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Chapter 2. Page authoring

Pages, also known as perspectives, are collections of following components:

  • Core components
  • Navigational components
  • Reporting components

Also, a page can have none or any number of components. The Page Editor tool is used to edit the pages.

A page has either the Fluid style or the Page style. The Fluid style is a classical web page with a vertical scroll bar, when the page exceeds the available height. The Page style is a web page that will always fit to the windows height.

2.1. Creating pages

You can use the Pages perspective to create a page that consists of different types of components. After a page has been created and all the components in it defined, use the Page Editor to save, delete, rename, or copy pages as required.

The following procedure describes how to create a page and add the required components to it:

Procedure

  1. Go to MenuDesignPages.
  2. In the Pages panel, click New. Alternatively, click New Page on the Page Editor pane.
  3. In the New Page dialog box, enter a value in the Name field and select the required style.
  4. Click Ok. The new page opens in the Page Editor.
  5. In the Components pane, expand the components and drag the required component types to the editor canvass.
  6. After placing the components on the page, edit its properties from the Properties pane.
  7. Click Save and then click Save again.

2.2. Saving, deleting, renaming, or copying pages

After you have created and defined a page, use the Page Editor to save, delete, rename, or copy pages as required.

Procedure

  1. Go to MenuDesignPages.
  2. Select a page from the Pages panel. The page opens in the Page Editor.
  3. Perform the desired operation and select Save, Delete, Rename, or Copy from the upper right corner of the Page Editor.

Figure 2.1. Save, delete, rename, or copy pages

Save

2.3. Navigation tree

The Workbench navigation tree contains the entries that are displayed in Business Central’s Main menu. Changes to this navigation tree structure will be reflected in the Main menu on the Home page. Such mechanism can be used, for example, to publish new pages.

Also, additional navigation trees can be created. These custom trees can be used to configure the navigation components within a page. You cannot delete the Workbench tree from the Navigation panel but you can edit the Workbench tree hierarchy to suit your requirements. This feature helps users customize the Main menu of Business Central with new pages.

Note

The Workbench tree, which appears by default in the Navigation panel, is the main Menu of Business Central.

2.3.1. Creating a navigation tree

You can create as many custom navigation trees as required. A custom navigation tree differs from the default Workbench navigation tree in one aspect. The custom navigation trees can be deleted but the default tree can not be removed from Business Central. They can contain the default groups and entries from the Workbench tree as well as user created groups and trees.

Prerequisites

  • Ensure your role has adequate permissions for creating a navigation tree.

Procedure

  1. Log in to Business Central and go to MenuDesignPages.
  2. Select the Navigation panel and then click New.
  3. Enter the name of the new navigation tree and click the check mark icon or, press Enter.
  4. Click Save.

2.3.2. Editing a navigation tree

You can use the Navigation panel from the Pages perspective to edit the custom navigation trees. You can further customize the trees by adding groups, dividers, and page entries, deleting the specific entries of the tree, and reordering, renaming, or deleting them.

Prerequisites

  • Ensure your role has adequate permissions for editing a navigation tree.

2.3.3. Adding groups, dividers, and page entries to a navigation tree

You can add groups, dividers, and page entries to a navigation tree.

Procedure

  1. Go to MenuDesignPages.
  2. Click the Navigation panel and then select the navigation tree you want to add the entries to.
  3. Click the gear icon of the tree and then select New Group, New Divider, or New Page.
  4. Enter the name of the new group or page and click the check mark icon or press Enter.

    Note

    Divider entries do not have a name property.

  5. Click Save.

2.3.4. Reordering a navigation tree

In the Navigation panel you can reorder the navigation trees as well as its entries.

Note

The reordering options of tree entries will differ according to their position in the tree hierarchy.

Reordering navigation trees

Procedure

  1. Go to MenuDesignPages.
  2. Click the Navigation panel and then select the navigation tree you want to reorder.
  3. Click the gear icon of the tree and then move up or down as required.

    Note

    First and last entries of a navigation tree have only two reordering options available.

