Using the Type Browser

The type browser allows normal users to browse and view the available topic types in your Zingoolarity instance and allows administrative users to maintain these (create, update and delete).

To invoke the type browser, select Types from either the main menu or from the home page:

(Zingoolarity type browser)

Searching & Filtering for Types

The type browser allows you to search and filter for the following type attributes:

• Name
  Enter part of a type name.
• Active
  Select whether you want to see all types, only active types or only inactive types.
• Product
  Enter part of either "product" or "lane" to select the types flagged for inclusion into the product map selector box.

Click the Search button to perform the search or click the Clear button to reset the already entered search criteria.

Exporting Types

If you are an administrative user, you can export the currently filtered list of types in ZML format to a local file.

Click on the Export button to perform the export.

A file named export_type.txt will be created in your local Downloads directory.

Adding a New Type

To add a new type, click the Add button.
The new type editor screen will appear:

(Zingoolarity type editor screen)

Let us have a look at the different available attributes of a type:

• Name
  The Name of a type represents a short and easy-to-understand label for the type.
• Detail
  The optional Detail of a type is a full text description, optionally formatted in HTML.
  You can enter HTML tags directly (e.g. if you want to underline something in the text, you can include it in tags).
• Active
  The Active toggle of a type can be used to disable (or enable) a type.
  Disabled types are not available in the various views or drop-down boxes of Zingoolarity.
  Setting a type to inactive can be used as some kind of soft delete.
• Product
  The Product selection of a type defines whether a topic of this type in included in the topic selector boxes in the Capability and Application Browsers.
  If you create a product map, you should at least set this for the type representing a product to "product".
  To include lanes into the selection too, set this to "lane" for the type representing a lane.
• Avatar
  The optional Avatar of a type allows you to upload an image file (.png, .jpg or .gif format) to the type, which will be shown as an icon for the related topics in the different views in Zingoolarity.
  The icon will only be used as long as there is no individual avatar set for a topic.
  You have to click on the Browse button to select an image file from a local directory.

At the bottom of the screen, a couple of buttons are available:

• The Save button will just save your changes (without leaving the editor screen).
• The Save+Back button will do the same but return to the previous screen.
• The Cancel button will just return to the previous screen (without saving).
• The Delete button will request confirmation, will delete the record and then will return to the previous screen.
  Note: Deleting a type is only possible, if the type is not yet used somewhere in Zingoolarity already; if this is the case, you will see an appropriate error message.
  The Log button will show a historical transaction log of the current record (for auditing purposes).

Editing an Existing Type

To edit an existing type, click the Edit button next to the type in the list shown in the type browser after searching.