May 2014 [Cradle-6.8.3]
User Defined Start Pages
In this new Cradle release it is now possible to design your own Start Pages. Start Pages provide a range of selectable actions, each of which either displays a PDF file, opens a specific page in the Cradle help, opens a particular dialog or runs a query, report or similar.
We believe that user-definable Start Pages could complement the phase hierarchy by providing easy access to the steps that users need to perform to complete the work for a stage in the phase hierarchy. That is:
- The phase hierarchy defines the process and the activities to be performed
- The Start Pages could help to automate the steps to perform each activity
User-definable Start Pages could be particularly relevant for different user groups, where users of each user type would benefit from their own, specific, list of actions in the WorkBench UI.
To define a Start Page select Start Page Details... from the Window pulldown menu:
As you can see the dialog is separated into two sections:
- Panels - panels are arranged within the Start Page in a simple layout. Each panel consists of a title and one or more entries.
- Entries - entries are the fundamental unit of content on a Start Page. Users trigger an entry to perform some action.
Each entry has a type which determines the additional options applicable to the entry.
The types are:
- Label - this is where the entry's description will be displayed as standard text and will trigger no actions. This may be used to provide descriptive text to the user, or to display a fixed image.
- Heading - this is where the entry's description will be displayed as heading text and will trigger no actions. This may be used to separate entries into sections within a panel.
- Action - this is where the entry will trigger a single action. The action may be one that requires a drop-down list.
- Multiple actions - this is where the entry will trigger a series of actions. These do not include actions that require a drop-down list.
Each entry can also contain an image. This can be one of a set of predefined images or a user-defined image. The New Line checkbox determines whether to display the entry at the start of a new line.
Note: An entry's image and description are both optional but at least one of them must be specified.
An action is an operation that can be triggered within WorkBench. A Start Page entry may be associated with zero, one, or more actions, depending on the entry type. Some actions require the user to make a choice from a drop-down list. Actions requiring a drop-down list are only supported for single action entries. Other actions may be associated with a multiple action entry where they can be invoked in sequence. This allows a single entry to open several query tabs, for example.
The supported actions are:
- Open a PDF file - opens the specified PDF file using the command specified in the Display PDF file user preference.
- Open a file - opens the specified file using the standard Windows file association mechanism in the same manner as if the file was opened by Windows Explorer. This action is only supported on Windows.
- Open a URL - opens the specified URL in a web browser using the command specified in the Display HTML file user preference.
- Open a page in the Cradle help - opens the specified page in the Cradle help system. This is the help ID number for the help page to be opened.
- Open Document Loader - opens Document Loader logged in with the same details as the current WorkBench session.
- Open Spellchecker - opens Spellchecker logged in with the same details as the current WorkBench session.
- Show the Export dialog - opens the Export Information dialog.
- Show the Import dialog - opens the Import Information dialog.
- Show the Project Setup dialog - opens the Project Setup dialog.
- Show the Preferences dialog - opens the Preferences dialog.
- Show the Alerts dialog - opens the CRADLE Alerts dialog.
- Show the CMS Register dialog - opens the CMS Register dialog.
- Show the CMS Review dialog - opens the CMS Review dialog.
- Show the Open Baseline dialog - opens the Open Baseline dialog.
- Show the Close Baseline dialog - opens the Close Baseline dialog.
- Show the Navigation Details dialog - opens the Navigation Details dialog.
- Show the Conformance Checker dialog - opens the Conformance Checker dialog.
- Show the Consistency Checker dialog - opens the Consistency Checkerdialog.
- Show the New Item dialog - Opens the New Item dialog.
- Create a new auto-numbered item - creates a new item of the specified type (requirement or system note) that is auto-numbered. The newly created item will have all attributes set automatically.
- Show the Query Details dialog - opens the Query Details dialog.
- Run a specific query - runs the specified query and displays the query in the specified view with the specified style in a new tab.
