Page History

Navigation Strategy

Setting up a navigation strategy allows you to navigate between different windows in the runtime Client. Ignition provides several different types of runtime navigational strategies you can choose from when designing your project including several Vision project templates to help you get started.  Before selecting the proper navigation strategy or template for your project, there are several things to consider.  These considerations will help you determine the best navigation strategy to use for your project and your users.  Once you address these considerations, then you can choose the best navigation strategy from the types below.  This will also help you decide if you want to use a Vision Project Template to quickly for your project.

• Does your project have a lot of windows?
• How complex is your project structure?
• Is your project structure organized?
• What types of things are you doing?
• Do you want to use navigation windows or fill the screen?

Types of Navigation Strategies

To help you select the right strategy that fits your project structure, here is a brief description of each navigation strategy that Ignition provides.  Keep in mind your project structure, size, organization, and types of things you are doing while you are reviewing these strategies so you can select the best runtime strategy for your project. 

• Tab Strip Navigation is is a simple strategy used for small structures regardless of how organized your project is.  It lends itself perfectly to only having a few windows and showing all of them on a navigation window.  Having too many tabs does not work well with the Tab Strip because of size limitations.  You want your users too see all the navigation tabs immediately on the first screen. The Tab Strip works by clicking to swap one main window for another.
  
  Image Added
  
  
• Two Tier Navigation is is similar to the Tab Strip, but is good for small and regular size project structures where windows are grouped. It contains a second level of tabs allowing you to navigate around various areas of your project.  This strategy has a docked window that contains tabs that are always open to do navigation, and the main window which fills the rest of the space.  
  
  Image Added
  
  
• Tree View Navigation is excellent for large project structures.  You can view the entire project structure at a glance allowing you to navigate to any structure within the multi-tier Tree View component. 
  
  Image Added
  
  
• Back and Forward Buttons are perfect if you have a small process with ordered steps.  It is one big main window that has Back and Forward buttons to step through each process step or operation one right after the other. 
  
  Image Added
  
  
• Drill Down Navigation is ideal if you have different geographical locations, whether it's in a local facility or facilities sprinkled around the world.  The project opens with an overview that has areas that correspond to specific locations/areas in your facility.  With the Drill Down strategy, you can select a specific area representing the facility, and the client swaps windows to display details pertaining to that specific area. 
  
  Image Added
  
  
• Menubar is is ideal for maximizing the usable screen space, while still having the ability to navigate to any window at any time by selecting from a list of windows.
  
  Image Added
  
  
• Retargeting enables navigation between multi-project operations: a simple script can push the user between many different projects, even on different gatewaysGateways.
  
  

Navigation Operations - Swapping vs. Opening

Any time you open a window, you have to use one of the two navigation operations: Swapping or Opening. These operations can be performed on any type of window, but are usually reserved for specific cases. Navigating between different windows typically involves some sort of scripting, but the Navigation Script Builder makes this a simple task. Otherwise, you can use the specific scripting functions to completely customize navigation.

Opening

Opening and by extension closing are the basic window navigation options. Opening a window opens the window at the same size it was in the Designer, unless the Start Maximized property is true or the Dock Position is not Floating. This is typically reserved for opening popup windows. They have a scripting function that can open and a function that can close.

• system.nav.openWindow
• system.nav.closeWindow

Swapping

When Ignition swaps a window, it closes the current main window and then opens another window in its place. This is typically reserved for moving between main windows, as it performs the close action automatically. There are two different scripting functions that can be used to swap windows, depending on what needs to be done.

• system.nav.swapWindow
• system.nav.swapTo