Page Template
Introduction
Page templates are the starting point for creating new pages. Every time a new page is created, a page template is selected as a baseline that can then be edited to match the pages specific needs.
When creating a new page, the user is presented with an overview of all the compatible page templates in the app. Page templates as document types allow users to edit existing page templates and even create entirely new ones.
Custom Page Templates
By mapping out the common design patterns of an app, a great deal of the initial work involved in creating new pages can be mitigated.
Generally, page templates are stored in the app’s UI resources package. This keeps them in sync with the app theme, as well as providing a handy place to consolidate all design-related data.
To create a page template, right-click a page in either the App Explorer or an empty section of the working area and select Create page template. The page will be added as a new page template, which will automatically make it available in the Create Page wizard.
As the purpose of page templates is to facilitate design rather than functionality, page templates should be devoid of references to other documents. This is to prevent users from facing confusing errors when creating a new page. It also mitigates the chance of errors when importing page templates from a different app.
Page template properties are described in the sections below.
Common Properties
Designer Properties
The size of a page as displayed in the page editor can be controlled through two properties.
Canvas Width
This defines the width in pixels of the page in the page editor.
Default: 800
Canvas Height
This defines the preferred minimum height in pixels of the page in the page editor.
Default: 600
These properties only change what is seen in the editor. They have no effect on the actual application.
General Properties
Display Name
The display name determines by what name the page template will appear in the Create Page wizard.
Image
The image selected will appear in the Create Page wizard. Selecting a representative image will allow users to easily distinguish between page templates. If left blank, the template will display an empty white field. Any image selected will be scaled down to 200x200 pixels.
Category
The category is used to group page templates in the Create Page dialog box.
Category Weight
The category weight determines the order of categories inside the Create Page dialog box (in ascending order). If page templates with the same category have different category weights, the lowest is used to determine the position.
Shown When
Depending on the context in which a page is created, the user is presented with a different set of page templates to choose from. This setting determines which set the page template belongs to.
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
| Creating new pages (default) | The page template is available when creating new pages from most contexts, such as from the App Explorer. |
| Generating edit pages | The page template is available when a user generates a new page from a new or edit button. |
| Generating select pages | The page templates is available when the user generates a new page from a select button. |
This setting may also place extra restrictions on the template. Page templates intended as new or edit pages require exactly one top-level data view be present. Page templates intended as Select pages require exactly one list view, data grid, or template grid.
Layout Type
Layouts are all assigned a type in their properties. This type determines in which profiles the layout can be used. To ensure that a user can always map a page template to a compatible layout during page creation, a page template must be assigned one of these same layout types. In practice, this setting will affect in which profile tab of the Create Page wizard the page template is displayed. Additionally, it will automatically restrict the default layout setting to layouts of the same type.
Preview Layout
Although page templates and layouts can be mixed and matched, this setting will determine which layout will be used to display the template in the editor. It also has a minor effect on the page creation process: if the template describes contents for layout placeholders that are not present in the previously selected layout, the first compatible layout will be pre-selected in the Create Page wizard. For a full description of the interaction between a page template and its preview layout, see Layout.
The options available for this setting are regulated by the layout type setting. If you are having trouble finding the layout you are looking for, check if the layout type of the template and the desired layout match.