AX1184

Hiding items in a task pane

You can optionally hide items in a custom task pane instead of deleting them. For example, you may have an item in a task pane that is only relevant during a certain point of the planning cycle. You can toggle the item hidden when it is not needed, then toggle it visible again when it needs to be used.

You must have read-write access to the task pane in order to configure the visibility of items in the task pane.

NOTE: Some commands are only visible in a task pane when the currently active document supports those commands. Make sure that the currently active document is relevant to the commands that you want to configure, before opening the Configure Visibility dialog.

To configure the visibility of items in a task pane:

  1. On the Axiom tab, in the Administration group, click Manage > Task Panes.

    The Axiom Explorer dialog opens, with the focus on the Task Panes Library. You can also access this library using the Explorer task pane.

    NOTE: If you are using an Axiom packaged product, you can access this feature from the Admin tab. Click System Browser to open Axiom Explorer, then navigate to the Task Panes Library. The product may also provide this functionality within a product task pane.

  2. In the Task Panes Library, right-click the task pane that you want to modify, and then select Configure Visibility.

    TIP: If the task pane is already open in the Axiom Assistant area, you can access this feature by right-clicking the side tab for the task pane.

  3. In the Configure Item Visibility dialog, clear the check box for any item that you want to hide, and/or select the check box for any item that you want to show.

    If you clear the check box for a parent item, this hides the parent item and all child items, but it does not clear the check boxes for the child items. Instead, the child items show as grayed out to indicate that they will not display.

    If an item is hidden using this dialog, it is hidden for all users. The only way to show it again is to configure the item as visible using this dialog. If an item is visible, the normal visibility behavior for task pane items applies. Depending on the user's security permissions and on the task pane configuration, a visible item may be visible and enabled, visible and disabled, or not visible.

    If a task pane shows items that are dynamically generated—such as when a task pane shows the contents of a folder—these dynamic items can still be configured, but special considerations apply. See Configuring visibility for dynamic items.

  4. Click OK to save your changes.

If the task pane is already open in the current session, it will update to reflect the changes made in the Configure Visibility dialog. However, in some cases it may be necessary to close and reopen the task pane in order to see the correct visibility settings.

Configuring visibility for dynamic items

Certain shortcut targets cause a list of items to be dynamically generated in the task pane. For example, if the shortcut target is a folder, the files in that folder display within the task pane. When you use the Configure Visibility feature, it also displays these dynamic items, and you can hide or show these items on an individual basis.

When using Configure Visibility on dynamically generated items, note the following:

  • If new items are added to a parent with dynamic child items—such as if new reports are added to a folder—those items are visible by default if the parent is visible. However, these new items will not cause the parent to become visible if the parent item is configured as hidden.

  • The Configure Visibility feature works with most dynamically generated items, however, you may encounter certain rarely used commands or configurations that do not work as expected.