Breaking inheritance

Applies to version 2019.1; author: Jarosława Markopolska

The article describes the functionality of inheriting the global form settings and form field definition in WEBCON BPS.

Inheriting form settings

Global template inheritance – this setting the order of form fields according to the process tree. This means that the order of the form fields in the group and columns on the item list configured in the process correspond to their location on the global form template.  

To break inheritance on the main form, click the “Break settings inheritance” button in the Global form template tab and confirm “Yes” in the information window (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. The global form template – breaking the inheritance of settings

The second method is to change the global form directly. For example, if you want to change the form fields or columns order on the item list, a window will appear (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. Breaking inheritance of the form fields order

You have two options:

• This workflow only – this option breaks settings inheritance
• All workflows – the order will also change in the process tree, settings inheritance is preserved

After breaking inheritance, the button changes its function to the opposite (restore inheritance) and turns red (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. The global form template – restoring settings inheritance

Breaking inheritance – change the form field order

Settings inheritance allows you to use the global form at every step of a given workflow. However, you may need to customize the arrangement of the form fields for the selected step. It can be configured directly in the settings of this step using the “Forms” tab (Fig. 4). You can break inheritance on a step just like on the global form template.

Fig. 4. The form at the current step – breaking inheritance

After breaking inheritance with the global form, there is the option to arrange form fields and system elements by moving them to the appropriate places.

Business cases where you can change the form fields order:

• An attachment is displayed on the form and it is more convenient to have form fields in the left panel
• We want to display form fields in the foreground on the form that are interesting for the person with the task at a given step (e.g. a different layout for the registrant and another for the demand approver)

Breaking inheritance – overwriting configuration

At the current step on the form (Fig. 5) you can also:

• Overwrite the configuration of form fields, item list columns
• Define the visibility of the system areas
• Change settings such as visibility, editability or requirements form fields

Below there is an example – the “Analitical breakdown” item list:

Fig. 5. The red icon of the tools to signa that the configuration has been overwritten

By clicking on the tools icon, a configuration panel of the advanced settings will open (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6. Advanced settings for the item list

In the “General” tab you can overwrite the following settings:

1. Visibility restriction
2. Editability restriction
3. Requiredness restriction
4. Default value
5. Form rule to be executed on value change
6. Prompt
7. Control style
8. In the item list there is also the option to overwrite the icons visible in the action column, excel import, delete all values and load default settings

To change the item list settings, select the “Break settings inheritance” option:

Fig. 7. Breaking settings inheritance for the item list

On the selected step enable the “Allow Excel import” and “Show button Delete all” option – after clicking the “OK” button, the configuration will be overwritten.

Fig. 8. Item list – standard (on the left) and overwritten (on the right) configuration

Configuration without breaking inheritance

Except for item list, breaking form field settings inheritance is not recommended – that it makes it difficult to maintain the process, analyze potential problems or change the configuration. An alternative solution is to add the condition in the business rule form rule in the form field settings on the process.

The example configuration:

Fig. 9. The form field default value

Limiting visibility on the form:

Fig. 10. Limiting visibility on the form

Coloring the form field value on the change of their value:

Fig. 11. The form rule on the form field change

Summary

Breaking form settings inheritance is most often used to change the settings of the form fields’ order on steps or item list settings. However, if you decide to overwrite the form field settings – it is a good practice to describe it in the form field documentation (Fig. 12).

Fig. 12. Documentation – information about breaking inheritance at the step