Enterprise RTView® 
User Guide


Composite Object
The composite object (class name: obj_composite) allows you to show a display (.rtv) file within an object. This is useful for creating groups of objects that you want to use multiple times, either directly in your displays, or in the object grid.
 

Composite Properties
There are 2 standard properties in the composite category, rtvName and substitutions. Enter or select the name of a display (.rtv) file in the rtvName property to show that display in your object. The rtvName property should be set before any other properties. The rtvName display is referred to as the composite display. Once you have set the rtvName, the composite display will show up in your object, and all of the public variables from the composite display are added as properties. These properties can be set to static data or attached to data to drive the values in the composite display. While any display can be used as a composite display, there are some limitations on objects and variables names. See the Creating Composite Displays  section for more information.

The substitutions property allows you to set substitutions on the composite display. 
Property Name Description
rtvName Specify the name of the display (.rtv) file to show in your object. This display is referred to as the composite display. See Creating Composite Displays below for information on creating displays to use in composite objects.
substitutions Specify the substitutions for the composite display. NOTE: The composite display also inherits substitutions from the display that contains the composite object. 

Substitutions are optional and must use the following syntax:

$subname:subvalue $subname2:subvalue2

If a substitution value contains a single quote, it must be escaped using a / :

$filter:Plant=/'Dallas/'

If a substitution value contains a space, it must be enclosed in single quotes. Do not escape these single quotes:

$subname:subvalue $subname2:'sub value 2'

A substitution string cannot contain the following:
:
|
.
tab
space
,
;
=
<
>
'
"
& / \ { } [ ] ( )

Background Properties
Specify how the background is displayed in your composite object.
 
Property Name Description
bgBorderColor Select the  button and choose a color from the palette to set the color of the edge on the background rectangle. This property is only applicable if bgBorderFlag is selected.
bgBorderFlag If selected, a border is drawn around the background rectangle,
bgColor Select the  button and choose a color from the palette to set the background color. 
bgEdgeWidth Set the width of the 3D edge on the background rectangle. This property is only available if the bgStyle selected is 3D Rectangle.
bgGradientColor2 Select the  button and choose a color for the second color in the gradient. Default is white. NOTE: The bgColor property sets the first color in the gradient.
bgGradientMode Display a gradient in the background rectangle. Select from the following options:
 
  None No gradient
  Diagonal Edge Gradient is drawn at a 45 degree angle from the top left to the bottom right corner of the object.
  Diagonal Center Gradient is drawn at a 45 degree angle from the center to the top left and the bottom right corners of the object.
  Horizontal Edge Gradient is drawn horizontally from the top to the bottom of the object.
  Horizontal Center Gradient is drawn horizontally from the center to the top and bottom of the object.
  Vertical Edge Gradient is drawn vertically from the left to the right of the object.
  Vertical Center Gradient is drawn vertically from the center to the left and right of the object.
bgRaisedFlag Reverses the direction of the gradient, as well as that of the 3D edge if the bgStyle selected is 3D Rectangle.
bgRoundness Set the arc length of the rounded corners. This property is only available if the bgStyle selected is Round Rectangle.

NOTE: The value of bgRoundness cannot exceed half the value of the objWidth or the objHeight. If bgRoundness does exceed that value, then half (of the smaller of the two values) of objWidth or objHeight will be used instead. For example if objWidth is 100 and objHeight is 50, then the value of bgRoundness cannot exceed 25. If it does, then half the value of objHeight (25) will be used instead.

bgShadowFlag Select to display a drop shadow on the background rectangle.
bgStyle Choose one of  the following three options from the drop down menu:
 
Rectangle Select to display a background rectangle.
3D Rectangle Select to display a 3D edge on the background rectangle. If selected, use bgEdgeWidth to set the width of the 3D edge.
Round Rectangle Select to display a background rectangle with rounded edges. If selected, use bgRoundness to set the arc length of the rounded corners.
bgVisFlag Select to display the background rectangle.
borderPixels Set the amount of space (in pixels) between the object and the border.

Object Properties
Specify how you composite object is displayed.
 
Property Name Description
anchor  Specify where to anchor an object in the display. NOTE: If an object has the dock property set, the anchor property will be ignored.

The anchor property is only applied when the dimensions of the display are modified, either by editing Background Properties or resizing the window in Layout mode

Select None, or one or more the following options:

None Object not anchored. This is the default.
Top Anchor top of object at top of display.
Left Anchor left side of object at left of display.
Bottom Anchor bottom of object at bottom of display.
Right Anchor right side of object at right of display.

