Library conventions

In order to bind Spotfire templates to specific LiveReports, several conventions are applied to the Spotfire library structure and representation for the default folder used by the LiveDesign Connector for Spotfire.

The library structure

The root folder

To be able to use the LiveDesign Connector for Spotfire, a folder must be dedicated to it into the Spotfire library. This folder is set into the Spotfire preferences, in the Discngine LiveDesign Connector Configuration, under the preference DefaultLibraryPath. It will be considered as the library root folder by the LiveDesign Connector panel and the Spotfire gadget.

The tree folder

The tree folder structure of the Spotfire library should reproduce the logic used in LiveDesign with Projects as first level folders, and LiveReports as second level subfolders. Each folder should be associated with its corresponding Project/LiveReport using its ID. For example the Global project is named Project 0 in the library.
When a template is created based on LiveReport data, it should be saved under the folder corresponding to this LiveReport. If a template is not specific to the data of a single LiveReport, but can be used for all (or several) LiveReports of a Project, it can be saved directly under the corresponding project folder. In addition, some subfolders can be created under the project folders to group these generic templates.

The library view

In order to make the library structure more human readable, it is not displayed as is in the LiveDesign Connector panel or in the Spotfire gadget, but with an additional view on top of it. For each folder, this view gives its type (LiveReport or Project) as first information, its name as second information, and its ID as last. The root folder is never displayed.

The template picker

A template picker displays all the templates which can be associated to the current LiveReport in order to easily and quickly find the template of interest for a user when:

• opening a template in the gadget
• importing a LiveReport in an existing template from the panel

The templates which are considered as potentially associated to LiveReport Y in Project N are:

• all templates under Project N/LiveReport Y
• templates under Project N but not in LiveReport X
• templates under Project 0 but not in LiveReport Z

The automatic opening

The automatic opening of templates is applied only if the preference GadgetAutoLoadTemplate is set to True and it is based on the following conventions (by order of precedence):

1. If only one template exists under Project N/LiveReport Y/template, it will be opened
2. If multiple templates exist under Project N/LiveReport Y, the users will have to select the template to open through the template picker
3. If the project folder exists but contains no folder for the current LiveReport:
   3.1. If only one template exists under Project N/template, it will be opened
   3.2. If multiple templates exist under Project N, the users will have to select the template to open (similar to rule 2)
4. If the project folder does not exist, but a folder named Project 0 exists
   4.1. If only one template exists under Project 0/template, it will be opened
   4.2. If multiple templates exist under Project 0, the users will have to select the template to open (similar to rule 2 and 3.2)
5. If none of the previous patterns is found, the users will have to select a template through the template picker, with the possibility to display the full Spotfire library tree under the LiveDesign Connector root folder to open any document they can access.