CRUD views

EntityModule provides four form views by default to support CRUD operations on an entity. These views are initially configured using a specific view initializer and will all register a SingleEntityPageStructureViewProcessor. They can be customized by configuring additional EntityViewFactoryBuilders for the EntityConfiguration of that type.

The SingleEntityPageStructureViewProcessor builds upon the PageContentStructure.TEMPLATE of AdminWebModule and ensures that each of these views has a breamcrumb, header and content part for the view. The header contains a title, subtitle and navigation bar element. The navigation bar for an entity type can be customized by intercepting EntityAdminMenuEvents.

By default, the following views are available:

Create view

Allows to create a new instance for the type. A create view will usually have one menu item available, being the General tab which holds the properties for the view itself.

Detail view

Supports a read-only view for the instance of an entity. This view will by default link to associated entities to which can be navigated via additional menu items that have been registered on the navigation bar. If a user has the AllowableAction.UPDATE action, it will provide a link to the update view. The AllowableAction.DELETE action will provide a link to the delete view.

Update view

Provides the ability to modify an instance for an entity type. This view is similar to the detail view.

Delete view

Provides the ability to delete an instance.

Navigating to an entity instance

Both the detail view and the update view are entry points to access an instance. Depending on access permissions, different scenario’s will be applied for linking to these views:

Actions on the default listView

  • If a user has access to the read action, but not the update action, a link to the detail view will be present on the row for the instance

  • If a user has access to the read action and the update action, a link to the update view will be present on the row for the instance

'General' navigation item on form views

Clicking the 'General' navigation item will

  • reload the detail view if the user is on the detail view

  • reload the update view if the user is on the update view

  • redirect to the detail view, if the user is not on the detail or update view and has the read action but not the update action

  • redirect to the update view, if the user is not on the detail or update view and has the read action and the update action

This can also be overridden by specifying the EntityAttributes.LINK_TO_DETAIL_VIEW attribute on the EntityConfiguration or the current EntityViewRequest. If set to true, a list view will link to the detail view for every instance, if the read action is present, and never to the update view. On a form view, the 'General' menu item will always link to the detail view unless the user is on the update view.

Configuring form controls text

Usually a property is rendered in either in a bootstrap-ui-module::form-controls/form-group.adoc, which is a combination of a label and a control, or a fieldset. By default, a property like this would be rendered as a form group (FormGroupElement which is usually a combination of the label and the control for the property) or a fieldset (FieldsetFormElement).

Depending on the ViewElementMode that the property is rendered in, various text messages can be modified.

Read mode

In FORM_READ (readonly) mode, the default form renders only the label and the value of a property. You can customize the label by configuring the corresponding message code, for example: UserModule.entities.user.properties.username=Name of the user.

Write mode

In FORM_WRITE mode several other message codes will be resolved as well, and if they return values, additional content will be shown on the form.

Description text

A description provides additional context for the property being shown. It is rendered above the control of a form group, or above the content of a fieldset.

UserModule.entities.user.properties.username[description]=The username must be unique.
Help text

Help text is rendered below the control of a form group, or below the content of a fieldset. It usually provides a (less important) hint for updating the value.

UserModule.entities.user.properties.username[help]=Try to pick something you will remember.
Tooltip text

Tooltip text is added as a separate icon (question mark) that will only show the actual tooltip when you hover over it with the mouse cursor. Tooltips are often used as an alternative for help text. The difference is that help text is always visible, whereas to see the tooltip a used will need to take an extra action.

The tooltip icon is added to the label of a form group or to the legend of a fieldset.

UserModule.entities.user.properties.username[tooltip]=You will receive an error when saving if your username is already taken.

By default all message codes allow HTML entities, so you can add additional links or markup to them.

In case of a form group you can also manually set the different text components from code. Values set from code will take precedence and will never be replaced by the values resolved from message codes.

A more detailed explanation of how message codes are resolved and which codes are possible can be found in the message codes overview.

Related Documentation