Designing a Data Entry Element

To start designing a data entry element, click in the list of data entry elements.

Adding a Container

The first thing that you need to do is add a container. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click .
2. Click the type of container that you want to add.

The new container is added to the end of the data entry element.

Resizing a Container

If you ever need to resize a container (for example, to change it from a 100% container to a 50%–50% container), follow these steps:

1. Click and then Resize.
2. Click the new type of container.

The container is updated. Where you’ve reduced the number of columns, any controls in a deleted column are moved to the rightmost column.

Moving a Container

To move a container down, click and then Move down. The container moves below the container that’s immediately beneath it.

To move a container up, click and then Move up. The container moves above the container that’s immediately above it.

Moving a Container to Another Tab

Where you’ve enabled tabbing, , you can move a container to another tab of a data entry element. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click and then Move. The Confirm Move dialog box shows.
2. In the dropdown, select the tab that you want to move the container to.
3. Click Move.

The container moves to the end of the selected tab.

Deleting a Container

To delete a container (including all of its controls), click and then Remove. The Confirm delete dialog box appears.

Click Delete to confirm the deletion.

Adding a Control

To add a control to a container, click and drag it from the Controls list to the container. Drop the control where you want it to go.

Editing a Control’s Properties

To edit a control’s properties, follow these steps:

1. Click and then Properties. The Control properties section shows.
2. Edit the control’s properties as required. For a description of each property, see Data Entry Controls.
3. Click .

Moving a Control (within an Element)

To move a control, click and drag it to where you want it to go, then drop it.

Duplicating a Control (within an Element)

To duplicate a control, click and then Duplicate.

A new control is added to the end of the current container column. This has the same properties as the duplicated control (except for the ID property).

Deleting a Control

To delete a control, click and then Delete. The Confirm delete dialog box appears.

Click Delete to confirm the deletion.

Copying a Control (to Another Tab/Element)

You can copy a control to another tab of a data entry element (where you’ve enabled tabbing).

You can also copy a control to another data entry element altogether. For this, you must have the other data entry element open in another view, and it must belong to the same universe.

To copy a control, follow these steps:

1. Click and then Copy. The Confirm Copy dialog box appears.
2. Select the tab or data entry element that you want to copy the control to.
3. Click Copy.

A new control is added to the end of the specified tab / data entry element, in a new 100% container. This control has the same properties as the copied control (except for the ID property).

Moving a Control (to Another Tab/Element)

You can move a control to another tab of a data entry element (where you’ve enabled tabbing).

You can also move a control to another data entry element altogether. For this, you must have the other data entry element open in another view, and it must belong to the same universe.

To move a control, follow these steps:

1. Click and then Move. The Confirm Move dialog box appears.
2. Select the tab or data entry element that you want to move the control to.
3. Click Move.

The control is deleted from the current tab / data entry element, and a new control is added to the end of the specified tab / data entry element in a new 100% container. This control has the same properties as the original control (except for the ID property).

Enabling/Disabling Tabbing

Tabbing lets you split a data entry element’s content across two or more tabs.

To enable/disable tabbing, click the Tabbing off / Tabbing on button.

To add/delete tabs, click and then Properties. Next edit the Tabs property of the special tabbing control.

You can let agents navigate between tabs via a dropdown, as above, or you can show actual tabs that the agent can click, as so:

To configure this behavior, set the Show as tabs? property as required. The default, No, lists the tabs in a dropdown.

To switch between tabs in the Designer, use the Select tab dropdown.

Publishing/Previewing

Any changes that you make to a data entry element are not reflected at runtime until you publish the element.

Perhaps you’re not ready to publish the data entry element for runtime but just want to preview how it’ll look. Syntelate XA allows you to do this too.

To publish or preview a data entry element, follow these steps:

1. Click . The Publish dialog box appears.
2. Select whether to preview the data entry element or to publish it.
3. If previewing the data entry element, select the desktop that you’d like to preview.
4. Click Publish.

If any controls are missing required properties, an error message is shown and the relevant controls are highlighted. Fix these controls, and then click again.