1. App Builder User's Guide
  2. Managing Shared Components
  3. Using Component Groups

16.11 Using Component Groups

Use component groups to easily copy or subscribe to a collection of shared components.

Parent topic: Managing Shared Components

16.11.1 About Component Groups

Learn about component groups.

A Component Group is a collection of other shared components. Use component groups to bulk copy, subscribe, and refresh the components in the group. You can copy and/or subscribe component groups from one application to another.

The following shared components can be part of a component group:

  • Application Items
  • Application Processes
  • Application Computations
  • Application Settings
  • Build Options
  • Lists
  • Search Configurations
  • Data Load Definitions
  • REST Data Sources
  • Authentication Schemes
  • Authorization Schemes
  • Application Access Control roles
  • Email Templates
  • Lists of Values
  • Plug-ins
  • Component Settings (native components only)
  • Shortcuts
  • Map Backgrounds
  • Report Layouts
  • Text Messages

Parent topic: Using Component Groups

16.11.2 Creating a Component Group

Create a component group by assigning components to the group.

The components you plan to add to the component group must already exist in the application.

To create a component group:

  1. Access the Component Groups page:
    1. On the Workspace home page, click the App Builder icon.
    2. Select an application.
    3. On the Application home page, click Shared Components.
    4. Under Other Components, click Component Groups.
    5. Click Create.
  2. For Name and Comments:
    1. Name - Enter the name of the component group. The component group name must be unique within the application.
    2. Comments - Enter a brief description of this component group.
    3. Click Create.
    The Component Group Details screen appears.

To add components to the component group:

  1. Click Assign Components.
  2. Select the Component Type from the available options.
  3. From the available components, select components for the component group using Reset, Move All, Move, Remove, and Remove All.

    WARNING:

    Once you select components for the component group, you must assign them to the group before switching the desired component type. If you select components and then switch the component type without assigning the selected components, the components are not added to the group.
  4. Assign the components to the component group:
    • Click Assign and Assign More to assign the selected components, and then continue selecting more components of a different component type.
    • Click Assign to assign the selected components and return to the component group details screen.
    • Click Cancel to return to the component group details screen.

To remove components from the component group:

  1. Click Unassign from Component Group.

To save the component group:

  1. Click Apply Changes.

Parent topic: Using Component Groups

16.11.3 Copying and Subscribing to a Component Group

Copy a component group from the current application or from another application. When copying a component group from another application, you can also subscribe to it.

Tip:

Subscriptions enable developers to reuse shared components across several applications in a workspace. To learn more about subscriptions, see Using Shared Component Subscriptions.
  1. Navigate to the Shared Components, Component Groups page:
    1. On the Workspace home page, click App Builder.
    2. Select an application.
    3. On the Application home page, click Shared Components.

      The Shared Components page appears.

    4. Under Other Components, select Component Groups.

      The Component Groups page appears. Note that the report includes the following columns: Subscribed From, Subscription Status, and Subscribers.

To copy a component group within the current application:

  1. Search for the component group and click Copy in the Copy column.
    The Copy Component Group Wizard appears.
  2. New Component Group Name - Enter the name of the component group. The component group name must be unique within the application.
  3. Click Copy Component Group.

To copy a component group from another application:

  1. From the Tasks region on the Component Groups page, click Copy from another app.
    The Copy Component Group Wizard appears.
  2. Application - Select the application from which you want to copy.
  3. Component Group - Select the component group to copy.
  4. Subscribe - Set this flag to On to subscribe to the component group.

    Tip:

    You cannot subscribe to a component group once it is copied to the new application. You can only subscribe during this step of the copy process.
  5. Click Next.
  6. Review the actions column for each component.
    • Add: A new component will be added to the target application.
    • Refresh: An existing component will be reused after refresh.
    • Replace: An existing component will be replaced with the master component.
    • Reuse: An existing component will be reused.
  7. Click Copy Component Group.

Parent topic: Using Component Groups

16.11.4 Refreshing a Subscribed Component Group

Access changes in a master component group by refreshing the subscribed component group.

This procedure discusses refreshing an entire component group. To refresh an individual item in a component group, see Refreshing a Subscribed Shared Component.

