Portlet Factory, Version 6.1.2


 

HTML Event Action builder inputs

This topic describes the inputs for the HTML Event Action builder.

 

General inputs

Table 1. General inputs
Input Name Description
Name Name for this builder call. The WebSphere Portlet Factory Designer displays this name in the builder call list.
Page Location Page or pages on which this builder call acts.
Event Name Use the select list to choose the event name for which you want to add an action. The list of available actions depends on the control associated with the named tag on which the HTML Event Action builder call operates.
Action Type Defines the behavior of the of the action. Select an action type based on the action that processes theonClick event and on whether you want to process any form inputs as part of that action.

Submit form and invoke action

Select this option if the specified action is a method in the model or linked Java™ object and that method processes the inputs to the form on which the tag resides.

Submit form to URL

Select this option if the specified action is a URL outside of the factory runtime that will process the inputs to a form. The specified URL receives the form input values as name and value pairs appended to the URL.

Link to an action

Select this option if the specified action is a method in the model or linked Java object (including service calls). This option acts as a simple link, transferring control directly to the specified URL. The specified action cannot process any form inputs.

Link to a URL

Select this option to navigate to a URL outside the IBM® WebSphere Portlet Factory context. The URL cannot process any form inputs.

Run a script

Select this option of you want to run some client-side JavaScript™ when the user clicks on the button. The script cannot process any form inputs.
Action Specify the model action to execute, or link to, as a result of the event you specified for the Event Name input.
Form Name If the builder is in one form or frame and the form to be submitted is in another, enter the name of the form whose inputs you want to submit.

 

Arguments

Table 2. Arguments input
Input Name Description
Input Mappings You can pass arguments to the specified action by adding argument names and the value to be passed to it. Use the reference chooser to specify input values or values returned by methods or service calls as the value to be passed to an argument for the specified action.

 

Post-Action Behavior

Table 3. Post-Action Behavior inputs
Input Name Description
Post-Action Behavior Select what happens after the action launched by the event completes.

Default

In most cases this displays the output generated by the action. One exception to this is when the action is run from inside a container that specifies that the outermost page gets rendered after the action runs. In the exception case, default would not display the output, but refresh the outermost page. A portal is the typical container in this case. The Model Container builder and a few other rare cases can indicate this behavior. For almost all customers, this effectively means run the action without displaying its output, then refresh the portal page.

Refresh specified page location after running action

The outermost page is not refreshed. Instead, new HTML for the specified region is recalculated after the action runs, and this HTML is sent to the client where it replaces the existing HTML. If Replace "id" Matches is checked, then the HTML produced by the action is examined for elements that have ID attribute values. If ID attribute values are found, then the corresponding elements in the page will have their HTML replaced.

Note: If Ajax is disabled, the default post-action behavior is used without loss of functionality. Ajax enablement is controlled through the Global Ajax Enablement builder and profiling rather than changing inputs in a large number of builders.

Replace specified location with action results

This is good for tooltips, incremental validation, and other simple information calculated on the server.

Note: If Ajax is disabled, the default post-action behavior is used without loss of functionality. Ajax enablement is controlled through the Global Ajax Enablement builder and profiling rather than changing inputs in a large number of builders.

Evaluate action results as JavaScript

Run the main action, and evaluate what it returns as JavaScript.

Always reload top-most page after running action

This is very similar to default, but overrides behavior that prevents the top-most page from refreshing. This option would be necessary if portal event and render phases need to be carried out to enable portlet-to-portlet communication to function properly.

Show action results "stand-alone": display no containing pages

This option is similar to default, but it ensures that even if the model is running in a portal or model container, the action only returns the results of the specified action, not the containing portal or other surrounding pages. This option is ideal for lower-level Ajax or related functionality such as pop-ups, computed images, or Excel export.
Execute Embedded Scripts This input is available if the Post-Action Behavior input is set to Refresh specified page after running action.

Set this input to execute any JavaScript present in the page that is being refreshed. Any script specified either by <script src="name" /> or as text inside a <script> section is executed.

 

Advanced

Table 4. Advanced inputs
Input Name Description
Target The window or frame which displays the results of the action. If you do not set this value, the current window or frame is the target. Valid entries are the following:

_self

Display results in the frame containing the form. If target is not specified, _self is the default.

_blank

Display results in a new browser window.

_parent

Display results in the frameset above the frame containing the form.

_top

Display results the topmost frameset.

You can also specify the name of a frame in the current frameset.

Note: All of these targets are relative to the form being processed, not the builder itself.

Rendering mode Select one of the following values:

Normal

If you know that the specified action returns a specific page, select this value.

Return Outermost page after running action

If you do not know the specific page that gets returned, select this value. For example, use this setting when you create a builder.
Break Containment Enable this input if you want to replace the contents of the target window with the contents of the URL returned by the action.
Overwrite Rule If the elements on which this HTML event action operates already have the specified attribute set, select one of the following:

Don't overwrite HTML value

Does not set or change attribute value.

Append new value

Adds the specified value to the end of the existing attribute value. Typically used for building JavaScript expressions. For example, border="oldJavaScriptExpression";"newJavaScriptExpression"

Prepend new value

Adds the specified value to the front of the existing attribute value. Typically used for building JavaScript expressions. For example, onClick="newJavaScriptExpression";"oldJavaScriptExpression"

Overwrite HTML value

Replaces existing attribute value with the specified attribute value.

Parent topic: HTML Event Action builder


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