Distributing your dataform: Making dataforms accessible

After a dataform is created and configured, you need to provide some way for it to be used, and this can be accomplished in several ways. A dataform might need to be workspace specific, so you would need to add it to a single workspace, or it may need to be more widespread, so you would want it copied to each workspace as they are generated. You may also want to only expose access to the dataform from the header of another dataform. Certain financial dataforms in the PEO system are exposed through header links from the dataforms for which they contain financial data. This document discusses each of these methods of Dataform Distribution.

Adding a dataform to a workspace

To add a dataform to a workspace:

1. Navigate to the Workspace in question. This can be a single administrative workspace, or you can have the dataform generated on Workspace creation. Go to System Admin > Workspace Templates.
   The Workspace Template Search dashboard opens.
   
2. Locate and open the template in question.
3. In the Action Center menu, select Dataforms.

The Workspace Dataforms list is displayed.

4. Click Add.
   The Add Dataforms dialog opens.
   
5. Find and select the dataform.
   When adding a dataform, if the entry in the dataform search dialog is disabled, this means the dataform already exists in the workspace.
6. Click Ok.

The dataform is added to all child workspaces of that template.

Adding a new link to the dataform

Dataforms can also be accessed from custom links in another dataform header. Configuring a header link is detailed in the topic Configuring Custom Dataform Links . This topic discusses the link configuration items to create a Workspace Dataform link.

To add a new link to the dataform:

1. Go to System Admin > Advanced > Custom Links.
   The Configure Links dashboard opens.
   
2. Click Add.
   The Configure Links Detail form opens.
   
3. Use the following field descriptions to guide you through adding a new link.

Location	The name of the dataform on which you want to link to appear.
Group	Where will the link appear in the header?
Display Value	The text that is displayed in the Action Items area as a selectable link.
Display Action	Lists the possible actions for the selected link group. The available actions are based on the selected Group and include items such as running a report or merge. This then creates a HdrAction to fire a business rule or open a system dataform.
Sort Order	When multiple links are displayed in the header, this determines their order within the link group.
Sort/Merge	Select the report or merge to run using the appropriate display action when a Report link is selected.
Target Dataform	The dataform you would like the user to access from this link.
Code Value	This is the HrdAction produced when an Action link is selected.
Custom Function	This is the custom function that is called from an Action link.
Custom Function Data	This is the data that is passed to a custom function if required.
URL	Use this field to configure the URL that opens on a URL Display Action. When defining an external URL, include the protocol (http:// or https://) as links. Without the protocol, the link is treated as internal to the application.
Confirmation Message	Provide a confirmation message that displays an OK / Cancel dialog box before running the link action. This is most often used with Action Links.
Description	A short description of the dataform and how it should be used. This text appears when you point to the link.
Display this Link when adding	This section can be used to set parameters for when the link should display. For a complete discussion of configuring link display see Configuring Custom Dataform Links .
Pinned Open	When selected, this forces the link to always display in the Action Items area. The link does not collapse when the associated group is collapsed.
Condition Expression	This field uses the Labels from any conditions that you added under Add. You can combine multiple triggers into more complex expressions and override the default OR behavior. Conditions that are not included in this field are ignored.
Active	By default, configured links are active.

4. To add a link display condition, click Add.
   
   Link display conditions might be used to control when the link appears, such as when the client is in the approved status. For details on how to add a link display condition, see Configuring Link Display Conditions.
5. To add link security, click the Security icon in the Action Center to access the Security Roles window where you can add one or more roles and secure the custom link to unlimited roles. For details on how to configure link security, see Configuring Link Security.
6. After configuring the Dataform Link, remember to Save your changes.

For questions about Admin Dataforms, please log an Extranet case.