Current Version : 2023.4.108.0.05See the Previous VersionSee the Next Version

WarningReleaseNotes

          See Known errors

Public Mode

General Concept

Public mode allows you to create applications where all or some of the content is accessible to all users, without requiring them to login. This way you can create a portal where the 1^st page displays a catalog of services and a knowledge base that is accessible to all users (public page) and where the page for ordering services requires the user to login (private page).
Note: Each page of the application can be set as public or private, with the exception of the first page which must be public (application entry point).

• When a user launches a public application, it will open without logging in; the application's main toolbar will display as below, in Guest mode.
          

• When the user tries to access a private page, the standard login box will prompt the user for a username and password (with the exception of SSO).
          
  Once logged in, the application’s main toolbar will look like the following.
          

Concept of a Public User

• Public mode relies on the concept of a Public user and can be managed through 2 locations:
  • within the application: it is possible to set a Public user for an application, which will be saved along with the application. Now any user can access the application without logging in (and see all or part of the content) because the Public user is automatically selected;
  • via the application pages: once an application has been defined as public (a Public user has been linked to it), every page can be set as public (accessible by any user without logging in) or private (only accessible by logging in). The homepage for a public application is, by definition, public.
     

• Display data from the Service Manager database:
  • If the Public user is linked to an Service Manager account, data from the Service Manager database (for the Public user's domain) will be visible by any application user, without requiring them to login.
              Application that displays public indicators or the Service Managerknowledge base without logging in
  • If the Public user is not linked to an Service Manager database, the application's users can access a page without logging in if:
    • the page doesn't contain any widget related to data sources from Service Manager
      or
    • the page contains widgets based on Service Manager data sources based on a connector with a registered user (email address set).

• Public users can be set via the user management settings.
  • Any user can become a Public user and will be identified with .
            
  • A new Public User filter makes it possible to display only Public users.
            
     

• For an application to have a Public mode, a Public user must be selected from the properties dialog.
          

  1. Click on the No public user connected area to display the list of Public users. These must be set in advance using user management.
          

  2. Select the Public user of your choice: the user's ID will be automatically displayed in the application's property box.
          

  3. Click on  to delete the Public user: the application will automatically switch to Private mode.

How It Works for Pages

• Each page of the application can be set as public (accessible to any user of the application, without logging in) or private (only accessible if the user is logged in), with the exception of the first page which must be public (application entry point).
            Accessing public indicators and the Service Manager knowledgebase without logging in; Logging in to display My Incidents

• The user of an application that contains both public and private pages can browse all public pages without restriction. When the user tries to access a private page, a login dialog will appear.
          
   

• Public/private pages can be managed through the page properties.
          
  •  indicates a private page;  indicates a public page.
  • The first page is not configurable.
  • To access the copy and delete functions, click on .
            

Application Main Toolbar

Hide the Main Toolbar (Global)

The main toolbar of the application, which is visible in Execution mode, can now be hidden with the new Show Main Toolbar added in the properties dialog and in the create new shortcut dialog.
Note: The shortcut will load the possible choices defined in the application.

Hide App List

The  menu, which allows you to access the list of other applications in Execution mode, can now be hidden via a new property, Show App List, which has been added in the property box.
Note: Hiding the app list improves performance during application launch because the app list is not loaded.
        

New Authentication widget

This new widget, available in the Basic category, allows you to position the  authentication area, which is usually located at the top right of the main application toolbar, regardless of its location.
        
        

• The characteristics of the Authentication widget are identical to those of the Authentication section of the gallery.
• The widget properties allow you to hide or display different elements of the authentication bar (such as the avatar, the name of the person logged in and his/her profile, the  Logout button) and to also set the authentication area's alignment.
          

• The Theme properties let you specify the sizes and colors of the elements.
          

Standardization of Studio

The Color Picker

Several color selection tools were available in previous versions depending on the location. A single color selection box is now accessible from everywhere within Studio.
        

• The new Color Picker makes it possible to choose a color directly.
• The Advanced Mode  lets the user to choose the color to be used through hexadecimal codes starting with # (e.g. #0b0df0 for the color Blue) or using the color's name for standard colors (e.g.  red for the color Red).
          

The Font Picker

The font selection box was standardized to have the same appearance no matter where it is launched. It allows you to select the font you would like to use and also provides a Search Mode that lets you search for a font using its name.
Note: Size changes are made in real time on the current page.

• Select Font   v   Property: Opens the list of fonts.
  • The first part of the list contains the most commonly used fonts, while the second part contains a large list of less popular fonts.
  • The search field lets you automatically filter fonts.
            

• Select Size   v   Property: Displays a size selector. You can also enter the desired size in the box directly.
          

The Image Picker

The Image Picker is now available both through the menus and in the text editor.

• The Icons Gallery tab lets you select an image available in the gallery.
          
• The Uploaded Images tab lets you select an icon from a variety of images available on your server or to upload one from a local file. Once the image has been selected, it will be sent to the server where it will now be available in the list of images. Note: SVG images are now supported.
          
  •  : lets you upload an image from one of your disks.
  • : lets you upload an image via its URL.
  • Selected images will have a  next to them.
            
