LCS - Naming conventions for Blocks

Blocks will need to follow a naming convention to allow any user developing or supporting applications in UW's Betty Blocks to locate and identify the owner of the block.

Overview

Blocks and application templates must be located in a "Store" organization. 

Organizations have a named hierarchy in UW tenant's such that:

  • UW organizations are the highest: UW Apps, UW Store, UW Community Space and UW Playground
  • Schools/Colleges/Divisions (SCDs) and some DoIT service groups are parent orgs: CALS Apps, CALS Store, CALS Community Space and CALS Playground
  • Departmental and Center groups are child orgs and inherit the abbreviation of the appropriate parent org abbreviation: CALS-BCHEM Apps, CALS-BCHEM Store

Below, "ABBR" will be used to indicate the organization's abbreviation, such as "UW", "CALS" or "CALS-BCHEM" as seen above.

When saving and naming a block or application template, utilize the appropriate ABBR plus a descriptive title.

Blocks

Blocks can be one of the 5 types below and can be found via the Block Store left-side menu option: 

Block store screenshot with tabs of the different types of blocks

  • Components (header, footer, recaptcha) 
  • Datasources (Block APIs – retrieve data from other systems)
  • Functions (exporting to csv)
  • Pages (form pages, home page) – page templates can be created as blocks (don’t confuse these with application templates mentioned below)
  • Themes (color/font) 

Block names appear to have no character limit and special characters can be used, however, in the display the name word wraps at about 35 characters. 

Only Org Administrators or the LCS service team should promote blocks to the organization level or Betty Blocks store level, please notify the Service Team if you have a block you'd like to promote.

Procedure for naming blocks:

  1. Any block that will be promoted to an organizational level, should utilize the appropriate “home” parent org ABBR or child org ABBR plus a description of the block.
  2. Select the appropriate button to begin the “block” save process. The example below will step through saving a Component block, but all blocks have a similar pop-up.
    screenshot save new component with name and category fields
  3. Fill in the fields of:
    1. Name: “home” ABBR org + description
    2. Category or Description: This depends on the type of block being saved
      screenshot with CALS App page header as the block name
  4. If you plan to share this block outside of this application, toggle the Share via Block Store to see additional fields.
    1. Create new Block
    2. Block Name: “home” ABBR org + description
  5. Select Add to Block.
  6. Only Org Administrators or the LCS service team will promote blocks to the organization level.
    1. The Org Admins and LCS service team should review the internal kb "Promoting Blocks and Application Templates".
    2. A separate permission regarding visibility/promoting blocks is on the roadmap for BB. 
  7. The new block just created should be found, under the Block Store>My Blocks. Select the block type to locate it easier.
    screenshot of block store with my blocks selected in dropdown
  8. Click on the block name to open the Block Editor.
  9. Select Edit Block.
    screenshot of selected block with edit block button
  10. The description and other items for this block can be edited.
    screenshot of editing description and other buttons available
  11. As mentioned above, under Visibility, keep this option as Only block developers (A separate permission regarding visibility/promoting blocks is on the roadmap for BB.)
    screenshot indicating shared with other developers only
  12. Add another developer to the block if you want that named developer to be able to release, edit or delete this block.
    screenshot with Add/remove developer button on left side
  13. Select Release to make the block available for your use on other applications.

Application Templates

Only Org Administrators or the LCS service team should create application templates. A separate permission for creation of application templates is on the roadmap for BB. The Org Admins and LCS service team should review the internal kb "Promoting Blocks and Application Templates".



Keywords:
components, datasources, functions, pages, themes 
Doc ID:
132789
Owned by:
Jeanne H. in Low Code Solutions
Created:
2023-11-14
Updated:
2024-01-23
Sites:
DoIT Enterprise Business Systems - Low Code Solutions