Sliders

slider input control

Table of Contents

Overview

A slider is a control that allows user to input values by shifting a horizontal or vertical button within a predetermined minimum and maximum values. Each slider must be associated with a Single Named Range (SNR) in the workbook.

Properties

The properties of a slider are outlined below.

Named Range

A list of all Single Named Ranges (SNR) from the workbook. The value selected on the slider will be sent to the calculation engine as an input for this named range.

Named ranges containing formulas are excluded from the list, as well as named ranges that have already been bound to a different input in your user interface.

Enable Formula Override

This option becomes available only if you select a Name Range that contains a formula.

Enabling this option allows the formula result in the control to be overwritten. This essentially means that users can set a new value for this control during runtime, and the associated formula will not change the cell value once edited.

If a cell with Enable Formula Override is edited, a button will become available right next to the cell, that can be used to clear the formula override and revert the value of the cell back to the original formula-based calculated value.

Force Override on Save

This option becomes available only when Enable Formula Override is enabled, and the Name Range selected for the control contains a formula. Using this option is limited to the scenario in which the published application has an Action Button control with Save event.

When you Save a record in the published application, each control that has Force Override on Save option enabled will save its current value, and override the formula at the same time, even if you haven’t overwritten the value in the control manually. Force Override on Save option does that automatically when the record is being saved.

Name

The Name property constitutes the label that will appear in the user interface. Other properties, such as Tooltip, will also derive their dynamic {FriendlyName} value from this property.

Slider Type

The Slider Type property defines the looks and the way users can select data using the slider. You can choose from three options:

  • Standard: This is the standard slider which selects the input value by sliding a button within the predetermined limits of the slider line. The input value selection will be displayed on the button itself. Standard sliders can be Vertical or Horizontal - See Orientation for more details on alignments.
  • With Background: This option works similar to the Standard slider in terms of selecting the input value. The input value selection will be displayed above the slider area.
  • With Buttons: This option selects the input value through the use of two buttons, which will increase or decrease the value by the Increment property, every time they are pressed. The input value will be displayed in between the two control buttons.

Orientation

This property is available only when Slider Type is set to Standard.

The orientation will determine the alignment of the slider control. In a vertical placement, the very bottom of the slider corresponds to the Minimum Value, and the top to the Maximum Value. In a horizontal placement, the left corner corresponds to the Minimum Value and the right corner to the Maximum Value.

Slider Size

The Slider Size input will only be visible if Vertical is selected for the Orientation property. Slider Size is used to define the height of the slider input in pixels. It should be an integer value between 100 and 1000.

Minimum Value – Maximum Value

The Minimum Value and Maximum Value fields are numeric inputs where you can enter the highest and lowest values the slider can select respectively.

Increment

The Increment option determines the interval at which the slider module will move. For example, an Increment of 2 will increase or decrease the input value by this much, at each position. Consequently, users will only be able to input numbers that is allowed by this limitation. A Minimum Value of 1 and an Increment of 2 will make the available options go like 1, 3, 5 etc.

Pull Default Value From Metadata

When this option is selected, the default value of the control will be pulled from the default value of the named range it’s tied to. The default value coming from the named range can be overridden from the Metadata Editor (Names). When you enable this option, the Default Value property will be hidden.

Default Value

You can enter a value into the Default Value option to make the slider start at a given number by default. This property may have a suggestion populated if the target named range for the textbox includes a default value.

Tooltip Type

Tooltips are informative message boxes that are displayed when you mouse-over or click on a control. The Tooltip Type property determines the message style, and when the information will be shown.

  • Tooltip: The content will appear in a small bubble when the user enters focus on the target input by moving their mouse over the control.
  • Popover: The content will appear in a pop-up box when the user clicks on the target input.

Tooltip Content

This property accepts the special {FriendlyName} tag if you want to insert the value of the Name property of this control into the tooltip.


Tooltip

The Tooltip Content property determines the information that will appear in the tooltip bubble.

Popover

The Popover Content property determines the information that will appear in the popover message.

Clicking on the Edit Content button will launch an instance of a rich-text editor that supports HTML code. The editor includes a simple menu for inserting certain control sets such as tables, lists, images, videos, and links, as well as text formatting controls, such as boldness, highlighting, and font.

Modifying the HTML Content

Clicking on the HTML (</>) button will change the the editor to HTML-mode. In this mode, you can enter your own HTML code, including references to classes that are defined in the Stylesheets module. Click the 'X' button in the right corner to close this window and save your changes.

