Customizing the Data Viewing Experience
[This is prerelease documentation and is subject to change in future releases. Blank topics are included as placeholders.]
The default Microsoft code name “Quadrant” data experience is one familiar to most users: you drag and drop icons to discover how data is related. You view tables of data, and add and delete items from the table. A feature of “Quadrant” is the ability to configure the default experience to achieve new views of data.
What Is the Data Viewing Customization Experience?
Customization of the data viewing experience occurs when you do something as simple as resizing a column in the table viewer. Other examples of customization include:
Switching from a default viewer to another available viewer.
Using the View Column As menu command to switch the viewer for all columns in a table viewer.
Using the View Item As menu command to switch the view of a property in a properties viewer.
For a tutorial on customization, see How to: Customize a View in "Quadrant". For a viewer-by-viewer list of customization options, see the reference topics for each viewer:
Saving Customizations
If you spend some time customizing a viewer in a workpad, it might be beneficial to save the customization for later use. “Quadrant” gives you three options for saving a customized view. With any workpad selected, three commands are enabled on the View menu:
Save View
Save View As…
Set Default View
The Save View command saves any customizations to the current view.
The Save View As command displays the common dialog that allows you to save the custom-configured viewer with a new name. The newly named viewer (or named viewer) is associated with the collection or entity-type that it is displaying. Instead of being the default view, however, the named viewer is one of the choices available to view the collection or instance. It is therefore always an option. Note that you can both create a named viewer and set it as the default viewer for its associated collection or schema. For more information, see How to: Create and Name a Customized View.
The Set Default View causes the current viewer, and any customization you have set, to be saved and associated with the collection or entity-type being displayed. The custom configuration is used to automatically display the collection or entities whenever it is viewed either in a workpad, or as part of another view. For example, the detail view of a master/detail view is determined by the default view for the entity-type. For more information, see How to: Set a Preferred Viewer.
Customization Using "M"
You can also create custom experiences by using the Microsoft code name “M” language. Using Microsoft code name “M”, you can create custom icons that are associated with entities, or collections of entities. For a walkthrough, see How to: Use "M" to Create Custom Icons and Display Names.