Portals in Reader

Embedding a portal in the Reader lets you introduce conditional logic, tables, and Liquid markup to your reading process. Reader portals are best suited for displaying data, rather than updating it. If you need to make changes to a record, use a Reader Review Form instead.

📝 Portals cannot currently be exported as a PDF. To export Reader content, use Administrative PDF downloads or Custom PDFs.

Step 1: Creating the portal

You have two options: import our pre-configured Reader dashboard portal, or build one from scratch.

Option 1: Import a pre-configured Reader dashboard portal

Your first option is to use Suitcase to import a ready-made example Reader dashboard portal:

dac942a9-a0b0-49b8-b7a2-9cef78914adf:slate-admissions-showcase

Option 2: Creating a portal from scratch

Your second option is to build a Reader dashboard portal from scratch.

1. Go to Database → Portals.

2. Select New Portal.

3. Configure the following settings:

   • Status: This can be left Inactive until ready for testing.

   • Folder: Select the Reader folder if it exists. Otherwise, select Other and enter Reader.

   • Key: Enter a computer-friendly (all-lowercase, no spaces) key for the portal, like reader_dashboard. This key must be unique across all portals and landing pages in your Slate database.

   • Name: Enter a descriptive name. You’ll select this later in the Reader setup.

   • Default View: Leave blank

   • Scope: User

   • Security: User

4. Select Save.

Step 2: Configuring the queries

Configure queries on the query bases from which you want to display data.

Create the query

1. Select New Query.

2. Configure the following settings:

   • Name: Give the query a name, like Applicant Data.

   • Base: Applications

3. Select Save.

4. Add exports for the desired data to be displayed on the Reader dashboard. Exports must have computer-friendly names: lowercase, no spaces, no special characters except _. For example, Citizenship Status → citzenship_status. This lets you access the exports as merge fields.

Add the record parameter

1. Select Edit Parameters.

2. Paste the following:

   <param id="record" type="uniqueidentifier" />

3. Select Save.

Create the GUID filter

We need to create a filter to narrow results to just the record being displayed on the dashboard.

1. Select Filter.

2. From the Application section, select GUID.

3. Select Continue.

4. In the GUID field, enter @record.

   

5. Select Save.

Returning multiple values

You may wish to display multiples of items, such as all sports for which an applicant has been recruited, or a candidate's employment history, where you would not necessarily know exactly how many there are per applicant.

To return multiple values from a single query:

1. Use a query base that returns one row per object, for example Sports, or Jobs.

2. When adding parameters to that query, assign a node.

3. Create a subquery filter for GUID that joins to the base between your chosen base and applications. For example, to display test scores from the Test Scores base, create a subquery filter, join to the Person base, and add the filter for Applications → GUID with @record in the GUID field.

   

Step 3: Configuring a view

If you imported our Reader dashboard portal, a default view called Dashboard exists. Select it to configure the view as needed.  

Otherwise, you must create a view to customize the display of the page. On the view, you can add merge fields or other blocks of static content, reports, and forms. Form blocks display in the Reader as links to that form.

Creating a view

1. Select New View.

2. Configure the following settings:

   • Status: Active

   • Name: Enter a name, for example Default

   • Layout: One Column is recommended.

3. Select Save.

4. Drag a new static content block from the content widget palette.

5. Use the WYSIWYG editor to add text, tables, merge fields, Liquid markup, etc.
   

Setting the default view

1. Go to the portal overview page.

2. Select Edit.

3. From the Default View list, select your default view.

4. Select Save.

Step 4: Configuring methods

1. Select New Method.

2. In the edit details window, enter the following configurations:

   • Status: Active

   • Name: Provide a simple descriptive name, e.g.. "Get Applicant Data."

   • Type: GET

   • Action: Leave blank.

   • View: Select the desired view.

   • Output Type: Select Framework + No Branding. Default Branding refers to Slate branding applied to externally-facing pages hosted by Slate.

3. Select Save.

4. Select Edit Linked Queries.

5. Check the query that contains exports that are used as merge fields in the view.

6. Select Save.

Step 5: Displaying the dashboard portal in the Reader

1. Go to Database → Workflows.

2. Select the Workflow where the Dashboard Portal will be displayed.

3. Select Reader Tabs and the pencil icon to the right.

4. Select Link for the tab.

5. In the popup window, enter the following configurations:

   • Status: Active

   • Name: The Name will display for the tab on the navigation panel within the Reader.

   • URL Type: Portal

   • Portal: Select the portal saved in the Reader folder.

   • Record Parameter: Select Application Record. The record GUID will be passed into the parameter as defined in the portal query.

   • Custom Reader Permission: Limit dashboard access based on a user permission, if desired.

6. Select Save.