  • You can delete an uploaded image by hovering over it with the cursor, clicking on , and finally clicking OK on the warning message. Note: Images sent to the server are local to the application. If you accidentally delete an image, only the current application will be affected.
            
• The Image Link tab lets you quickly add an image via its URL. The image link is saved as HTML code, unlike the  button in the Uploaded Images tab, which encodes the image in base 64.
          

Implementation in the Text Editor

When you click on the  icon, the new Image Picker will open.
        

Integration in the Widget Menu

When you click on the icon associated with a menu item, the new Image Picker will open.
        

It can also be opened via the properties of a menu item.
        

Improvements to the Application Text Editor

New Image Manager

The new Image Manager is described in the Image Picker section .

Managing Special Links via the Data Picker

The Data Picker, which lets you select an Service Manager field, now lets you indicate if the data is an image, an e-mail or a phone/Skype number via the new special link tags property.
        

The following HTML code will be inserted:

Modifying Button Colors

Now when buttons are generated via the text editor, it is possible to modify their colors (by hovering over it in normal mode) through the new properties under the Link / Button area.
        

New Data Source and Widget Features

Data Sources

Loading Optimizations

In previous versions, all data sources would be opened when an application was launched in Design mode. From now on, only the data sources used on the current page will be loaded.

Utilization Counter

A utilization counter now appears in the list of data sources used in an application.
        

By hovering over the counter, you can view all of the widgets that use the data source.
        

Widget Menu

• Circular menus can now be created using the new Cell Border Radius property, which lets you define the radius of the menu.
          
          

• The color properties for menu items when hovering have also been extended.
          
          

• The choice of menu icon uses the new image selection tool described in the Image Picker section.

Native Style on Mobile

When you use a Search or Tab widget, a new property, Device Native Style lets you choose whether or not the widgets will be displayed like native items on iPhone or Android phones, without changing their appearance elsewhere.
        
        

Tab Widget

• The list of tabs can now take different forms, using the new Scrollable Tabs property.
          

• Normal display, from left to right and then from top to bottom.
          

• Display in Scrolling Mode, displays on a single row, with the possibility of browse through the tabs with the mouse (using the left and right arrows) or with your finger if the hardware supports it.
          

• From the text editor, you can now place an image (using the integrated Image Picker) or any other item (via HTML code) on each tab.
          
          

  Note: For the selection to be properly managed for uploaded images, you will need to use a symbol from the icon gallery rather than an image. As icons are associated with fonts, they can be rendered the similarly.

  • Proper Selection of the Cloud icon
            
  • Incorrect Selection of an image
            

Special Settings for Mobile Devices

Row Display Settings on Mobile

Responsive Design, which works to automatically adapt the design to the different types of media (browser on a PC, tablet or mobile), can make several bad decisions, particularly for mobile devices: the mechanism tends to systematically place stack widgets on top of each other.

           The application below contains a logo and an Authentication widget on the 1^st line, then a group of icons on the 2^nd line.
        

On mobile, the Authentication widget appears below the logo.
        

It is now possible to modify the behavior of rows to keep widgets in the same row together.
        

How to Change the Settings

• On each line, a new indicator    has been added, managed by the new Stack on Small / Single Row on Small options via each row’s context menu.
          

• The current Stack on Small  mode is the default. It automatically stacks widgets on top of each other.
          

• The new Single Row on Small  mode forces widgets to be positioned horizontally in a particular row.
          

Studio Display Mode on large screens / mobile

Some widgets can only be displayed on mobile and/or desktop with the current settings.
         

In previous versions, widgets intended only for display on mobile would disappear from Studio and were only accessible from the widget list. 2 new icons are now available in the toolbar. They allow you to show or hide these widgets. 

• In Desktop mode, all widgets will be displayed, except for those that are only available on mobile.
• In Mobile mode, all widgets will be displayed, except for those that are only hidden in Mobile mode.
           

Links with Service Managerev|Service Manager

Newly Supported Questionnaires

New questionnaire features from the most recent version of Service Manager are now supported: new multi-section mode, questions that depend on previous answers, elements that allow you to create Survey type questionnaires.
Consult the Service Manager H2 2016 - Release Notes document for more information about these questionnaires. 

           See also Questionnaire Best Practices

Close Incident Wizard

This new wizard allows you to close Service Manager incidents via a custom widget. Its implementation is identical to that of the Update Incident Wizard custom widget which was added in the last version of Service Apps.
Consult the Service Apps H1 2016 - Release Notes document for more information about this wizard.

           See also Description of the Update Incident Wizard custom widget

Display no data when the data source is not filtered

When a Dataviewer widget is associated with a Search Filter widget, you can now display nothing when a search has not been performed, which also improves performance.

• By default, all data will be displayed in the Dataviewer when no searches are performed.
          

• In order to activate this new feature, use the new Force Search To Get Data checkbox for the data sources linked to Service Manager, which prevents an unfiltered data source from appearing ahead of the other data.
          

Optimizations

Loading other applications

The launch time for applications available in the  menu (displayed in the application’s main toolbar in Execution mode) has been optimized by only loading those applications if the main toolbar is not displayed or if the access menu is hidden.

Other optimizations

• Reduce the memory footprint of applications.
• Reduce the number of exchanges between an application that uses Service Manager data sources and the Service Manager server.