Skyve User Guide

Welcome to the Skyve User Guide. Please use the index on the left to navigate, or begin a search.

Basic Skyve Concepts

Navigation within Skyve applications may be slightly different to other web applications as it is designed to feel more like a desktop application rather than a website. Navigation will be explained in three broad categories here: menu, action panel and zoom.

The main application menu is broken into sections by Module, and then typically shows Documents which have been added to the menu. By default, clicking an item in the menu will navigate you to a list (table) of all records of that type.

Action Panel

Once a record is opened, the application loads the detail view for that document. This then provides the action panel at the top of the view for interaction with the document. The action panel has the following buttons:

OK - This performs a Save and Close action when clicked. This will save any changes and return you to the view you came from (e.g. the list of this document).
Save - This saves any changes to the current view when clicked.
Delete - This will delete the current document (and any child documents) when clicked and return you to the view you came from.
Cancel - This will discard any unsaved changes and return you to the view you came from without saving. Note there is no confirmation prompt - unsaved changes are silently discarded.

If you have “zoomed” into a list within another document, your action panel buttons will change to provide two different options based on your context.

Zoom Out - This will return you to the parent view of the record you are in. Any changes will be saved or cancelled based on the action you take at the parent level.
Remove - This deletes the child record you are currently zoomed into and returns you to the parent view, after a confirmation prompt. An example of this is removing a role from a user in the admin module. If you do not have delete permission for the document, Remove is only offered for records that have not yet been saved.

Zoom

Skyve applications use a zoom in / zoom out concept for navigation which allows complex interfaces to be broken into discrete sections. Each view has its own fields and validation rules, keeping the interfaces small and light.

By selecting an item from a list, we Zoom into that record. If that record’s view has another table, we can keep zooming in to access more details. We can then Cancel or Zoom Out to return to the level above until we get back to the top.

Switching Interfaces

Skyve applications feature two separate user interfaces, both with their own advantages depending on the use case. In the default (responsive) mode, the interface is responsive and mobile and tablet friendly, with larger controls for touch and whitespace for legibility.

The alternate interface, desktop mode (sometimes called power user mode), is great for desktop browsers where lots of data manipulation, reporting or exporting is required.

What each mode offers

In responsive mode (the default), list grids offer column sorting, a filter row and record navigation, and every view is designed to work well on phones and tablets as well as desktop browsers.

Desktop mode adds the advanced list tools described in List Functionality:

Tags and flags on list records
Snapshots (saved list configurations)
Advanced filtering, grouping and the summary line
Exporting list data and ad-hoc charting
Global Content Search

Some menu items only appear in one mode or the other — for example, the Tags and Snapshots menu items in the Admin module are only shown in desktop mode — so the application menu may differ between modes.

Switching between modes

To switch interfaces, use the Switch Mode control. In responsive mode, this is accessed by clicking your username in the top right hand corner, and selecting Switch Mode from the user menu.

Switch mode

In desktop mode, the same switch icon is available from the toolbar at the top of the application.

Note: the switch mode button may not always be available depending on your application permissions and if it supports both interfaces. Your selected mode applies for your current session only - the next time you sign in you will start in the default mode.