Using the Symphony Spreadsheet container to add spreadsheets to composite applications

Adding and configuring the Symphony Spreadsheet container

Use the Composite Application Editor to add the Symphony Spreadsheet container to a composite application, and to create and view landmarks and actions.

To add the container, drag it onto the application from the Containers folder in the Component palette.

Specifying a spreadsheet for the container

You can configure the container to work with a local or remote spreadsheet document. Remote documents can be cached locally so that changes made to them are not lost. When the component is reloaded the locally cached document will be used.

To specify a spreadsheet document, use the Component Settings tab of the Edit Component Properties dialog.

Specify the location of the spreadsheet document in the Initial File field, browsing for the file if necessary. The location can either be the absolute path of a local file or a remote URL. To cache a remote file locally, click Cache File.

Note: You can also specify the location of the spreadsheet in the container configuration in plugin.xml, as the value of the targetBuilder expression attribute. If you specify the location in both plugin.xml and the component properties dialog, the value in plugin.xml takes precedence.

Adding actions

Once you have added the spreadsheet container to your application and specified the spreadsheet you want to access, you can use the Composite Application Editor toolbar to define data exchange actions that should be triggered when specific events occur.



On the toolbar, perform the following steps:

1. In the Composite Application Editor toolbar, use the Select Events drop down to select the events that will trigger the action.



The Symphony Spreadsheet container supports the following events:

• contentComplete – This event occurs when the active sheet changes. All actions in this event are executed serially.
• dataChange – This event occurs either when a property change is coming into the container or when a cell value has changed.
• viewInit - This event occurs when the specific component (the view part) opens initially.
• viewClose - This event occurs when the specific component (the view part) closes.
  

2. In the Select Action drop down, click the action to be added.



3. Use the Select/Create Property combo to define a new property or select an existing property.



4. In the Selected Field field, enter the field expression or select a named range from the drop down list. The field is automatically populated with the field expression for the range currently selected on the sheet.



Fields are essentially absolute or named cell ranges. The container supports the following formats:

• $<Column
   
  $<Row
   
  - E.g. $A$1
• $<Column
   
  $<Row
   
  :$<Column
   
  $<Row
   
  - E.g. $A$1:$B$10
• !<Sheet name
   
  $<Column
   
  $<Row
   
  - E.g. !MySheet$A$1
• !<Sheet name
   
  $<Column
   
  $<Row
   
  :$<Column
   
  $<Row
   
  - E.g. !MySheet$A$1:$B$10
• #<Named range
   
  - E.g. #MyRange
  

5. Click the Add Action button.



6. Repeat steps 1-5 to add more actions.

7. Click the Save and apply changes button.

Use the Display fields button to display cell ranges that correspond to field expressions defined for the current landmark. The displayed fields can be filtered using the other components of the toolbar.



For example, to display all fields associated with a particular property, perform the following steps.
1. Click ‘Filter by Property’.
2. Click the property on the properties dropdown.
3. Click the Display fields button.
Any matching cell ranges will be selected.

Landmarks in the Symphony Spreadsheet container

Composite application containers use landmarks to define data exchange actions that should occur for different events, in different areas of the contained application. The Symphony Spreadsheet container supports only the Spreadsheet landmark identifier type, and uses sheet names for landmarks. The active sheet name is the current landmark, and actions you specify for that sheet are automatically associated with the corresponding landmark. If you edit the component properties, the landmarks and actions you have created through the toolbar appear on the L andmarks tab, where you can edit them further if needed.

For general information about defining landmarks in the Composite Application Editor, see "Creating landmarks for container components" in the IBM Lotus Notes information center.