Creating function extensions

Function Extensions setup allows you to create your own menu items based on the system default functions.

Note: You can sort the list of functions in order of any of the columns, by clicking the relevant column heading.
  1. Log on as an administrator user, the select Security Settings (SES), and the Function Extensions tab.
  2. Select the function item from the grid to use as a template. The detail of the item is displayed in the Function Detail pane.
  3. Click Extend. A copy of the function is created to be used as a template, listed below the original system menu, with the system language displayed.
  4. Only those properties that are appropriate for the currently selected item are displayed. Some properties are read-only. Specify this information:
    Function Type
    Classification of the selected menu item.
    Function Id
    The internal function ID.
    Icon Type
    The icon that is used to represent the function.
    Parent Node
    The location of the function within the menu tree used to display functions. Use the Parent Node browse button to save the function to a location other than the system default folder. This function now appears in this location when you set function permissions for a user group.
    Form Name
    The name of the form you want to use for this function. You must enter a name if you want a specific form on the server to be invoked, or if the form currently resides on the client machine, that is, a locally compiled form. However, if you leave this blank, the system automatically opens the form for this function. When there is more than one form for the function, you are prompted to select a form during run-time.
    Business Unit
    The code of the business unit to be used with this function. If you leave this blank, the user is prompted to select a business unit when he/she activates the function.
    Actual Budget
    A budget code for the ledger, if required, for example A-Actuals.
    Language Specific Text
    The Language specific text area displays the new name underneath the original name with the language you currently have set in the Language Code column.

    Click in the Function Text area and enter the name of the function. This is displayed exactly as you enter it for users whose language is set to the language you currently have set.

    Note: The original function has System Language set as the language code. This is used if the function text has not been translated into the correct language and therefore must be provided for all menu items created for the function. For example, if a term is entered in English in the system language field only and a French user tries to view the menu, the system displays the System Language function text. This is fixed but the suffix must be specified.

    Click in the suffix area of the extended function and enter a unique set of characters. These are appended to the function code in the User Group Menu Designer. You can enter up to 5 alphanumeric characters.

    Note: The OK button is not activated until this is done.
    Note: A row in the language text area is only saved if both the text and the suffix have been specified for the language code. It is not valid to only specify the text or the suffix and this cannot be saved.
    Parameters
    Use the parameters area to preset options or values that relate to the function.
    See the Function Parameters Help topic for more information.
    Executable Name
    The full path to an external application.
    Command Line Arguments
    Any command line arguments.
    Working Directory
    The path of your working directory.
    URL Link
    URL to a specific web page.
  5. Click OK. The function extension is located under the function extensions folder that you specified. System functions have an associated red function icon, extended functions have a blue function icon.
  6. Click OK.
  7. After function extensions have been created, you must set permissions on these function extensions to specify to which user group menus these items can be added.
  8. Save your changes.