Solution

Basic Customization > User Interface Customization > Presenting Information in the UI > Creating Custom Graphical Representations > Solution

Solution

Create a new custom graphical representation and configure an attribute to use it.

Prerequisite Knowledge

To successfully create a new custom representation, it is helpful to have an understanding of the following subjects:

• Creating a New Attribute

• Calculated Attribute Formulas

Constructing and Rendering a Table Using the JSP Framework

Attribute Customization

• The Additional Resources section in Referenceincludes references to more subjects.

• Graphical Attributes contains additional information on the three out-of-the-box graphical representations.

Reference contains design & implementation details on the three available out-of-the-box graphical representations. This information can be helpful when creating your custom graphical representation.

Overview of creating a custom graphical representation

The typical process for creating a custom graphical representation involves four steps:

1. Create a custom server-side component that extends the AbstractGraphicalComponent class.

2. Create the client-side JavaScript renderer for the new component.

3. Use the Type and Attribute Management utility to add a unique entry to the “Graphical Attribute Representations” enumeration for your new representation.

4. Add the xconf entry that connects your enumeration value with your component class, and run xconfmanager to propagate the change.

These steps are fully explained the following sections.

Solution Elements

The following table lists the primary classes used to implement custom graphical representations. Typically customizers need to extend AbstractGraphicalComponent, and implement GraphicalAttRepresentationHandler and GraphicalComponent.

Reference contains design & implementation details on the three available out-of-the-box graphical representations. This information can be helpful when creating your custom graphical representation.

Element	Type	Description
AbstractGraphicalComponent	Java Class	This is the abstract parent class to use for all graphical components.
GraphicalAttributeDataUtility	Java Class	This is the data utility that handles all graphical representations. It is not intended to be customized.
GraphicalAttRepresentationHandler	Java Interface	This is the interface that must be implemented to configure a new custom graphical representation. The interface defines the types of calculated attributes that the representation handles.
GraphicalComponent	Java Interface	This is the interface that must be implemented to define and configure new custom graphical component. It extends GraphicalAttRepresentationHandler.

Type and Attribute Management properties related to Graphical Attributes

Parameter	Default Value	Possible values	Required?	Description
Graphical Representation	None	Percent Complete Progress Bar Traffic Light	No	This property is only available on a calculated attribute. And the options vary per datatype, for example Traffic Light is only available for Integer datatype, but Progress Bar and Percent Complete are available for Integer, Real Number, and Real Number with Units
Graphical Representation Parameters	None		No	This property is also only available on calculated attributes. It allows extra parameters to be configured per graphical representation as needed. Some representations, like Traffic light and Percent Complete, don’t need extra parameters. Other options, like Progress Bar, require this property to be set to the name of an attribute which contains the parameters. (See Progress Bar section in Reference for more info)