The function of the objects pane is to permit a user to create, configure, and manipulate objects and object groups.

Objects are things which may be assigned to individual owners.  Examples include applications, printers, and various configuration settings.

The objects pane is composed of two subpanes separated by a vertical splitter.  The left subpane contains an objects toolbar and an objects tree.  All objects defined in the current Simplify database will appear somewhere in the tree.  Objects are organized by their type and are sorted by name.

What object types appear in the tree depend upon which components of the Simplify Suite have been licensed.

Buttons in the objects toolbar will dynamically change as different row(s) are selected.

The left subpane will contain a set of zero or more tabbed object forms.  The forms displayed will depend upon the type of object selected in the tree.  Each object type has its own set of forms.  Each form in the set groups together related configuration parameters.  The form controls will be loaded with settings for the currently selected object.

When any form is changed, i.e. you modify the settings for an object, an “Apply Changes” button in the toolbar <image> becomes enabled.  The user may manually apply changes at any time by clicking this button.  If settings have changed, the user will be automatically prompted to apply changes if the objects tree selection is altered.

In addition to creating objects of various types, a user may create object groups.  An object group is simply a logical collection of objects.  The concept is provided as a convenient mechanism which allows users to:

• Group together related objects of a particular type (e.g. Word, Excel, and PowerPoint application objects could be located under an Office object group)

• Manipulate objects in a group simultaneously.  Deleting or disabling a group deletes or disables all objects in that group.  Objects may also be assigned as a group.

 

Object groups only apply in the Simplify Console.  The Simplify Suite server components ignore groups and only deal with the underlying object assignments.

Nested groups are not supported.

Adding/removing objects to/from an existing group will implicitly assign/unassign those objects from owners which have been assigned the group.

Deleting objects/groups will automatically delete all assignments of those objects/groups.

Group objects may be assigned independently from their group.

A user may select multiple rows in the objects tree.  This is to permit the convenience of simultaneous operations on multiple objects/groups (e.g. assign, delete, disable/enable).  

Object forms are only displayed when a single object is selected.  They are hidden at all other times.

Only objects and groups may be multi-selected.  A group and one or more of its nested objects cannot be multi-selected.

Right-clicking in the tree control will display a floating menu which will contain whatever options are available for the selected row(s).  If no options exist, a floating menu will not be displayed.

ScrewDrivers v4 Print Server objects are a special type of object.  They cannot be directly assigned to an owner – only the nested printers may be assigned.

There can be no ScrewDrivers v4 Print Server groups, and there can be no ScrewDrivers v4 Print Server Printer groups.