Styles that are defined in the Stylesheets module will not be visible in the User Interface Designer view of the application. These stylesheets are only loaded during the Preview and Published versions of the application.

Note that scripts that are injected into the HTML will be stripped from the contents control.

Dynamic Content Injection

The value of calculated, and input named ranges can be injected directly into the HTML contents of the popover.

All dynamically injected variables must be entered inside double curly braces - {{ }}. To inject a variable into the contents, begin by entering double curly braces, and the system will automatically display available fields.

Single Named Ranges

When you enter double curly braces, you will see a list of Single Named Ranges (SNR). Selecting one of these from the list will populate the name of the named range in the contents.

Several formatting options are available when injecting the value of a Single Named Range (SNR). To use any of the formatting options, simply type in a colon character (:) after the name to see a list of supported data types. If you don't apply any formatting, the name will be injected as an unformatted value.

The data types (Integer, Decimal, DateTime, or Text) are necessary to determine the format of the field. The system will automatically format the value of the Single Named Range (SNR) when you select a data type. The text data type will get the formatted value directly from the calculation engine. Text data type also has an optional paramater (None) for formatting that has no effect on the output.

Upon selecting the data type, add a semicolon character (;) to begin defining the desired format for the output value. The .NET formatting standards apply to this property as outlined below.

Below are some examples.

{{NamedRangeName:Decimal;C2}}

  • For NamedRangeName = 12, the formatted value will be $12.00.
  • For NamedRangeName = 1.2345561, the formatted value will be $1.23.
  • For NamedRangeName = 'ABC', the formatted value will be blank.

{{NamedRangeName:Decimal;P3}}

  • For NamedRangeName = 0.12, the formatted value will be 12.000%.
  • For NamedRangeName = 1.2345561, the formatted value will be 123.457%.
  • For NamedRangeName = 'ABC', the formatted value will be blank.

{{NamedRangeName:Decimal;00000}}

  • For NamedRangeName = 1234.5678, the formatted value will be 01235.
  • For NamedRangeName = 1.2345561, the formatted value will be 00001.
  • For NamedRangeName = 'ABC', the formatted value will be blank.

Predefined Formats

You can also use a predefined Numeric, or Date and Time Formatting as outlined below.

Integer (Input value: 1234)

  • {{ValueInteger:Integer;00}} => 1234
  • {{ValueInteger:Integer;#,##0}} => 1,234
  • {{ValueInteger:Integer;00000}} => 01234
  • {{ValueInteger:Integer;##-##}} => 12-34

Decimal (Input value: 123456.78)

  • {{ValueDecimal:Decimal;0.0}} => 123456.8
  • {{ValueDecimal:Decimal;0.00}} => 123456.78
  • {{ValueDecimal:Decimal;#,##0.0}} => 123,456.8
  • {{ValueDecimal:Decimal;#,##0.00}} => 123,456.78
  • {{ValueDecimal:Decimal;0.##}} => 123456.78
  • {{ValueDecimal:Decimal;00.00}} => 123456.78
  • {{ValueDecimal:Decimal;0,0.00}} => 123,456.78
  • {{ValueDecimal:Decimal;0%}} => 12345678%
  • {{ValueDecimal:Decimal;0.0%}} => 12345678.0%

Datetime (Input value: 12/05/2018 11:25:07 pm)

  • {{NamedRangeName:Datetime;yyyy}} => 2018
  • {{NamedRangeName:Datetime;MM}} => 12
  • {{NamedRangeName:Datetime;dd}} => 05
  • {{NamedRangeName:Datetime;yyyy/MM/dd}} => 2018/12/05
  • {{NamedRangeName:Datetime;MM/dd/yyyy}} => 12/05/2018
  • {{NamedRangeName:Datetime;dd/MM/yyyy}} => 05/12/2018
  • {{NamedRangeName:Datetime;HH}} => 23
  • {{NamedRangeName:Datetime;mm}} => 25
  • {{NamedRangeName:Datetime;ss}} => 07
  • {{NamedRangeName:Datetime;tt}} => PM
  • {{NamedRangeName:Datetime;HH:mm tt}} => 23:25 PM
  • {{NamedRangeName:Datetime;HH:mm:ss tt}} => 23:25:07 PM

Text

  • {{NamedRangeName:Text;None}} : None is an optional parameter
  • {{NamedRangeName:Text}} : Will work the same as above

While formats are Culture invariant when making a selection from the list, the values shown will be different for the current application Culture. For example #,##0.0 format will be shown as in "Thousands Comma Delimiter, Decimal Period Delimiter" Culture, but it will be shown as # ##0,0 for the "Thousands Space Delimiter, Decimal Comma Delimiter" Culture setting. Once you make a selection, the value will be inserted in the contents will be the same for all Cultures.


