11.5 Controlling Navigation Using Branches

11.5.1 Creating a Branch

You create a branch by running the Create Branch Wizard and specifying the branch point and branch type.

To create a branch:

1. Navigate to the appropriate Page Definition. See "Accessing the Page Definition".

2. Under Branches access the Create Branch Wizard:

   • Tree view - Under Page Processing, right-click and select Create Branch.

   • Component view - Under Branches, click the Create icon.

   The Create Branch Wizard appears.

3. For Branch Attributes:

   1. Name - Specify the name of the branch for easy identification by developers.

   2. Sequence - Specify the sequence for this component. The sequence determines the order of evaluation.

   3. Branch Point options:

      • On Submit: Before Computation - Occurs before computations, validations, or processing. Use this option for a Cancel button.

      • On Submit: Before Validation - Occurs after computations, but before validations or processing. Typically not used. If a validation fails, page processing stops, a rollback is issued, and the page displays the error. Because of this default behavior, you do not need to create branches to accommodate validations. However, you might want to branch based on the result of a computation (for example, to the previous branch point).

      • On Submit: Before Processing - Occurs after computations and validations, but before processing. Use this option to branch based on a validated session state, but before performing any page processing.

      • On Submit: After Processing - Occurs after computations, validations, and processing. This option branches to a URL or page after performing computations, validations, and processing. When using this option, remember to sequence your branches if you have multiple branches for a given branch point.

      • On Load: Before Header - Occurs before a page is rendered. This option displays another page, instead of the current page, or redirects the user to another URL or procedure.

   4. Select a branch type.

   5. Click Next.

4. For Target, specify the target location. The information that appears on the page depends on the branch type you selected:

   1. If the target location is a URL:

      • Branch Target - Select URL.

      • URL Target - Enter a URL. For example:

        http://www.yahoo.com
        

   2. If the target location is a page:

      • Branch Target - Select Page in this Application.

      • Page - Specify the target page number.

        Select reset pagination for this page to have the page return to the first set of data meeting a user's query.

        Select include process success message to display a message when a user submits a page and a branch is taken to another page. If you do not select this option, the message does not display because it is part of submitting the page, not displaying the next one.

      • Request - Enter text to assign to the built-in application item called REQUEST. To learn more, see item Help. See "About Field-Level Help".

      • Clear Cache - Specify the page numbers on which to clear cache. Separate multiple entries with a comma.

   3. To set session state (that is, give a listed item a value):

      • Set these items - Enter a comma-delimited list of item names for which you would like to set session state.

      • With these values - Enter a comma-delimited list of values for the items specified in Set these items.

        You can specify static values or substitution syntax (for example, &APP_ITEM_NAME.). Note that item values passed to f?p= in the URL cannot contain a colon. Additionally, item values cannot contain commas unless you enclose the entire value in backslashes (for example, \1234,56\).

   4. Click Next.

5. Follow the on-screen instructions.