Layout Definitions

Layouts can be used to display various kinds of information, in various renderings. 

Layout Registration

Layouts are registered using a regular extension point on the Nuxeo ECM layout service. Here is a sample contribution.

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<component name="org.nuxeo.ecm.platform.forms.layouts.webapp">

  <extension target="org.nuxeo.ecm.platform.forms.layout.WebLayoutManager"
    point="layouts">

    <layout name="heading">
      <aliases>
        <alias>header</alias>
      </aliases>
     <templates>
        <template mode="any">/layouts/layout_default_template.xhtml</template>
      </templates>
      <rows>
        <row>
          <widget>title</widget>
        </row>
        <row>
          <widget>description</widget>
        </row>
      </rows>
      <widget name="title" type="text">
        <labels>
          <label mode="any">label.dublincore.title</label>
        </labels>
        <translated>true</translated>
        <fields>
          <field>dc:title</field>
        </fields>
        <properties widgetMode="edit">
          <property name="required">true</property>
        </properties>
      </widget>
      <widget name="description" type="textarea">
        <labels>
          <label mode="any">label.dublincore.description</label>
        </labels>
        <translated>true</translated>
        <fields>
          <field>dc:description</field>
        </fields>
      </widget>
    </layout>

  </extension>

</component>

Layout Definition

The above layout definition is used to display the title and the description of a document. Here are its properties:

• name: the string used as an identifier. In the example, the layout name is heading.
• templates: the list of templates to use for this layout global rendering. In the example, the layout template in any mode is the XHTML file at "/layouts/layout_default_template.xhtml". Please refer to section about custom layout templates for more information.
• rows: the definition about which widgets will have to be displayed on this row. Each row can hold several widgets, and an empty widget tag can be used to control the alignment. The widget has to match a widget name given in this layout definition. If none is found, it will lookup a global widget with this name in the global registry of widgets. In the example, two rows have been defined: the first one will hold the title widget, and the second one will hold the description widget.
• widget: a layout definition can hold any number of widget definitions. If the widget is not referenced in the rows definition, it will be ignored. Referencing a global widget instead of defining it locally is a convenient way to share widget definitions between layouts. Please refer to the Widget Definitions section.
• type: an optional type has been introduced on layouts, making it possible to avoid repeating the templates to use when declaring a layout definition. Please refer to the Standard Layout Types section.
• aliases: an optional alternative name for this layout. This is useful for compatibility management, when renaming a given layout. If another layout is declared with the same name, the last layout to be declared will be taken into account at runtime.

Listing Layout Definition

Layouts can also be used to render table rows, as long as their mode (or their widgets mode) do not depend on the iteration variable (as the layout is built when building the JSF tree, too early in the JSF construction mechanism for most iteration variables).

A layout type has been extracted to make this configuration easier, so links to templates do not need to be referenced here.

For this usage, columns/column aliases have been defined because they are more intuitive when describing a row in the layout. The layout layout_listing_template.xhtml makes it possible to define new properties to take care of when rendering the table header or columns.

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<component name="org.nuxeo.ecm.platform.forms.layouts.webapp.listing">

  <extension target="org.nuxeo.ecm.platform.forms.layout.WebLayoutManager"
    point="widgets">

    <widget name="listing_selection_box_with_current_document"
      type="listing_selection_box_with_current_document">
      <labels>
        <label mode="any"></label>
      </labels>
      <fields>
        <field>selected</field>
        <field>data.ref</field>
      </fields>
    </widget>

    <widget name="listing_icon_type" type="listing_icon_type">
      <labels>
        <label mode="any"></label>
      </labels>
      <fields>
        <field>data</field>
        <field>data.ref</field>
        <field>data.type</field>
        <field>data.folder</field>
      </fields>
    </widget>

