304 lines
10 KiB
ReStructuredText
304 lines
10 KiB
ReStructuredText
.. _form-view-guidelines:
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Form Views Guidelines
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=====================
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Authors: Aline Preillon, Raphael Collet
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This document presents functional and technical guidelines for
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creating/organizing form views in OpenERP version 7.0. For each item, both the
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functional and technical aspects are explained. The goal of the new style of
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forms is to make OpenERP easier to use, and to guide users through the system.
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Business Views
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--------------
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Business views are targeted at regular users, not advanced users. Examples
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are: Opportunities, Products, Partners, Tasks, Projects, etc.
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.. image:: /form-view-guidelines/oppreadonly.png
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In general, a business view is composed of
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1. a status bar on top (with technical or business flow),
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2. a sheet in the middle (the form itself),
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3. a bottom part with History and Comments.
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Technically, the new form views are structured as follows in XML::
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<form version=”7.0”>
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<header> ... content of the status bar ... </header>
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<sheet> ... content of the sheet ... </sheet>
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<div class=”oe_chatter”> ... content of the bottom part ... </div>
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</form>
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The Status Bar
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''''''''''''''
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The purpose of the status bar is to show the status of the record and the
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action buttons, which were formerly at the bottom of form views.
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.. image:: /form-view-guidelines/status.png
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The Buttons
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...........
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The order of buttons follows the business flow. For instance, in a sale order,
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the logical steps are:
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1. Send the quotation
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2. Confirm the quotation
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3. Create the final invoice
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4. Send the goods
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Highlighted buttons (in red) emphasize the logical next step, to help the user.
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It is usually the first active button. On the other end, cancel buttons must
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remain grey (normal). For instance, in Invoice, the button “Refund” must never
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be red.
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Technically, buttons are highlighted by adding the class “oe_highlight”::
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<button class=”oe_highlight” name=”...” type=”...” states=”...”/>
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The Status
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..........
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We use the widget “statusbar”, and the current value of the state is shown in
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red. One should make visible the states that are common to all flows (for
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instance, a sale order begins as a quotation, then we send it, then it becomes
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a full sale order, and finally it is done.) Exceptions or states depending on
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particular flow are only visible if it is the current one.
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.. image:: /form-view-guidelines/status1.png
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.. image:: /form-view-guidelines/status2.png
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The states are shown following the order used in the field (the list in a
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selection field, etc). States that are always visible are indicated by the
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attribute statusbar_visible. One can also show some states in a specific color
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with statusbar_colors.
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::
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<field name="state" widget="statusbar"
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statusbar_visible="draft,sent,progress,invoiced,done"
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statusbar_colors="{‘shipping_except’:’red’,’waiting_date’:’blue’}"/>
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The Sheet
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'''''''''
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All business views should look like a printed sheet:
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.. image:: /form-view-guidelines/sheet.png
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Technically, the layout of forms version 7.0 is different than former versions.
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There is no longer a default “grid” layout; instead the layout is more based on
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HTML and CSS. The following conventions are now used:
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1. The elements <form> and <page> no longer define groups; the elements inside
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are laid out inline. One should use explicit <div> or <group> to create
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blocks.
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2. By default, the element <group> now defines two columns inside, unless an
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attribute col=”n” is used. The columns have the same width (1/n th of the
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group’s width). Use a <group> element to produce a column of fields.
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3. The element <separator string=”XXX”/> on top of a group can be replaced
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putting string=”XXX” inside the <group> element.
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4. The element <field name=”XXX”/> does not produce a label, except when they
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are directly below a <group> element. Use <label for=”XXX”/> to produce
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the label of the field.
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Sheet Headers
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.............
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Some sheets have headers with one or more fields, and the labels of those
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fields are only shown in edit mode.
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+---------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
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| View mode | Edit mode |
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+---------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
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| .. image:: /form-view-guidelines/header.png | .. image:: /form-view-guidelines/header2.png |
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+---------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
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Use HTML text, <div>, <h1>, <h2>… to produce nice headers, and <label> with the
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CSS class “oe_edit_only” to produce the field’s label in edit mode. Use the
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CSS class “oe_inline” to produce inline fields (not blocks). The form above is
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produced by the following XML.
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::
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<label for="name" class="oe_edit_only"/>
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<h1><field name="name"/></h1>
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<label for="planned_revenue" class="oe_edit_only"/>
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<h2>
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<field name="planned_revenue" class="oe_inline"/>
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<field name="company_currency" class="oe_inline oe_edit_only"/> at
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<field name="probability" class="oe_inline"/> % success rate
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</h2>
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Button Box
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..........
