Having seen the Compiere Application Dictionary and its components, in this article by Andries L Pretorius, author of Compiere 3 Implementation Guide, we will cover how to add a menu item and a custom list field to a Compiere window by using the AD components.

(For more resources on Compiere 3, see here.)

The user menu is your default tree, and is accessed through the System Administrator role. You can find the Menu item in the screen tree:

The above screenshot illustrates a typical window set-up, which is done as follows:

1. Create a new menu item by clicking on the New button. Enter a name and a description.
2. Define its action type: A menu item's action type can be a Window, Form,Process, Report, Task, or Workflow. Link an AD item to the menu, which is illustrated above, where window Sales Order is linked to the Sales Order menu item.
3. Move the menu item in context of the main menu tree for users understanding and access.

It is recommended that you define your own windows, or copy from the existing dictionary, for customizations. Because dictionary (system) defined items may be overwritten during the process of migrating to a new version, it is better to copy a window and customize it in the copied window (or create new). This applies to Java code as well: never change the original source as it may be overwritten during migration.

Adding a new field to a window and database

In this section we are going to illustrate how the System Administrator would go about adding a new field to the database. As an illustration, we are going to add a probability reference field that can be used to measure a predefined set of outcomes on an order to the Sales Order window.

1. .Find the context by Zooming to the Table from the Window. Open and find the Sales Order window in the Window, Tab, and Field menu item when logged in as System Administrator:

   

2. Zoom from the window into the underlying Table and Column window.Order records are maintained in the database in the C_Order table:

   

3. Next we refer the Column tab, and create a new column in the table(see the field naming conventions below). The new column must be as a System Element defined and hence we need to create a System Element prior to using it as a Column in the Table:

   

4. Once the System Element has been defined, we set up the Column as follows:

   

5. Create a new Reference key as follows:

   

   Because this is a custom list, we choose a validation type of List Validation, and a value format of L, indicating that any letters are allowed. For a full list of these conventions, refer to the help documentation in the system by pressing F1.

6. We then define the Reference key's list validation options as follows:

   

7. The finalized column (and thus the ultimate window field) set-up is thus shown as follows:

   

Compiere 3

An essential and concise guide to understanding and implementing Compiere.

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(For more resources on Compiere 3, see here.)

We finalize the set-up of the field by indicating:

1. Field naming conventions: Compiere recommends that customer-specific table and database column names be prefixed by EXT_, XX_, or CUST_, or the four letter entity registered with Compiere, such as SAAC_. This would also apply to indexes and constraints. The reason for this is that these entities are ignored in the migration process.
2. Length of field: Because we know that for this particular field there is going to be only one character we define a length of 1.
3. Default logic: We assume U, based on our list being Unknown.
4. Mandatory UI: Indicates that this field will be mandatory in the window, but not at database level.
5. Updatable: Indicates that the field is editable.
6. Always Updatable: Indicates that the field is always updatable, regardless of document status.

Final step in column creation—Create / Synchronize with the database

The final step in the process of creating a field is to make sure that it is synchronized to the underlying database from the AD. Scroll down on the column tab to find the Synchronize Column button, as shown in the example below:

Adding our custom field to the Order window

Back in the menu item Window, Tab, and Field (find the Sales Order window) > Tab (header/top level):

1. Click on the Create Fields button to add the field to the database:

   

2. Change the desired sequence of the field to the correct position in the list of fields:

   

3. Re-open the appropriate Sales Order window to display the field:

   

Summary

In this article we illustrated how to add a menu item and a custom list field to a Compiere window by using the AD components.

Further resources on this subject:

• Compiere 3 Implementation Guide [Book]

• Overview of the Compiere Application Dictionary and its Components [article]

• Setting Up a Basic Document Workflow in Compiere 3 [article]

• Product Management with Compiere 3 [article]

• Material Management Using Compiere 3 [article]

Compiere 3

An essential and concise guide to understanding and implementing Compiere.

Published: June 2010
eBook Price: €20.99
Book Price: €34.99
See more

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