DSP® Application Development

Guidelines for the Navigation Pane

The Navigation pane on the left displays page links to the WebApp.

The following are the suggested menu links on the Navigation pane for each WebApp (in this order, from top to bottom):

  • WebApp Name – Displays the name of the current WebApp with the proper trademark. This menu item links to the WebApp home page or message board.
  • Configuration – A submenu often created to link to the multiple pages available under Configuration. Each page under Configuration should display the Navigation pane at the left, with links to all configuration tables specific to the WebApp. It is suggested that every WebApp contain a link to the Parameters page that contains, at a minimum, the following fields: Application Name, Version and Release Date.

NOTE: The Configuration submenu often provides links to other pages that can be used for list boxes on other pages within the WebApp.

The following are general menu guidelines:
  • Use a standard Navigation pane on all pages. The menu items on the Navigation pane vary depending on the WebApp.
  • Do not modify the Navigation pane labels that are automatically added by DSP® when a WebApp is created. If copying an existing WebApp to create a new WebApp, the Navigation pane links must be modified to link to the appropriate pages within the new WebApp. Refer to Copy Page for more information.
  • Do not use labels for menus unless the name of the page needs to be different only when displayed on the menu.

NOTE: When a user navigates from one WebApp to another, the menu displayed in the navigation pane is chosen from the target page the user is loading. Most WebApps are accessed via the Navigation pane with a link to the WebApp’s home page. The Horizontal Menu of that target page is chosen, unless it is null where it will fall back to the Vertical Menu. This menu will be the menu used for the entirety of the time the user remains in this WebApp. The most common usage is to define the main pages on the Switchboard menu and use that on most pages as the Horizontal View. Submenus can be created and then registered on the Switchboard menu to provide access to other top-level pages.