Using Design Studio to burst Strategic Ledger fields

I was asked the other day if I could present four different fields for the one SL field currently on RQ10 so that the user wouldn't have to add the values as comma seperated records.

Since I love a challenge...

I deleted the one SL field and added 4 labels and 4 text fields to the form at the line level. Each label listed what the field value should be.

When the user Inquires on the form my script retrieves the Segment Block value for each line presented and puts that into an array (by line) and then splits the array and assigns each value into the correct text field.

When the user Adds/Changes on the form my script takes the 4 text field values (by line), puts them into one comma seperated variable and then assigns that to the Segment Block value in the OnBeforeTransaction function.

The user was very happy with the ease of use that this provided to them and so, of course, asked for the ability to select Define on each of the 4 fields.

In order to add Define to a text field that you've added to a form, you must go into the Source tab, find the lines for each field and add hdef="1" and deftkn="SL40.6" to each of the 4 text field references. Now when the user right clicks on your text field, they get the option to select Define.

I've mentioned it in the past, but it bears repeating that if you add a text field to the detail line section of your form then you also have to update the field so that the system knows to track it by row. In this case you would find the line in the Source and update the field number from nbr="_f730" to nbr="_f730r0".

There you go. A simple solution that makes data entry much easier for clients using the Strategic Ledger system.

Infor Process Automation Email Approvals

The new IPA approval via email function is pretty nice. You simply select this option within the UserAction and whatever Actions you set up are available as buttons within the email notification to your approver.

Of course you do have to select the HTML format and select to send email notifications in the UserAction, but if you set the correct flags, it works great.

The URL behind the action buttons in the email contains an encrypted data string which actually passes your login and password so you don't have to stop at the login page, but it does open a Landmark browser window confirming the action that the user took.

There is a down side - if, for some reason, this email is forwarded to another user and they click the approve button then the action will be recorded as being performed as the original user (since their user id and password is encrypted in the link).

Keep this in mind when you are evaluating the benefit / risk of using this new feature.

Some of you might remember that I played with this a couple of years ago and my solution contained the Action buttons but required the user to log in. My solution was a bit complicated and the interface wasn't as clean.

Infor is looking at adding an option to require the user to log in when they click the Action buttons in the email. This should reduce the security risks that some people might feel is too great.