Create a Page Layout

A page layout lets you choose what information to show, where on the page it appears, and who gets to see it.  You can have more than one page layout for an object.

Permissions are required to work with custom objects.

A Page Layout allows you to determine how you will show the information about an object; it controls what the user will see.  Each object can have more than one page layout, and each layout can show your choice of information in the way that you want to show it.  A page layout can be assigned to different user profiles, so you can choose exactly what you want to show to the users.  You can create a summary view of the layout by choosing what fields will be part of the summary view.  PerfectMind automatically creates a default page layout which you can edit and use.

Create a New Page Layout

When creating a page layout, first the page is created and named.  You can then add Sections to the page, which are table-like areas on the page with rows and columns.  You can add the Fields to the sections, and this is the information that the user will see.  If an object is linked to other objects (Parent objects, through a Master-Detail or Lookup Relationship), you will be able to select fields from the Parent object, but they will be Read Only and their information can not be changed.

Page Layouts are added to objects.  Start from the Setup in PerfectMind, select Custom Objects, and click on the name of the object you wish to add a new page layout to.

1. Click the Page Layout tab.

2. Click the New button to create a new layout.

3. Give the layout a descriptive name in the Page Layout Name, so you will know what it is for later.

 



 

4. Click Add Button to add custom buttons to the layout.  These appear at the top of the page layout.  Custom buttons can perform actions that you define.  See:  Custom Buttons for more information on creating buttons.

5. In the Section Properties, give the first section a Name, and select the number of Columns (maximum of three columns) and Rows.  You can change this at any time.  The section acts to group the fields together, and identify their purpose.

 

 

6. If you want the section to be open and the fields displayed when the user sees the page, check the Selection Expandable box.  If you un-check the box, the user will see the section name, and be able to expand it themselves on the page.

7. From the list of the fields, click on a field and drag it and drop it into the place where you want it to appear.  You can clear a field by reversing this, just click on the field in the section then drag it over to the list.

 



 

8. If you want to add a new section click on the New Section button, and name and format the new section, and drag the fields onto it.

9. When the field has been added to the section, click on the field icon to set the fields properties.  You can make a field Required (must be filled in when creating a new entry), Read Only (can not be changed), and Show in Summary (see it in the Summary view of the page layout).  Note that icons for these field properties will appear next to the field on the page layout.

• If a field is Required in the object itself, it must be included on the layout page, unless it also has a Default value (See:  Custom Field Properties).

 



 

10. If the object is linked to another object by a Master-Detail or Lookup Relationship field, the fields from the Master object will be available for the layout.  These fields from other objects are always Read Only and can not be changed from Read Only.

 



 

11. You can embed a chart based on a report into the page layout.  When the page layout is viewed, the report will be part of the page, and show information relevant to the record being viewed.  For example, for a customer sales report, it would show sales for the customer that was being viewed.  Select Report Charts from the object drop down list above the list of fields to see the available charts.  See Create a Report for more information.

12. You can add Related Tabs to the layout.  See: Page Layout - Add Related Tabs for details.  Related Tabs provide other information such as:

• Audit:  This allows you to see who worked with and made changes to the object, such as adding it, leaving notes, editing it, etc.

• Related Objects:  You can see fields from related Detail objects from Master-Detail and Lookup Relationships.  For example, for a Customer, you could add the Related Tab for Invoices, so as to see all of the invoices for a customer on the same page.

13. You can add a Notes tab that allows users to enter any information by enabling Notes for the object.  See Notes for details on how to do this.

14. Click Preview to see the how the layout will be displayed.

15. Click Preview Summary to see the Summary view.  You must have at least one field with it's Show in Summary property checked to have a Summary view.  There can be a maximum of ten fields in the Summary view.

16. Click Save to finish.  If you click Cancel you will return to the Page Layout list view without saving the changes.

17. To assign a page layout to a profile, see Page Layout Assignment.

Edit a Page Layout

You can change and update views that you have already created and saved.

1. Select the custom object to work on, and then click it's Page Layout tab.

2. Click on the name of the page layout to select it.

3. You can now add, remove, and modify sections, fields, and their properties.

4. Click Save when you are finished, or Cancel to return to the Page Layout tab without saving any changes.

Clone a Page Layout

This allows you to use an existing page layout and make a copy of it to use as a template for a new page layout.  

1. Select the custom object to work on, and then click it's Page Layout tab.

2. Click on the row of the page layout to select the row.  Do not click on the object name.

3. Click the Clone button.

4. Enter a new Page Layout Name.

5. You can now add, remove, and modify sections, fields, and their properties.

6. Click Save when you are finished, or Cancel to return to the Page Layout tab without saving any changes.

See Also

Page Layout - Add Related Tabs

Custom Fields

Notes

Custom Buttons

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