A screen is called as a result of a hyperlink. This may be a button click, a call from the recent list or any other selection from the interface.
A URL of a Case's Summary Screen will look something like this:
http://localhost/CRM/eware.dll/Do?SID=198369875659391 &Act=281 &Mode=1 &CLk=T &Key0=8 &Key1=43 &Key2=57 &Key8=46 &T=Case
The URL contains a set of name/value pairs which are passed to the eware.dll to create the screen. The most important elements are the
- SID (Session ID)
- Act (Action Code)
- Mode
- CLk (Clear Locks)
- Key Values (Contextual Information)
- Custom Jump Values
SID (Session ID)
The Session ID is created at logon is used to maintain the user session. No Sage CRM URL is valid without a valid SID.
Act (Action Code)
Several articles have been written that explore the way in which the "Act" code or System Action can be used.
Mode
The Mode in the context of CRM is usually used to described whether a screen is in Edit Mode or in View Mode. You may find yourself thinking about the eWare.Mode property that is used in ASP pages. BUT in a URL the Mode element of the QueryString doesn't represent the 'Screen Mode'.
Instead the Mode in the querystring refers to a secondary action that the dll needs to carry out. There are some common ones like:
- 1 = Setup/Initialise
- 2 = Search
- 3 = Save
- 4 = Run/Execute
- 6 = Clear
which are used by most screens. Some screens have also defined special modes for themselves. For example, on the Groups screen, we use Mode 100 when inserting, and Mode 200 when updating.
Note
It is very rare that when developing a customized application extension you will need to define Mode in the URL.
CLk (Clear Locks)
When set to CLk=T this will ensure that record locks associated with this session are cleared. This means that when navigating away from screens locks are not kept open.
Key Values (Contextual Information)
Key Values are discussed in the article "A long list of Key Values for Sage CRM".
Custom Jump Values
If we consider the following URL
http://localhost/crm/CustomPages/userlicensekeylist.asp?SID=176991466128834 &Key0=4 &Key4=1 &J=userlicensekeylist.asp &F=Welcome &E=LicenseKey &T=User
- J is the target page for the URL
- F is the original context (or page)
- E is the target Entity
- T is the default tabgroup
- key-1 (not used above) indicates the previous entity in context.