Sub Pages (Tabs)

This section covers everything you need to know about sub-pages (the tabs on records) in MinistryPlatform, including the available fields, filter keys, permissions, and many-to-many relationships.

Pages can have tabs (sub-pages) that display at the top of an open record. These show related information that's tracked in other areas of the Platform but is also helpful to see whenever you open the record. There are many predefined tabs that come standard in your system, and you can also create your own!

Tabs honor their target page's filter, so they only show records that are within the filter criteria of the target page. If you don't want a tab to be filtered, just make sure it references an unfiltered target page.

If needed, you can filter the information that displays on tabs using Sub-Page Views.

The New Moms Group page opened to the General tab. There is a red rectangle outlining the tabs at the top of the Group page.

Sub Page Fields

The following fields are available on Sub Page records under System Setup > Sub Pages.

Display Name: A label to identify the types of records accessible from this tab.
View Order: Tabs under the same page display left to right based on this order.
Parent Page: The page under which this tab displays.
Parent Filter Key: Together with the filter key, this field determines which column filters tab records. This value must be equal to the filter key.
Target Page: Identifies the page which stores the records you can see in this tab.
Target Filter Key: Together with the parent filter key, this field determines the column filters the tab records. This value must be equal to the parent filter key.
Select From Field Name: Populate this optional field to display an Add button on the tab so that people can add many records at one time. Use a fully qualified [Table_Name].[Field_Name] value where [Table_Name] is the target page table name. THe [Field_Name] must be a foreign key on the target page. [Field_Name] determines the page from which you select records.

Note: The Add button from this field only works within a many-to-many relationship structure.
Default Field List: Determines the columns that display in the All Records grid view for this tab and related pages.
Default View: A Sub-Page View record explicitly associated with this tab that displays instead of the All Records View when people use this tab.
Messaging Default: If set to Yes, this tab and its Default View pre-fill when you launch the New Message Tool.
Display Copy: If set to Yes, the values in this tab are able to be copied when someone copies the parent record.
System Name: A field used internally by the Platform. Not for use by third parties.
Image Reference Field: Identifies another record using table lookup convention to display a related default image. The value you enter here must end with a foreign key.
Facts View: The columns of the subpage view that you enter here will display as record facts on this tab.
Global Filter ID Field: Enter the fully qualified name of the field that the global filter should assess. The format is table.column.

Filter Keys

You can configure a page as a tab for any other page when the page and tab share a common field. This common field is identified by a pair of keys:

Target Filter Key: Sourced from target page.
Parent Filter Key: Sourced from parent page.

The two values must reference the same column in the same table. Express the values using the proper column name. When populated correctly, you can use the pair of keys to skip a level in the hierarchy. You can't use the Table Lookup Convention for the parent key or filter key fields.

Example A

In this example, Group Participants (the target page) and Participants (the parent page) are directly related by Participant_ID.

The Participants: Groups page. The parent page is Participants, the target page is Group Participants, and both the parent filter key and target filter key are Participant_ID

Example B

In this example, the target page Group Participants and the parent page Contacts are indirectly related through the Participant_ID. Both tables are directly related to Participants, making them indirectly related to each other.

Also, the foreign key to Participants on Contacts is the Participant_ID but displays as Participant_Record. You must always express filter Key values using the proper column name.

The Contacts: Group Participants page. The parent page is Contacts, the parent filter key is Participant_Record, the target page is Group Participants, and the target filter key is Participant_ID

Tab Permissions

Once you create a tab, remember to grant users permission through a security role. As a best practice, we recommend you always add new pages and tabs to the default Administrator Security Role first before you grant permission through additional security roles.

Many-to-Many Relationships

In a many-to-many relationship, the page and tab relate through a common table with a foreign key that refers to both the page and tab tables.

Example

Group Participants: Each Group may have many Participants, and Participants may be in many Groups.

Group page showing the Participants tab

Configuration

The target filter key is a foreign key on the primary table that stores cross-referenced records on the select from page.

Tab for Group Roles: Participants showing the Target Filter Key as Group_Role_ID

Actions & Permissions

You must grant at least Read permissions to the tab before anyone can see it.

To display the Add button for this relationship type, grant "full" permissions. For this to work, the foreign keys in the database must actually form a many-to-many relationship.

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