- Run a query chosen by the user - runs a query chosen by the user and displays in a new tab with a scope of:
- All - all queries
- User's type - only queries for the current user's user type
- User's team - only queries for the user's team
- Project based - only project queries
- Show the Matrix Details dialog - opens the Matrix Details dialog.
- Run a specific matrix - runs the specified matrix and displays the matrix in a new tab.
- Run a matrix chosen by the user - runs a matrix chosen by the user and displays in a new tab with a scope of:
- All - all matrices
- User's type - only matrices for the current user's user type
- User's team - only matrices for the user's team
- Project based - only project matrices
- Show the Graph Details dialog - opens the Graph Details dialog.
- Generate a specific graph - generates the specified graph and displays in a new tab
- Generate a graph chosen by the user - runs a graph chosen by the user and displays in a new tab with a scope of:
- All - all graphs
- User's type - only graphs for the current user's user type
- User's team - only graphs for the user's team
- Project based - only project graphs
- Generate a specific metric- generates the specified metric and displays in a new tab
- Generate a metric chosen by the user - runs a metric chosen by the user and displays in a new tab with a scope of:
- All - all metrics
- User's type - only metrics for the current user's user type
- User's team - only metrics for the user's team
- Project based - only project metrics
- Show the Report Details dialog - opens the Report Details dialog.
- Publish a specific report - publishes the specified report and displays the results in a separate window using the user's command to show RTF, HTML or plain text files.
- Publish a report chosen by the user - publishes a report chosen by the user and displays the results in a separate window using the user's command to show RTF, HTML or plain text files with a scope of:
- All - all reports
- User's type - only reports for the current user's user type
- User's team - only reports for the user's team
- Project based - only project reports
- Open Document Publisher - opens Document Publisher logged in with the same details as the current WorkBench session.
- Publish a specific document - publishes the specified document using Document Publisher and presents the document in a separate window using the user's command to show RTF files.
- Publish a document chosen by the user - publishes a document chosen by the user using Document Publisher and presents the document in a separate window using the user's command to show RTF files with a scope of:
- All - all documents
- User's type - only documents for the current user's user type
- User's team - only documents for the user's team
- Project based - only project documents
- Show the New Plan dialog - opens the New Plan dialog.
- Pull WBS data from a specific plan - pulls WBS data from the specified MS Project plan that has been associated with a selected Cradle plan.
- Pull WBS data from a plan chosen by the user - pulls WBS data from an MS Project plan chosen by the user that has been associated with a selected Cradle plan.
- Push WBS data to a specific plan - pushes WBS data into the specified MS Project plan that has been associated with a selected Cradle plan.
- Push WBS data to a plan chosen by the user - pushes WBS data into an MS Project plan chosen by the user that has been associated with a selected Cradle plan.
- Publish a table for a chosen item type - publishes a table for the item type chosen by the user.
- Show the User Setup dialog - opens the User Setup dialog.
- Create new User Profile (login account) - displays the New User dialog within User Setup.
- Edit a chosen User Profile - displays the User Setup dialog for a user profile chosen by the user.
- Execute a user-defined command - this is where the action can have a number of runtime options that will be shown to the user in a dialog. When the user enters values for these options, the command will be run. If the command has no options, the command is run immediately.
- Split pane left/right - splits the current pane into two, side-by-side. This may be useful as part of a multiple action entry to create a pane before opening other tabs.
- Split pane top/bottom - splits the current pane into two, one above the other. This may be useful as part of a multiple action entry to create a pane before opening other tabs.
- Close everything else - closes all tabs and panes in the WorkBench session apart from the Start Page. This may be useful as part of a multiple action entry to reset the environment before opening other tabs.
To view your Start Page press the Preview button.
The following extensions have been provided for user types:
- Specify whether the Project sidebar's icon and sidebar will (the default), or will not, be displayed for users with the user type
- Specify whether the Query sidebar's icon and sidebar will (the default), or will not, be displayed for users with the user type.
- Optionally specify a Start Page to be shown for users of the user type.
A new user preference has also been added which allows users to optionally control which Start Page is displayed when they login to WorkBench providing the Show Start Page when WorkBench starts preference is selected.
