Custom portlets

Custom portlets let you show information about RICOH ProcessDirector objects and their properties in a format that reflects the most important details of your operation in a way that makes sense to you.

RICOH ProcessDirector provides several styles of custom portlet for you to choose from.

For example:

  • If you want to see what forms are loaded on your printers and what state each printer is in, you can create a matrix portlet that displays printers, with a row for each location and a column for each state.
  • If you want to keep track of the jobs you have in process for each customer, you can create a tree portlet with a row for each customer. Under each customer, you can include a row for due dates.
  • If you want to display a count of the total number of pages printed or jobs due today, you can use a numeric portlet.

Matrix portlet

Matrix portlets look similar to the System Summary portlet. The key difference is that you choose the properties used for the column headers and row labels.

In the example below, the matrix portlet displays information about printers defined in RICOH ProcessDirector. The Property for rows is set to Printer location, so the first column shows all printer locations that exist in the system. The Property for columns is Printer status. The second column in the matrix shows the number of printers with the first status value in each location.

The other columns show the values of the Property for columns. Under the headings, the columns show the number of objects with that value in each row. The numbers in each column show how many printers have that status.

To include a row that displays the sum of each column, select Yes for Show totals row field.

If you show jobs in a matrix portlet, you can use the portlet to filter the Jobs table. Hovering over a property or a number, displays a pop-up window with summarized information. When you click a header or a number in the matrix, the Jobs portlet displays the jobs based on the properties you set for the portlet. You can display the information using a fixed portlet on the Main page or in a floating window.

Tree portlet

In the tree portlet, properties are stacked in hierarchies instead of spread out like a table. This arrangement lets you see the information more compactly.

When using the Tree style, select the hierarchy of properties that form the rows. The first column shows properties in a hierarchy that you select. You can add more columns to show more data.

In the example below, the tree portal shows information about jobs in the system. The jobs are first grouped on the Customer name. Under each customer, they are grouped by due date.

The same filtering functionality from the Matrix presentation applies to the Tree presentation. Clicking a word or number in each row filters the Jobs table. You can choose to display the information in a fixed portlet on the Main page or in a floating window.

Numeric portlet

A numeric portlet lets you show current counts of objects in the system, based on their properties. Each portlet can contain multiple entries, called indicators. The indicators can be associated with multiple types of objects.

When using the Numeric style, select the properties you want to count.

In the following example below, there is a numeric portlet for Jobs. The left indicator is filtered to show information about all jobs in the system that are due today. The right indicator applies an additional filter to show information only about the jobs due today that have moved to Retained state. Over the course of the day, the value from the right indicator increases as the jobs are printed. By showing the target number next to the current progress, an operator can easily see how much work is left.