    <widget name="listing_title_link" type="listing_title_link">
      <labels>
        <label mode="any">label.content.header.title</label>
      </labels>
      <translated>true</translated>
      <fields>
        <field>data</field>
        <field>data.ref</field>
        <field>data.dc.description</field>
        <field>data.file.content</field>
        <field>data.file.filename</field>
      </fields>
      <properties mode="any">
        <property name="file_property_name">file:content</property>
        <property name="file_schema">file</property>
      </properties>
    </widget>

    <widget name="listing_modification_date" type="datetime">
      <labels>
        <label mode="any">label.content.header.modified</label>
      </labels>
      <translated>true</translated>
      <fields>
        <field>data.dc.modified</field>
      </fields>
      <properties widgetMode="any">
        <property name="pattern">#{nxu:basicDateAndTimeFormater()}</property>
      </properties>
    </widget>

  </extension>

  <extension target="org.nuxeo.ecm.platform.forms.layout.WebLayoutManager"
    point="layouts">

    <layout name="document_listing_sample" type="listingTable">
      <properties mode="any">
        <property name="showListingHeader">true</property>
        <property name="showRowEvenOddClass">true</property>
      </properties>
      <columns>
        <column>
          <properties mode="any">
            <property name="isListingSelectionBoxWithCurrentDocument">
              true
            </property>
            <property name="useFirstWidgetLabelAsColumnHeader">false</property>
            <property name="columnStyleClass">iconColumn</property>
          </properties>
          <properties mode="csv">
            <property name="isHidden">true</property>
          </properties>
          <properties mode="pdf">
            <property name="isHidden">true</property>
          </properties>
          <widget>listing_selection_box_with_current_document</widget>
        </column>
        <column>
          <properties mode="any">
            <property name="useFirstWidgetLabelAsColumnHeader">false</property>
            <property name="columnStyleClass">iconColumn</property>
          </properties>
          <widget>listing_icon_type</widget>
        </column>
        <column>
          <properties mode="any">
            <property name="useFirstWidgetLabelAsColumnHeader">true</property>
            <property name="sortPropertyName">dc:title</property>
          </properties>
          <widget>listing_title_link</widget>
        </column>
        <column>
          <properties mode="any">
            <property name="useFirstWidgetLabelAsColumnHeader">true</property>
            <property name="sortPropertyName">dc:modified</property>
          </properties>
          <widget>listing_modification_date</widget>
        </column>
      </columns>
    </layout>

  </extension>

</component>

Here widgets have been defined globally, as well as their types. New widget types, or simply widget templates, can be made taking example on the existing ones, see the layouts-listing-contrib.xml and chapter about Listing Widget Types.

Note that field bindings are a bit different here since they do not hold just the property path, but the data prefix. For more information about this, please read Field Binding and Expressions.

More information about how to write a listing layout template can be read in section Custom Layout and Widget Templates.

Grid Layout Definition

Layouts can also be used to render grid layouts, visible on documents "Summary" tab for instance.

Here is a sample contribution showing how to define grid slots and corresponding size. The online Style Guide shows detailed information about grids styling.

<layout name="grid_summary_layout">
  <templates>
    <template mode="any">
      /layouts/layout_grid_template.xhtml
    </template>
  </templates>
  <rows>
    <row>
      <properties mode="any">
        <property name="nxl_gridStyleClass_0">gridStyle12</property>
      </properties>
      <widget>summary_panel_top</widget>
    </row>
    <row>
      <properties mode="any">
        <property name="nxl_gridStyleClass_0">gridStyle7</property>
        <property name="nxl_gridStyleClass_1">gridStyle5</property>
      </properties>
      <widget>summary_panel_left</widget>
      <widget>summary_panel_right</widget>
    </row>
    <row>
      <properties mode="any">
        <property name="nxl_gridStyleClass_0">gridStyle12</property>
      </properties>
      <widget>summary_panel_bottom</widget>
    </row>
  </rows>
</layout>

Other Kinds of Layout Definitions

Above examples show that depending on the layout template used to perform the rendering, specific configuration can be held by the layout definition to allow performing customized behavior and rendering.

As an example, Studio generates specific layout templates to handle colspans in generated rendering. Colspan information is kept on layout rows properties.