It's easy to lose track of whether you're looking at the current version of an item, especially when opening an item from a relationship or item property. This tech tip demonstrates two ways to show whether an item is current at-a-glance using form styles.

Getting Started

You can find all of the code and files for this demonstration on the Aras Labs GitHub page in the style-non-current-items project. If you want to install the project and follow along, the project page includes all of the instructions for installing the import package.

ArasLabs/style-non-current-items

style-non-current-items – Demonstrates two ways to style the form of a non-current version of an item.

How It Works

The project's import package includes two methods – labs_StyleNonCurrent and labs_NonCurrentOverlay. Both use the same basic logic to determine whether the context item is the current version.

First we check whether the context item includes the is_current property. If so, we proceed with that value. Otherwise, we retrieve the is_current property from the server. If the is_current property's value is 0, we style the form accordingly.

1. Custom Background Color

Custom Background Color for Non-Current Item

Custom Background Color for Non-Current Item

The first method in the import package, labs_StyleNonCurrent, changes the form background color to distinguish a non-current generation of an item from the current generation. Here's the method code to set the background color for non-current items:

gist.github.com/…/2e95b77597f0bfc0dc1f65bd3370d5cc

2. Watermark Image

Custom Watermark Image for Non-Current Item

Custom Watermark Image for Non-Current Item

The second method, labs_NonCurrentOverlay, displays a watermark image over the form when the context item is not the current generation. This approach requires a hidden HTML field on the form. If the context item is not current, the method code updates the CSS properties on the hidden field to make it visible.

gist.github.com/…/4b9b4d9ac026f6b791ee9d59ce1ed679

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