Inserting Stubs Using the Stubs Button

Clicking the Stubs button on the top right of the content editor will open the Insert Stub menu where you can add document stubs with the help of a graphical user interface.

On the Insert Stub menu, you can select a named range, type, and format to automatically add the stub corresponding to your selections. If you want to use text format you can click Pull format from Excel checkbox.

After selecting the named range, type and format properties, or selecting the named range field and clicking Pull format from Excel checkbox press the Insert Stub button to insert the stub text into the content editor.

Tooltip Position

The Tooltip Position property determines where the tooltip or popover will be positioned in respect to the target input.

If Auto is selected, the tooltip or popover position will be calculated automatically based on other parameters like the position of the target input, and content of the tooltip or popover.

Label Horizontal Alignment

The Label Horizontal Alignment property determines the horizontal orientation of the label. This value can be set to Left, Center, or Right. The default horizontal alignment is Left.

Label Vertical Alignment

The Label Vertical Alignment property determines the vertical orientation of the label. This value can be set to Top, Middle, or Bottom. The default vertical alignment is Middle.

Label Size

The Label Size property is the spacing distribution of the input control's label vs. the input control. The maximum width of both controls cumulatively is considered to be 12 - a width of 12 for the label would indicate that the label occupies a full row within its container and the input control occupies a full row beneath it.

Any label distribution below 12 will indicate that the label and the input control occupy the same row in the user interface. The label's width will be used to calculate the control's width such that the two controls cumulatively occupy the full width of 12.

For example, setting the Label Size to 6 will indicate that the control width is also 6. This means the label will occupy 50% the width of the row and the control will occupy 50% the width of the row.

Likewise, setting the Label Size to 3 will indicate that the control width is 9, meaning that the label will occupy 25% the width of the row while the input control occupies 75% the width of the row.

Setting the Label Size to 0 will hide the label in the user interface.

Trigger Calculations

If Trigger Calculations is selected, changing the value in this input control will trigger a calculation. Calculations perform a server call with all of the inputs from the user interface and populate the output controls with the values from the updated calculation.

In workbooks with complex calculations, enabling calculations may lead to delays in the user experience.

The best practice when determining whether an input should trigger calculations should take into account the following factors:

  1. Does this input affect any calculated values? If the field is simply informational, then there is no reason for that control to trigger calculations. If there are no formulas or other controls that are dependent on this control, the Trigger Calculations will be disabled by default, but you can enable it anyways if you'd like.
  2. Does this input affect my user interface? If the field can change the visibility or enabled-ness of pages or other controls, then it is a good idea to trigger calculations when changes occur to the input.
  3. Will something else trigger calculations before this input is relevant? If the user won't see the results of the calculations until reaching a different page, then you can hold off on triggering calculations until a button press or a different control's value is changed.

Mask Type

The Mask Type determines the format of the value that is displayed in the label.

The following formats are supported:

  • Integer - The value will be presented as a whole number.
  • Currency ($) - The value will be presented with a currency mask (i.e. $ #,##0). This is the mask to use for USD ($) format.
  • Currency (€) - The value will be presented with a currency mask (i.e. € #,##0). This is the mask to use for EUR (€) format.
  • Currency (€) - The value will be presented with a currency mask (i.e. £ #,##0). This is the mask to use for GBP (£) format.

Default format is Integer.

Enabled

Indicates whether the slider is enabled.

This can be configured as Always or Never to indicate whether the slider is statically enabled or not.

Alternatively, if any Boolean Single Named Ranges (SNR) exist (i.e. ranges pointing to a single cell that evaluates to TRUE or FALSE), then the enabled-ness of the slider can be configured to reflect the value of that named range using the 'By Value Of' setting.

Visible

Indicates whether the slider is visible.

This can be configured as Always or Never to indicate whether the slider is statically visible or not.

Alternatively, if any Boolean Single Named Ranges (SNR) exist (i.e. ranges pointing to a single cell that evaluates to TRUE or FALSE), then the visibility of the slider can be configured to reflect the value of that named range using the 'By Value Of' setting.