Edit Type > Presentation Editor interface is antiquated

[byoung]

Apparently every aspect of every cell, field, value etc. has to be set manually and one-at-a-time. Is there anyone who can tell me a 21st century way of creating/editing these presentations/templates/items?

[pmerkle]

Hi Bob,

the Integrity Presentation files are in XML format (see attachment). I think you (and we all, too) nwill have to live with this editor ...

[byoung]

Thanks for the reply Peter,

Is there any way to edit the XML directly? On the server I can't find where it is stored...in files? in db itself?

[pmerkle · Accepted solution]

Hi Bob,

to get the template file form the Integrity database you can use the command

integrity getdbfile --forceConfirm=yes --batch --hostname="<hostname>" --port="<port>"

--user="<user>" --password="password"

--output=<diretory+filename>

data/im/issue/templates/<template name>.xml

After editing the xml file you can write it back to Integrity using the command:

integrity putdbfile --forceConfirm=yes --batch --hostname="<hostname>" --port="<port>"

--user="<user>" --password="password"

--input=<diretory+filename>.xml

data/im/issue/templates/<temple name>.xml

You'll find the "integrity" command (integrity.exe) within the "bin" directory of the Integrity Client installation.

Regards,

Peter

[KaelLizak]

Peter's suggestion is correct, but comes with conditions:

1. The cache for the item presentation templates will not be updated, so a server restart is required.
2. In addition, the XML edits are not validated when they are uploaded in this way.

There are related feature requests along these lines:

• RFC 102429: View/Edit XML for Item Presentation Template from within IPT editor
• RFC 726002: Provide CLI and/or API compatible commands for editing Item Presentation Templates
• RFC 131213: Replace Custom IPT Markup Language with Standard HTML and CSS‌
• There are others for specific funcitonality

If you feel these (or any issues) issues impact the usability of Integrity for you or your organization, please open a case with PTC Integrity Support to get your organization filed against the feature request: features without customers are very rarely implemented! All we ask is the severity of the issue (in terms of useability and estimated time/dollar impact), and what a resolution would mitigate.

Thanks,

Kael

[smccoy]

I would like to "pile on" to this constructive complaint.

In the modern era of UI development, why aren't Cascading Style Sheets and standard HTML5 used to layout the UI? This "Presentation Template", and associated ViewSet construct, are antiquated, extremely limiting, and not nearly as flexible as developers need in order to create a UI that meets the usability demands of the end-users.

It would be a simpler and more flexible design approach to allow people to use HMTL, JavaScript and CSS.

-Sean.