Procedure: Planning an event
Before you create an event for a set of result viewers on a portal page, it is a good idea to plan the event. The following list outlines the steps you should take when planning an event.
- Decide which result viewers will be involved.
When choosing result viewers, you’ll need to consider the following:
Display format Consider what types of data the result viewers will display. Large amounts of data are displayed best in a list, such as a Rich List or Primary Publishing List. Data pertaining to a single item is best displayed in a Form Viewer. Data requiring a less structured format, such as a note, is best displayed in a Card Viewer or Content Viewer.
**Publishing and subscribing capabilities ** Some result viewers can publish an event when an item is selected. For example, the Primary Publishing List, Rich List, and Simple List are capable of publishing an event. All result viewers, except the Primary Publishing List, can subscribe to an event published by another result viewer. You’ll need to choose result viewers that are appropriate for your event.
Once you have chosen the result viewers, make a sketch of the result viewers. Include a description of each result viewer, explaining its purpose and how it will interact with the other result viewers participating in the event.
- Determine what keys will be published when the event occurs.
The keys published by a publishing result viewer are used to update the data displayed in the result viewers that subscribe to the event. Therefore, you’ll need to determine the names of the keys published when the event occurs.
- Determine the parameters needed in the queries displayed by the subscribers.
A query displayed by a subscribing result viewer must contain at least one parameter in order to use the information published by another result viewer. The names of the parameters contained in a subscriber’s query must match the names of the keys published by the publisher.
- Determine the EventAlias and EventNameSpace properties.
To participate in an event, you must specify whether a result viewer will participate as a publisher, subscriber or both. Do this by specifying appropriate values for the EventAlias and EventNameSpace properties. If a result viewer publishes an event, you must specify a value for its EventAlias property. If a result viewer subscribes to an event, you must specify a value for its EventNameSpace property.