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Many relevant actions or links can be directly displayed in the form. For
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example, in Opportunity form, the actions “Schedule a Call” and “Schedule a
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Meeting” take an important place in the use of the CRM. Instead of placing
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them in the “More” menu of the sidebar, put them directly in the sheet as
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buttons (on the top right).
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.. image:: /form-view-guidelines/header3.png
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Technically, the buttons are placed inside a <div> to group them as a block on
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the right-hand side of the sheet.
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::
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<div class="oe_button_box oe_right">
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<button string="Schedule/Log Call" name="..." type="action"/>
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<button string="Schedule Meeting" name="action_makeMeeting" type="object"/>
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</div>
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Groups and Titles
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.................
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A column of fields is now produced with a <group> element, with an optional
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title. The title has the same effect as placing an explicit <separator>
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element inside the group.
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.. image:: /form-view-guidelines/screenshot-03.png
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::
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<group string="Payment Options">
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<field name="writeoff_amount"/>
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<field name="payment_option"/>
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</group>
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It is recommended to have two columns of fields on the form. For this, simply
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put the <group> elements that contain the fields inside a <group> element.
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To ease view inheritance, it is recommended to put a name=”...” in <group>
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elements. Adding fields inside such a group is trivial.
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Special Case: Subtotals
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Some CSS classes are defined to render subtotals like in invoice forms:
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.. image:: /form-view-guidelines/screenshot-00.png
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::
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<group class="oe_subtotal_footer">
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<field name="amount_untaxed"/>
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<field name="amount_tax"/>
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<field name="amount_total" class="oe_subtotal_footer_separator"/>
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<field name="residual" style="margin-top: 10px"/>
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</group>
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Placeholders and Inline Fields
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..............................
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Sometimes field labels make the form too complex. One can omit field labels,
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and instead put a placeholder inside the field. The placeholder text is
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visible only when the field is empty. The placeholder should tell what to
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place inside the field, and not be an example.
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One can also group fields together by rendering them “inline” inside an
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explicit block element like <div>. This allows to group several elements in
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place of a field (without its label).
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The following example, taken from the Leads form, shows both placeholders and
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inline fields (zip and city).
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+--------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------+
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| Edit mode | View mode |
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+--------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------+
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| .. image:: /form-view-guidelines/placeholder.png | .. image:: /form-view-guidelines/screenshot-01.png |
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+--------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------+
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::
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<group>
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<label for="street" string="Address"/>
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<div>
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<field name="street" placeholder="Street..."/>
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<field name="street2"/>
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<div>
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<field name="zip" class="oe_inline" placeholder="ZIP"/>
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<field name="city" class="oe_inline" placeholder="City"/>
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</div>
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<field name="state_id" placeholder="State"/>
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<field name="country_id" placeholder="Country"/>
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</div>
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</group>
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Images
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......
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Images, like avatars, should be displayed on the right of the sheet. The
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product form looks like:
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.. image:: /form-view-guidelines/screenshot-02.png
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The form above contains a <sheet> element that starts with::
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<field name="product_image" widget="image" class="oe_avatar oe_right"/>
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Tags
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....
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Many2many fields, like categories, are better rendered as a list of tags. Use
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the widget “many2many_tags”:
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.. image:: /form-view-guidelines/screenshot-04.png
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::
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<field name="category_id"
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widget="many2many_tags"/>
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Configuration Forms and Wizards
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-------------------------------
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Configuration Forms
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'''''''''''''''''''
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Examples of configuration forms: Stages, Leave Type, etc. This concerns all
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menu items under Configuration of each application (like Sales/Configuration).
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.. image:: /form-view-guidelines/nosheet.png
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For those views, the guidelines are:
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1. no header (because no state, no workflow, no button)
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2. no sheet
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Regular Wizards (Popup)
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'''''''''''''''''''''''
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Example: “Schedule a Call” from an opportunity.
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.. image:: /form-view-guidelines/wizard-popup.png
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The guidelines are:
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1. avoid separators (the title is already in the popup title bar, so another
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separator is not relevant);
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2. avoid cancel buttons (user generally close the popup window to get the same
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effect);
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3. action buttons must be highlighted (red);
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4. when there is a text area, use a placeholder instead of a label or a
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separator;
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5. like in regular form views, put buttons in the <header> element.
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Configuration Wizard
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''''''''''''''''''''
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Example: Settings / Configuration / Sales. The guidelines are:
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1. always in line (no popup);
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2. no sheet;
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3. keep the cancel button (users cannot close the window);
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4. the button “Apply” must be red.
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