Adding Apply Conditional Layout Actions

An Apply Conditional Layout (ACL) action modifies the elements that display within a record and adjusts the properties of specific fields.

ACL actions only affect view and edit modes. You can determine which sections, fields, custom interface objects and text box objects are displayed or not displayed, make fields required, or make sections or fields read only. ACL actions can be configured to be applied to specific users, groups, or both so that presentation can vary for different users.

With the exception of required field settings, ACLs serve only as a cosmetic treatment to ease data entry and viewing a form in a particular application or questionnaire. Fields that are hidden by an ACL action are still available in search results and filters for defining reports, searches, and notifications. Data that is hidden by an ACL action to a user cannot be printed or exported by that user. Field access permissions are still applied for printing and exporting.

Guidelines for using this action type

When working with this section, keep the following things in mind: The user must have edit privileges to edit a field. The settings on this page do not grant edit privileges to an account that does not already have those privileges.Be careful if choosing to hide a required field. The field is still required, even if it is not displayed. If required field is not visible to the user, the user cannot save the record. To solve this, either modify the application to display the required field for the user, or change the field settings so that it is no longer required.The settings in this section do not change the layout of the page. To change the layout, use the Layout tab of the Manage Application page.If the layout of the application has multiple tabs, the Layout Configuration section includes multiple tabs.Placeholders may still be displayed for a screen object even though the object is not displayed.Field-level rules An ACL action does not give users added field permissions, but it can restrict them. If a field is set to Display and the user does not have read permissions to the field, the field is still hidden from the user. If a user has full permissions to a field that is set to Read Only in an ACL action, the user cannot modify the field.If a field is not displayed because of an ACL action, a user with field permissions can still search the field and functions, such as data feed, and Web APIs can still reference the field.A field that is defined as required in an application can be set to one of the following options: Use Default Settings, Display, Do Not Display, and Read Only. If a required field is set to Read Only or Do Not Display and is hidden, the field is still required and a user cannot save the record.Text box objects, custom objects, and trending charts have the following options: Use Default Settings, Display, and Do Not Display. Placeholder objects cannot be modified by an ACL action and do not have any available options.Changes to an application can affect previously configured field-level options. If a field with field-level options is moved to a new section, the field-level options are evaluated according to ACL Conflict Resolution rules of precedence. Specifically, field-level options are affected when the new section has section-level options that are more restrictive than the field-level options of the field.See Conflict Resolution for DDE Actions for information about remediating ACL conflicts.

Add an ACL action

1. In your application or questionnaire, select your layout.
2. Click the Designer tab, and then click the Actions tab.
3. Select the action type, enter a name, and click Create Action.
4. In the Layout Configuration section, do the following:
   1. Determine how you want to display sections.

   2. The following table describes section-level options.

      Option	Description
      Use Default Settings	All fields and objects in the section are displayed. Individual fields and objects in the section can have field-level options configured.
      Display	All fields and objects in the section are forced to display (subject to the user having field permissions to that field). Individual fields and objects in the section can have field-level options configured.
      Read Only	All fields in the section are displayed as read only and are not available for editing. This option affects all of the fields in the section, but does not impact the non-field objects in the section, such as custom interface and text box objects. Individual fields in the section cannot have field-level options configured. Objects in the section function as originally configured.
      Do Not Display	All fields and objects in the section are not displayed. Individual fields and objects in the section cannot have field-level options configured.

      Note: A section-level option can override a field-level option. For example, if you have a required field in one section and move it to another section that has a section-level setting of Do Not Display, the field is no longer required and is not displayed.

   3. Determine how you want fields to display.

   4. The following table describes available field-level options.

      Option	Description
      Use Default Settings	Field behaves as defined.
      Display	Field is forced to display (subject to the user having field permissions to that field).
      Required	Field is required. The Required option is not available for fields that cannot be set to Required in an application.
      Read Only	Field is displayed as read only and is not available for editing. The Read Only option is not available for fields that are inherently read only, for example, System fields.
      Do Not Display	Field is not displayed.

5. In the Qualified Users/Groups section, select the users, groups, or fields that you want to include or exclude from this conditional layout.

6. An ACL action must have at least one user, group, or field (user/groups or record permissions) specified to save the action. The specified user, group, or field determines to which users the ACL action applies. When a User/Groups List or Record Permissions field is selected in an ACL action, only the data committed in the database is used for determining whether an ACL action is applied to the specified user.

   The Exclude option allows you to exclude users, groups, or fields from the ACL action. The Everyone group cannot be excluded.

   The following table describes how the exclude option applies to users, groups, and fields. Rule Behavior Exclude User The ACL action will not be applied to a user who is explicitly excluded. Exclude Group The ACL action will not be applied to all users who belong to the group that is explicitly excluded. The Cascade option is not selected by default. If the Cascade option is selected for a group that is included, all users belonging to a sub-group and any member of the group is included.If the Cascade option is selected for a group that is excluded, all users belonging to a sub-group and any member of the group is excluded. A user who is explicitly included will be excluded if the group is excluded. Exclude Field Any user that is selected in the user/groups list or record permissions field will be excluded if the field is excluded. A user who is explicitly included will be excluded if the user is selected in the field and the field is excluded. When a user/groups list or record permissions field is selected for inclusion or exclusion in an ACL action, only the data committed in the database is used for determining whether a user is included or excluded from the ACL action.

7. In the Associated Rules section, click to select, create, or copy a rule.
8. Click to save your changes.