Admin Studio – the administration workspace¶

The Admin Studio is the workspace in which administrators configure nexxcite. It brings all areas of the configuration together in one navigation and lets you keep several editors open side by side. This chapter describes how the Admin Studio is laid out and how to work in it.

1. The Admin Studio at a glance¶

You open the Admin Studio with "Admin Studio" in the user menu (your name or picture at the top right) or with the spotlight search. It replaces the application frame – app bars and menus of the application are not shown while you are in it. "To the app" in the header takes you back.

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Logo  Admin › Design › Forms        [Sketch] [Search everything] [To the app] │  Header
├────┬──────────────┬───────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────┤
│Rail│ Collections  │ Contents      │  Tab │ Tab │ Tab                      │
│    │              │               ├──────────────────────────────────────┤
│    │              │               │                                      │
│    │              │               │   Editor                             │
└────┴──────────────┴───────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────┘

Part	What it shows
Header	Logo, where you are (breadcrumb), the sketch control, "Search everything", reload, "To the app" and the user menu
Rail	The areas of the configuration
Collections	The collections of the selected area, for example "Forms" or "Roles"
Contents	The definitions of the selected collection
Work area	Tabs with the open editors

The Admin Studio requires the permission "Admin Studio". In addition, every collection requires the permission of its own management view – the Admin Studio is another way to the same editors, not a way around their permissions. A collection you are not allowed to see is not listed, and an area without any visible collection is not shown in the rail.

2. Areas¶

Area	Content
Overview	What the installation contains, the definitions you edited last, the open sketch
Entities	Every entity with its fields and everything configured in its context
Design	Forms, grids, lists, app bars, dashboards, themes, images, icon fonts, expressions, filters, global values
Automation	Actions, business rules, queries, scheduled actions, mailbox listeners, counters, business hours
AI	AI assistants
Access	Roles, users, authenticated users, authentication providers, API access, credentials
Communication	Outgoing and incoming e-mails – see Communication
System	Sketches, sketch history, settings, license
Monitoring	Servers, background processes, background jobs, data inspector, developer console

The area "Entities"¶

In the area Entities, the first column lists the entities themselves. Selecting an entity shows everything that belongs to it in the second column:

Properties – the fields and settings of the entity,
Business Logic – a graphical overview of the rules and actions that act on its records,
the definitions configured in its context, grouped by kind: relationships, forms, grids, lists, app bars, business rules, expressions, queries, actions, filters and AI assistants.

Grouping by entity¶

In the other areas, the second column shows the definitions of a collection grouped by the entity they belong to, alphabetically, followed by a group "Without entity". Collections whose definitions are never bound to an entity (themes, images) are shown as a plain list.

3. Finding and opening definitions¶

Selecting an entry in the first column only changes what the second column shows.
Opening an entry – with the arrow at the end of its row or with a double click – opens it in a tab.
Both columns have a search field. The first column can also be filtered by tags.
"Search everything" in the header (or Ctrl+K) opens the spotlight search across all definitions and administration pages. A result opens in a new tab.

Pins¶

Definitions and whole collections that you need often can be pinned. Pinned entries are listed first – in both columns of the Admin Studio and in the management views of the definitions. A pin belongs to you and is the same everywhere: an entity pinned in the Admin Studio is also pinned in the entity management view.

Adjusting the columns¶

Both columns can be made wider or narrower with the handle at their right edge. A double click on the handle restores the default width. The browser remembers the width.
The first column can be collapsed to a narrow strip of icons; pinned entries come first there.
On narrow screens the columns open as an overlay with the buttons in the header.

4. Working with tabs¶

Every opened definition or administration page gets a tab. The tab keeps its state while you work in other tabs – scroll position, expanded sections and unsaved input stay as they are.

A tab is a stack¶

When you follow a reference from an open editor – for example from a form to the action of one of its buttons – the referenced editor does not open a new tab. It opens on top of the current editor in the same tab. The tab becomes a stack of editors:

From the second level on, a breadcrumb bar names the editors below. Clicking an entry shows that editor read-only, without closing the ones above.
Esc closes the top editor and returns to the one below. If it has unsaved changes, you are asked whether to save them.
The tab is named after the editor on top, for example "Incident Detail (Form)".

This way you can follow a chain of references and still switch to another tab at any time.

Closing tabs¶

A tab is closed with its cross or with a middle click. Unsaved changes are asked about first, exactly as when closing an editor with Esc.

5. Saving in an editor¶

The save button of an editor has two parts:

Part	Effect
Main button	Saves and closes the editor ("Save & Close"). While a sketch is open, it reads "To Sketch & Close" – the change goes into the sketch.
Arrow	"Save without closing" – saves and keeps the editor open. Also available with Alt+S.

When several editors are stacked, Alt+S saves the editor on top.

6. Sketches in the Admin Studio¶

The header carries the sketch control. It shows which sketch is open, or that no sketch is open and changes therefore go live immediately. From there you can create, open, import and publish sketches.

While a sketch is open:

the header is coloured differently,
every definition that the sketch changes is shown in italics with a pencil instead of its icon – in both columns, in the tabs, in the overview and in the management views.

Every publish is listed under System → Sketch History – see Sketches and publishing. How sketches work is described in Sketches and publishing.

7. Links to the Admin Studio¶

Every place in the Admin Studio has its own address, so you can bookmark it or send it to a colleague:

Address	Opens
`/admin-studio`	the overview
`/admin-studio/<area>`	an area
`/admin-studio/<area>/<collection>`	a collection
`/admin-studio/<area>/<collection>/<definition id>`	a collection with one definition open in a tab

A link leads only to what the recipient is allowed to see. A link to an area they have no permission for behaves like an address that does not exist.

8. Limitations¶

The columns do not update by themselves when a definition is renamed or deleted in an editor. The reload button in the header rebuilds them.
The overview shows counts. It does not yet check the configuration for problems such as a form that refers to a deleted field.

9. Frequently asked questions¶

Can I use the Admin Studio and the application at the same time? Yes. Open the application in a second browser tab. Both use the same sketch: what you save to the sketch in the Admin Studio is visible in the application of the same user right away, and not to other users until it is published.

Why does an editor open on top of another one instead of in a new tab? Because it was opened from the editor below – the stack keeps the path you followed. Definitions opened from the columns or from the spotlight search get a tab of their own.

A colleague cannot see a collection that I can see. Each collection requires the permission of its management view. Check the roles of your colleague.