When a display is resized, the number of pixels between an anchored object and the specified location remain constant. If an object is anchored on opposite sides (i.e. Top and Bottom or Left and Right), the object will be stretched to fill the available space. NOTE: If the Resize Mode is set to Scale and an object is anchored on opposite sides, then the object with be moved rather than stretched to fill the available space.

dock Specify the docking location of an object in the display. NOTE: An object should not be docked if the Resize Mode is set to Scale.

Select from the following options:

None Object is not docked. This is the default.
Top Dock object at top of display.
Left Dock object at left of display.
Bottom Dock object at bottom of display.
Right Dock object at right of display.
Fill Dock object in available space remaining in the display after all docked objects are positioned.

If the dimensions of the display are modified, either by editing Background Properties or resizing the window in Layout mode, the properties (objX, objY, objWidth and objHeight) of docked objects will automatically adapt to match the new size of the display.

When multiple objects are docked to the same side of the display, the first object is docked against the side of the display, the next object is docked against the edge of the first object, and so on.

When objects are docked to multiple sides of the display, the order in which objects were added to the display controls docking position. For example, let's say the first object added to the display is docked at the Top and the second object is docked at the Left. Consequently, the first object will fill the entire width of the display and the second object will fill the left side of the display from the bottom of the first object to the bottom of the display.

Objects in a display have the dock property set to Fill, are laid out across a grid in the available space remaining after all docked objects are positioned. By default, the grid has one row and as many columns as there are objects in the display. You can modify the grid in the Background Properties dialog.

Once an object is docked, there are some limitations on how that object can be modified.

  • Docked objects cannot be dragged or repositioned using objX and objY properties.
  • Docked objects cannot be resized using the objWidth or objHeight properties. To resize you must drag on the resize handle.
  • Docked objects can only be resized toward the center of the display (e.g. If an object is docked at the Top, only its height can be increased by dragging down toward the center of the display).
  • Docked objects set to Fill cannot be resized at all.
  • Docked objects cannot be moved using Align. Non-docked objects can be aligned against a docked object, but a docked object will not move to align against another object.
  • Docked objects are ignored by Distribute.
objHeight  This property is read only. It shows the height in pixels of the composite object which is set by the height of the composite display.
objName Name given to facilitate object management via the Object List dialog. Select Tools>Object List.
objWidth This property is read only. It shows the width in pixels of the composite object which is set by the width of the composite display.
objX Set the x position of the object.
objY Set the y position of the object.
transparencyPercent Sets the transparency of the object. This property only applies to the background of the composite object.
visFlag Set the visibility of the object.

Interaction Properties
To specify a drill down display, double click on the drillDownTarget Property Name. Any display (.rtv) file can be targeted as a drill down. Once a drill down target has been set, double-click on the composite object to activate the drill down. Drill down displays can be activated in the same window that contains the object or open in a separate window. This allows you to build a customizable hierarchy of displays.

The drillDownTarget and command for objects in a composite display will take precedence over the drill down target or command for the composite object. This is only supported for the Display Viewer and Display Viewer Applet and only if the composite object is not used in an object grid. In those cases, the drill down target or command on the composite object will be used.

Creating Composite Displays
Any display can be used as the display in a composite object, but there are some limitations to objects and variable names. To create a composite display, create a display in the Display Builder as usual. All public variables that are not mapped to substitutions will show up as properties on the composite object. If you do not want a variable to be exposed as a property, mark it as private. For example, you can create a display with two meters attached to two public variables, value1 and value2. When you use this display in a composite object, value1 and value2 will show up in the Composite category of the property sheet for the composite object. Whatever value you enter for these will drive the meters in your composite display. When the composite object is used in an object grid, these properties will also show up in the iconProperties dialog allowing you to either assigned them to values or to data columns.

The following limitations apply:

  • To variable names in composite displays:
  • None of the standard composite object property names can be used. This includes rtvName, substitutions and any property outside of the Composite category.
  • Only public variables that are not mapped to data will show up as properties on the composite object.
  • Names of all public variables used for tabular data must have Data Type set to Tabular.
  • Composite displays can use any object from the Object Palette, except the composite object.
  • Nested composite objects are not supported.
  • The drillDownTarget and command for objects in a composite display will take precedence over the drill down target or command for the composite object.
 

 
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