Help - Admin - Categories

Background

Categories are used to control dropdown lists and generic fields in Aspen Workflow.

Standard Dropdown Lists

The following fields are driven by dropdown lists:

Field	Category	Use
Matter. Status	MatterStatus	Represents a status indicator for a matter, and is tied to color-coding the matter on lists and search screens. Examples might include Open, OnHold, Closed, Overdue, HighPriority, etc.
Contact. Prefix	Prefix	Used to determine the prefix used for contacts. Examples include Mr., Mrs., Ms., Hon., etc.
Note. NoteType	NoteType	Used to categorize notes; often used for reporting purposes. Examples include Client and Private. This is distinct from Note.Priority.
Note. Priority	NotePriority	Used to prioritize notes, and must have integer values. Note sort order is primarily based on priority.
Document. DocumentType	DocumentType	This categorizes a document to simplify administrative assignment of document maintenance.
Document. DocumentMimeType	DocumentMimeType	This controls the list of document mime types.
Report. ReportType	ReportType	This categorizes a report to simplify administrative assignment of report maintenance.
Feature	Category	Use
Matter Search	MatterSearch	User defined columns for the Matter Search page. Each option in this category represents a new column in the MatterSearch.asp page, and the description comprises the javascript code to be evaluated to display the contents of the column.
Matter Tabs	MatterMenu	Each MatterMenu dropdown item will be rendered in V2 as an additional menu item, and in V3 as an additional menu tab.
Process Tabs	Process Menu <n>	User defined tabs for a specific process in the matter module. <n> is the process ID. See Process Menus below for more information.
Client Tabs	ClientMenu	Adds tabs to the client lookup screen. Useful for integrating client child tables.
Vendor Tabs	VendorMenu	Adds tabs to the client lookup screen. Useful for integrating client child tables.

Generic Fields

Most tables in Aspen Workflow include ten generic fields, Flag0..Flag9. Normally, these fields are hidden on update pages. They can be displayed by creating a category corresponding to the table and field name. For example, to categorize clients as assignees with Client.Flag0, create a category called ClientFlag0 and label it Assignee. When a user updates the client, she will be presented with a field called 'Assignee', and the information entered will be stored in the Client.Flag0 field.

It is often desirable to control the possible data entries for a category. This may be done by creating one or more dropdown items for a category. This will control data entry as follows:

[FrontPage Save Results Component]

Dropdown items Field Presented Explanation

(None) Assignee: Text box allows up to 50 characters of data. Any characters may be entered.

Assignee Assignee: Check box allows user to indicate a yes or no condition. If checked, Client.Flag0 will be set to Assignee. Otherwise, Client.Flag0 will be left NULL.

Assignee, Mortgagee, Both Assignee: Dropdown list allows user to select for the dropdown items. The default item is None, and selection will set Client.Flag0 to NULL. Otherwise, Client.Flag0 will be set to the value of the dropdown item.

Administrators may customize each table with flags which are specific to your installation.

Process Tabs

Occasionally, there will be a need to create customized pages for a particular type of process that does not fit well into either a task structure, or into the Matter Menu tabs. In these cases, Process Tabs can be created to render a series of tabs in the MatterTaskList.asp page. To render tabs, the following steps must be taken:

Create a System Default name "Process Menu: <ProcessID>". For example, if the process "Plan a Wedding" is to include tabs, and it has a ProcessID of 127, the the System Default would be "Process Menu: 127". The value of the System Default determines the category to based the tab on. For example, enter the value "Process Menu: Plan a Wedding".
Create a Category matching the System Default value created above. Each option defined for the category will comprise a new tab. The dropdown value of the option determines the URL, the label determines the label of the tab.
Create the customized web pages that the tabs point to.

Report Parameters

Aspen Workflow Reports are based on stored procedures. If a category is created that has the same name as a report stored procedure parameter (e.g. @SortBy), then the category options will determine the possible parameter values.

For example, if you wanted to create a report with a @SortBy parameter with possible value of 'Client', 'Matter', and 'Person', you would create a category called '@SortBy', options 'Client', 'Matter', and 'Person', and then include @SortBy as a parameter in your stored procedure.

Rules

When inserting or updating categories, a rule name can be specified. This corresponds to an SQL rule that enforces data integrity. Aspen Workflow enforces data integrity at the application level; if you will be performing imports into the Aspen Workflow database that updates flag columns, it is highly recommended that a corresponding rule be created.

Lookup Stored Procedures

When inserting or updating categories, checking the 'generate lookup' box will cause a stored procedure to be created. The stored procedure will be named l<TableName><CategoryName>, and may be used to generate dropdown lists for Aspen Workflow fields. In the Assignee example above, a stored procedure lClientAssignee would be created, and could then be use to create an Aspen Workflow field which comprises a dropdown lists of all Clients marked as assignees.