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How to Create Breadcrumbs

You can create breadcrumbs while creating a page, or manually by running the Create Breadcrumb Wizard.

Topics:

Creating a Breadcrumb While Creating a Page

To create a breadcrumb while creating a page:

  1. Run the Create Page Wizard to add a new page. See "Managing Pages in a Database Application".

    During the wizard, a Breadcrumb option appears. The actual page on which this list displays depends upon the type of page you are creating.

  2. From the Breadcrumb list, select a breadcrumb or select -do not add breadcrumb region to page -.

    If yo select a breadcrumb, the Create Breadcrumb Entry form appears.

    Description of breadcrum_creage_pg.gif follows
    Description of the illustration breadcrum_creage_pg.gif

  3. In Entry Name, enter a name for the breadcrumb.

  4. For Parent Entry:

    • To specify a parent, select a parent page from the Select Parent Entry list.

    • If this breadcrumb does not have a parent, select No parent breadcrumb entry.

  5. Follow the on-screen instructions.

Creating a Breadcrumb Manually

To create breadcrumbs manually, you need to add a breadcrumb to each page in your application as follows:

  1. Create the breadcrumb by running the Create/Edit Breadcrumb Wizard from either the Shared Components page or the Page Definition. See "Creating Breadcrumbs from the Shared Components Page" and "Creating Breadcrumbs from a Page Definition".

  2. Add entries to the breadcrumb. See "Adding Breadcrumb Entries".

  3. Add the breadcrumb to a page by creating a region. See "Adding a Breadcrumb Region".

Creating Breadcrumbs from the Shared Components Page

To create breadcrumbs from the Shared Components page:

  1. On the Workspace home page, click the Application Builder icon.

  2. Select an application.

  3. On the Application home page, click Shared Components.

  4. Under Navigation, click Breadcrumbs.

    The Breadcrumbs page appears.

  5. Click Create Breadcrumb.

  6. Enter a name and click Create.

  7. Add breadcrumb entries. See "Adding Breadcrumb Entries".

Creating Breadcrumbs from a Page Definition

To create breadcrumbs from a Page Definition:

  1. Navigate to the appropriate Page Definition. See "Accessing the Page Definition".

  2. Access the Create Breadcrumb Wizard:

    • Tree view - Under Shared Components, right-click Breadcrumbs and click Create.

    • Component view - Under Shared Components, click the Create icon.

      The Breadcrumb page appears.

  3. Click Calendar Attributes.

  4. Under Shared Components, scroll down to Breadcrumbs and click the Create icon.

  5. For Create, select Breadcrumb and click Next.

  6. Enter a name and click Create.

  7. Add breadcrumb entries. See "Adding Breadcrumb Entries".

Adding Breadcrumb Entries

To add a breadcrumb entry:

  1. Navigate to the Breadcrumbs page:

    1. Navigate to the Workspace home page.

    2. Click the Application Builder icon.

    3. Select an application.

    4. On the Application home page, click Shared Components.

    5. Under Navigation, click Breadcrumbs.

      The Breadcrumbs page appears.

  2. Select a breadcrumb to add entries to.

  3. Click Create Breadcrumb Entry.

  4. Under Breadcrumb, specify the page where this breadcrumb entry will display.

  5. Under Entry:

    1. Sequence - Indicate the order in which breadcrumb entries appear. The sequence determines the order of evaluation.

    2. Parent Entry - Identify the parent of this entry. Any given breadcrumb should have only one root node, identified as an item with no parent ID.

    3. Short Name - Specify the short name of this entry (referenced in the breadcrumb template).

    4. Long Name - Specify the long name of this entry (referenced in the breadcrumb template).

  6. Under Target, specify the target location:

    1. Target is a - Select Page in this Application.

    2. Page - Specify the target page number.

      You can also select reset pagination for this page. Selecting this option causes the page to return to the first set of data meeting a user's new query.

    3. Request - Specify the request to be used.

    4. Clear Cache - Specify the page numbers on which to clear cache.

    5. To set session state (that is, give a listed item a value):

      • Set these items - Enter a comma-delimited list of item names for which you would like to set session state.

      • With these values - Enter a comma-delimited list of values for the items your specified.

        You can specify static values or substitution syntax (for example, &APP_ITEM_NAME.). Note that item values passed to f?p= in the URL cannot contain a colon. Additionally, item values cannot contain commas unless you enclose the entire value in backslashes (for example, \1234,56\).

  7. To make the breadcrumb conditional:

    1. Make a selection from the Condition Type list.

    2. Enter an expression in the fields provided.

  8. Under Authorization, you can specify an authorization scheme.

    This authorization scheme must evaluate to TRUE in order for this component to be rendered or otherwise processed.

  9. Under Configuration, you can select a build option for this component.

    Build options are predefined settings that determine whether components within an application are enabled.

  10. When you are finished defining menu attributes, click Create at the top of the page.

Repeat these procedures for each breadcrumb entry you need to create.

Adding a Breadcrumb Region

A region is an area on a page that serves as a container for content. Once you create a breadcrumb and a breadcrumb template, the next step is to create a region. Once you create a breadcrumb region, you can add a breadcrumb to a page.


See Also:

"Creating a New Template" and "Breadcrumb Templates" for information about changing menu display

To create a breadcrumb region:

  1. Navigate to the appropriate Page Definition. See "Accessing the Page Definition".

    • Tree view - Under Page Rendering, right-click Regions and click Create.

    • Component view - Under Page Rendering, click the Create icon.

      The Create Region Wizard appears. Note that each wizard page displays a series of blocks on the left, representing the sequence of steps. The highlighted block indicates the step you are performing.

  2. For the region type, select Breadcrumb and click Next.

  3. For Breadcrumb Container Region:

    1. Region Title - Enter a title for this region.

    2. Region Template - Select a region template.

    3. Display Point - Select a Display Point.

      Regions are organized by position (or Display Point). To determine the appropriate region position, click the flashlight icon. A graphical representation appears.

    4. Sequence - Enter a number for the sequence. The sequence determines the order of evaluation.

    5. Parent Region - Defines the parent region to which the new region belongs to.

    6. Click Next.

  4. For Breadcrumb:

    1. Breadcrumb - Select the breadcrumb to be associated with this region.

    2. Breadcrumb Template - Select a template.

    3. Click Next.

  5. Review the breadcrumb region information and click Next.

  6. Click Finish.

Repeat these procedures for each page where you would like to add breadcrumb navigation.

About Creating Dynamic Breadcrumbs

To give users more exact context, you can include session state in breadcrumbs, making your breadcrumbs dynamic. For example, suppose a page in your application displays a list of orders for a particular company and you want to include the following breadcrumb:

Home > Orders > Orders for ACME Inc

In this example, ACME Inc not only indicates the page a user is on but also the navigation path. The Application Express engine stores the value of ACME Inc. in session state.

To create this type of dynamic menu, you must include a reference to a session state item in the breadcrumb's short name or long name. For example:

&COMPANY_NAME.

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