere in the tab rows and following the path: DynaChange > Tab Creator. This opens a popup window in which you'll provide all the details of the tab and its contents. Specify Portal The Select Portal tab in the Tab Creator popup provides a list of all portals created in Portal Designer. From this list, you can install, reconfigure, and share them just as you can from Portal Designer; providing those options here means you don't have to switch between windows if you need to perform these functions as part of this process

105 Adding Portals to a New Tab Select which portals you want displayed in the new tab by enabling the Selected checkbox. Name Tab Enter the name of the new tab as it will appear in your system in the Configuration Options tab

106 Adding Portals to a New Tab Also in this tab is the option to add a row focus indicator. If you enable this option, the system will mark the row currently in focus with a small black wedge on the far left of the row. Map Fields The Field Selector tab is where you specify where Prophet 21 draws the information to populate each of the fields in the portal. For example, if you create a tab that includes a customer location ID, this is where you'd map that field to the order record, or the ship to record, whichever was appropriate

107 Adding Portals to a New Tab This tab consists of two areas. One is a tree of fields that appear on the tab, the other is a list of arguments created for the selected portal. Drag and drop each of the arguments into the field it will be used to populate. For any retrieval argument for which there is a global token available, you can, but do not have to map the retrieval argument. If you do not map the argument to a token, the system maps it to the global token instead. For example, in the image above, leaving the user_id unmapped means that the system will display the user ID of the person currently logged into Prophet 21. Notes: New tabs do not automatically appear. You must close the window and reopen it after creating the tab in order to view it. Tab Creator cannot be used to create blank tabs populated with user-defined fields. Use InfoMaker to add these fields to a portal

108 Adding Web Pages to User-Defined Tabs Adding Web Pages to User- Defined Tabs In addition to adding web pages to panes in a portal, you can add them to their own dedicated tabs. This allows you embed SQL Server Reporting Services reports, ICE Dashboards as well as other home-grown and commercial websites. Before adding a website to a tab, you must first create a portal that contains the site s URL. Then, using Dynachange Tab Creator, create the tab as normal and locate that portal in the response window. In addition, you can embed tokens in the site s URL. The system will map these to the appropriate fields

109 Adding Web Pages to User-Defined Tabs Finally, you can edit the URL in the Reconfigure Portal Element window

110 Adding Web Pages to User-Defined Tabs The result is a tab that is wholly dedicated to the selected web page

111 Uninstalling Portal Elements Uninstalling Portal Elements At some point, you may want to remove from Prophet 21 a portal element that you no longer use. For example, if you created a portal element for an executive and that executive left the company, you may want to remove the portal element from the system to reduce clutter in the list of portal elements. You can remove elements using Portal Maintenance. Note: Removing a portal element using this process does not delete the portal element; rather, it simply uninstalls the element from the system. The portal will return to the library, and it will be available to install again. To delete a portal element from a library, you must use InfoMaker and delete the portal element. To remove an installed portal element, right-click in the Portal Layout tab and select Reconfigure Portal Elements. In the Portal Element Configuration dialog, select the Delete checkbox to the right of the element(s) you want to remove. If the portal element exists in any current portals, then the system will prompt if you want to remove it from all existing portals; if you do not agree to remove it, then the portal element cannot be uninstalled. Click OK to confirm the uninstall