An attribute launch point associates a script with a specific
field of a business object and an event occurring against that field,
and executes only when a value is specified for that field.
Similar to an object launch point, you associate an attribute launch
point with a specific object in the database. However, in addition
to an object, an attribute launch point must be associated with a
specific attribute in that object. An attribute launch point is appropriate
if you want to perform a routine every time an object attribute value
is initialized, updated, or looked up by using a Lookup dialog
box. For example, you can use an attribute launch point to get the
account number for an existing customer.
You can associate an attribute launch point with the following
events on a field:
- Initialize access restriction
- Sets the access level for the attribute's field. For example,
you can change the access level for an attribute's field from read/write
access to read-only access.
- Initialize value
- Sets the value for the attribute's field. For example, you can
automatically enter the account number for an existing customer.
- Validate
- Checks whether the value in the attribute's field is valid. For
example, you can check whether a telephone number is properly formatted
or contains enough digits to constitute a valid number.
- Retrieve list
- Retrieves a list of valid values for the attribute's field. For
example, in an invoice, you can set up the supplier field to return
a list of approved vendors.
- Run action
- Runs an action that is based on the value that is in the attribute's
field.
You use choice messages to gather and act on user responses. You
can define choice messages in the Database Configuration application.
You are able to use OK, Close, Cancel, Yes,
and No buttons in choice messages. Then, in
your automation script, you can create business logic to match the
buttons in the choice message.
When you use a combination of buttons, ensure that you have a button
for each of your options. For example, you do not want to use only
the Yes and OK buttons
because these options do not give the user the option to cancel or
stop the process.
Example of an attribute launch point
You can
define an attribute launch point that runs whenever a user completes
the
Purchase price field. You define the script
that configures the fields and associates the script with the attribute
launch point. For example, if the purchase price of an asset is more
than $100, the
Vendor field is required. If
the purchase price of an asset is less than $100, the
Vendor field
is not required. For any purchase price, the replacement cost must
be half the purchase price.
To implement this requirement, you
complete the following steps:
- Define an attribute launch point that is executed when a user
moves out of the Purchase Price field.
- Define the script that configures the fields and associate the
script with the attribute launch point:
if purchaseprice > 200:
errorgroup = "asset"
errorkey="purchasepricemsg"
else:
if purchaseprice >= 100:
vend_required=True
else:
vend_required=False
rc = purchaseprice/2
- Test the attribute launch point and script and activate or de-activate
the launch point as required.