  4. Click Save.
Reordering the entries of a navigation tree

Procedure

  1. Go to MenuDesignPages.
  2. Click the Navigation panel and then expand the navigation tree.
  3. Click the gear icon of the entry you want to reorder and then move up or down as required.
  4. If desired, click Goto Page to view the selected page.
  5. Click Save.

2.3.5. Renaming a navigation tree

You can rename all navigation trees except the Workbench tree.

Procedure

  1. Go to MenuDesignPages.
  2. Click the Navigation panel and then select the custom navigation tree you want to rename.

    Note

    To rename an entry of a tree, expand the tree and select the entry that you want to rename.

  3. Click the edit icon of the tree or the tree entry.
  4. Enter the new name of the tree and click the check mark icon.

    Note

    You cannot rename divider entries.

  5. Click Save.

2.3.6. Deleting a navigation tree

You can delete any navigation tree except the Workbench tree from the Navigation panel of the Pages perspective.

Procedure

  1. Go to MenuDesignPages.
  2. In the Navigation panel, select the navigation tree that you want to delete, then click the delete icon.
  3. Click Save.

2.3.7. Deleting the entries of a navigation tree

You can delete the entries of a navigation tree.

Procedure

  1. Go to MenuDesignPages.
  2. Click the Navigation panel.
  3. Expand the tree that contains the entries you want delete.
  4. Click the delete icon of the entry.
  5. Click Save.

2.4. Components

A page contains different types of components. You can use the following component types in a page:

  • Core components: Used to specify custom HTML information or display existing pages. There are two types of core components.

Table 2.1. Core component sub-types

Core component sub-typesDescription

HTML

This component opens a HTML editor widget. This can be used to create HTML pages using text, images, tables, links, colors, and so on. You can customize the page as per your requirements.

Page

This component allows you to add previously created pages to a new dashboard. You can use this component to nest custom pages you have already created in your dashboard.

Note

Core components are not mandatory.

  • Navigation components: Used for navigating between pages. There are six types of navigation components.

Table 2.2. Navigation component sub-types

Navigation component sub-typesDescription

Target Div

This component is used by the Tab list, Menu bar, and the Tree navigator components to display their entries and keep track of the last item clicked.

Menu Bar

This component displays the entries of a navigation tree in the form of a menu bar. There is no limit to the number of levels supported by Business Central.

Tile Navigator

This component displays the navigation group in the form of tiles. Groups are displayed as folders but for single entries, its content is displayed instead when selected.

Tree

This component displays the entries in a vertical tree structure format.

Carousel

This component displays or cycles through the selected pages like a carousel or a slide show.

Tab List

This component displays selected menu pages as tabs at the top of the component.

Note

The target div setting is not needed for non-target div components such as Carousel or Tile navigator.

  • Reporting components: Used for displaying data from data sets (see Data sets authoring section) in the form of graphs, tables, maps, and so on. There are ten types of reporting components. The reporting components can be configured using the New Displayer widget, which has the following three tabs:

    • Type: Choose how to display custom data graphically.
    • Data: Choose a data set from the list of custom data sets that you had created from the Data Sets section available in the Settings menu.
    • Display: Edit and customize how the content is displayed by adding titles, changing colors, size, and so on.

2.4.1. Placing components on the page editor to create a page

To create pages, you must drag the components to the Editor canvas of the Pages perspective. After placing all of the required components on the page, click Save.

2.4.2. Using the Preview tab to preview pages

While creating or editing pages, click the Preview tab on the Page Editor to preview a page before saving it.

2.4.3. Component properties

The components used in a page have different properties associated with them. The Properties panel enables you to customize a component by editing the following properties:

  • Panel properties: Used to customize component panel properties such as Width, Height, and Background Color.
  • Margin properties: Used to customize component margin properties such as Top, Bottom, Left, and Right.
  • Padding properties: Used to customize component padding properties such as Top, Bottom, Left, and Right.
Note

HTML components also have additional text properties to customize component Alignment, Decoration, Color, Size, and Weight properties.