Introduction
The desktop is the basic workspace that you see right after logging into Navigator. There are shortcuts, buttons, the most important lists that are specially composed for the needs of a given desktop, and other components. It is a very important place in the system because you start our work from there.
Creating and editing desktop
It is possible to have several desktops containing data, personalized for a specific desktop. For example, the developer’s desktop may contain a list of bugs to be fixed or a list of new modifications to implement. The accountant’s dashboard, on the other hand, will contain documents that need to be posted or consulted. Each person in the system can have a different desktop and have several of them. The available desktops are displayed as tabs on the home page.
To add a new desktop or edit an existing one, go to the Settings -> Personalization -> Desktops module. Depending on what you want to do, either click the Add button to create a new desktop or edit an existing one. You will focus on the first task, because editing is changing the value of previously created desktops.
After clicking the Add button, a form for creating a new menu will appear.
- Parent element– indicates the item under which the created item will be placed. Leave it blank when creating the desktop.
- Type – you can choose Form or Desktop. We choose the second option.
- Group – not applicable (the field disappears after selecting Desktop in the Type field)
- Code – shortcut name of the desktop
- Name – the name under which the desktop will appear as a tab on the home page
- Description – optional field, a short description of what the desktop contains or for whom it is intended
- Default – if selected, if you have several desktops, it will be the main one, which will be displayed immediately after logging in
- Order – the order in which desktops are displayed on the list in the module, but also the tabs on the main page
You can notice that this is very similar to creating a new form. You are right, desktops are the special kind of forms. Both desktops and forms are build in the same way.
When You choose Type Desktop you may notice that some options (Parent element and Group) disapeared. These options are not used in the desktops.
After filling in the fields, click Save. To add items to the desktop, click More -> Add item. You can use Visual editor to create a desktop as well.
An identical looking form will open as at the beginning. The only difference will be in the Type field, where the list to choose from will be:
- Container
- Attribute
- List
- List build-in
- Widget
- Report (dashboard)
- Report (pivot table)
- Table
Each type has been described in a separate article here. You should look at Widgets category which are wildly used in desktops. You can find there: News, Surveys, Favourites, Birthdays, Logged in users. They are pre-made and ready-to-use elements.
As mentioned earlier in this article, creating a desktop is not much different from creating a new form. The desktop structure usually consists of two main containers, each 50% of the width of the entire desktop. In each of them, you can add appropriately smaller containers that contain the elements that you want to place on the desktop. You can learn more about creating forms here.
“Shortcuts” section
A common section on the desktop is the Shortcuts section. It contains buttons that redirect user to a specific place in the system without having to use the main menu. This is a useful functionality for people who work with a lot with documents, because when you click a button, they will be immediately transferred to a specific document.
To create a redirect button, complete the form for adding a new item as follows:
The most important setting is to select Redirect to URL in the On clicking field, and in the Link field, select or enter the URL to which you want to be redirected after clicking the button.
NOTE: The URL that you paste into the Link field is a fragment of the entire address.
Desktop activation and deactivation
Each of the desktops can be turned on or off. To do this, go to Settings -> Personalization -> Desktops. Then select the selected desktop and select Activate or Deactivate under the Other button.