If a master component group or any of the components that are part of the component group have changes, subscribed component groups have a Subscription Status of Needs refresh, and a Refresh button appears on the component group edit page. When you refresh a component group, all the components assigned to the component group with an individual component subscription status of Needs refresh are refreshed. The Refresh button does not appear if the subscription status is Up to date.

You can refresh a subscribed component group on the component group edit page.

To refresh a subscribed component group:

  1. Navigate to the Shared Components, Component Groups page:
    1. On the Workspace home page, click App Builder.
    2. Select an application.
    3. On the Application home page, click Shared Components.

      The Shared Components page appears.

    4. Under Other Components, select Component Groups.

      The Component Groups page appears. Note that the report includes the following columns: Subscribed From, Subscription Status, and Subscribers.

  2. Refresh the component group subscription:
    1. Find and access the edit page of the component group.

      If there are new changes in the master component group, the Subscription Status is Needs refresh.

      To access the edit page, click the component group name.

    2. On the component group edit page, find the Subscription region and click the Refresh button.
  3. Review the actions column for each component.
    • Add: A new component will be added to the target application and assigned to the component group.
    • Refresh: An existing component will be refreshed.
    • Refresh and Assign: An existing component will be refreshed and assigned to the component group.
    • Replace: An existing component will be replaced with the master component and assigned to the component group.
    • Reuse: An existing component will be assigned to the component group.
    • Unassign: This component will be unassigned from the component group.
  4. Click Refresh to update the component group.
The component group refreshes.

Parent topic: Using Component Groups

16.11.5 Publishing a Component Group

Publish a component group to push changes to all subscribing component groups.

In order to publish a component group, you must have already made changes to one or more of the components in the component group.

To publish a component group:

  1. Navigate to the Shared Components page:
    1. On the Workspace home page, click App Builder.
    2. Select the application containing the master component group.
    3. On the Application home page, click Shared Components.

      The Shared Components page appears.

  2. Under Other Components, click Component Groups.
  3. Find and access the edit page of the master component group.
    By default, each component group displays as a report. To access the edit page, click the component group name.
  4. (Optional) Assign or unassign components from the component group.
    For more on assigning and unassigning components, see Creating a Component Group.

To push the changes to subscribed component groups:

  1. Under Subscription, click Publish.
  2. Review the actions column for each component.
    • Add: A new component will be added to the target application and assigned to the component group.
    • Refresh: An existing component will be refreshed.
    • Refresh and Assign: An existing component will be refreshed and assigned to the component group.
    • Replace: An existing component will be replaced with the master component and assigned to the component group.
    • Reuse: An existing component will be assigned to the component group.
    • Unassign: This component will be unassigned from the component group.
  3. In the Confirm Publish dialog, click Publish again.
    The following confirmation message appears:

    All subscribing component groups are refreshed.

Parent topic: Using Component Groups

16.11.6 Unsubscribing from a Component Group

Unsubscribe from a component group on the Component Group Details page.

Unsubscribing from a component group automatically unsubscribes all the individual components in that group.

To unsubscribe from a component group:

  1. Navigate to the Component Groups page:
    1. Navigate to the Workspace home page.
    2. Click the App Builder icon.
    3. Select an application.
    4. On the Application home page, click Shared Components.
    5. Under Other Components, click Component Groups.
      The Component Groups page appears. Note that the report includes the following columns: Subscribed From, Subscription Status, and Subscribers.
  2. Select a component group that is currently subscribed from an application.

    Note:

    When a component group is subscribed, the Subscribed From column indicates the application number of the master component group.
  3. In the Subscription region, click Unsubscribe.

Parent topic: Using Component Groups

16.11.7 Deleting a Component Group

Learn how to delete a component group.

Deleting a component group does not delete the individual shared components that make up the group. Deleting a component group deletes the group and the assignment of components to the group.

To delete a component group:

  1. Navigate to the Shared Components page:
    1. On the Workspace home page, click App Builder.
    2. Select an application.
    3. On the Application home page, click Shared Components.

      The Shared Components page appears.

  2. Under Other Components, select Component Groups.

    The Component Groups page appears.

  3. Click the name of the component group to be deleted.
  4. On the Edit page, click Delete.
  5. Click Delete to confirm.

Parent topic: Using Component Groups