New Class

You can start creating a new class by highlighting the Class heading in the left-side tree view of M-Files Admin and by clicking the New Class... link on the task area.

Video: Class Structure

The properties dialog of a new "Purchase Invoice" class.

In the example shown above, a new class is being created. You can add new properties by clicking the Add... button. If the Required checkbox for the property is active, users need to assign a value for the property when creating a new object in that class. Otherwise, the object cannot be created. The Purchase Invoice class being created in the above image dictates that the Name or title and Document date properties would need to be filled in for users to be able to create a Purchase Invoice object.

Video: Class Properties

Set As Name

Any property of the class can be defined as the name of the object; that is, the property is selected as the name property for the objects of this class. Then the name of the object does not have to be entered separately; instead, a certain property can be set up to always be the name or "title" of the object belonging to the class in question. This makes the naming of objects in a class more consistent.

This property is very useful for working with automatic values (see Automatic Values). The automatic value of the property may at the same time be the name of the proposal document ("Proposal/ESTT").

Note: Templates are named without automatic values.

The Update names function (found on the M-Files Admin task area for a class) can be used to update the names of all existing objects in the class to conform to the new definition.

Default workflow for new objects

You can define a default workflow for new objects in this class. For example, all invoices can be set to use the invoice circulation workflow.

Force this workflow for new objects

If a specific workflow is forced for new objects in the class, the workflow cannot be deleted or changed. For example, the Purchase Invoice Approval workflow can be specified as compulsory for a new document created in the Purchase Invoice class.

Templates

You can define templates to be used when creating new objects in this class. To specify a document or other object as a template, add the property Is template and set it to Yes. Templates are class-specific. You can specify the template to be a part of several classes by specifying multiple classes for the object being used as a template, with the Additional Classes property.

Aliases (Advanced tab)

Via the Advanced tab, you can define an alias for the class. For more information, see Associating the Metadata Definitions.

Creating a New Class

Follow the steps provided below to create a new class to your M-Files vault.

Steps

Open M-Files Admin.
In the left-side tree view, expand the desired connection to M-Files Server.
In the left-side tree view, expand the document vault of your choice.
Still in the left-side tree view, expand the Metadata Structure (Flat View) node.
Select the Classes node.
Click New Class... on the task pane.
The Class Properties dialog for a new class is opened.
In the Name field, type in a descriptive name for the new class.
Using the Object type drop-down menu, select the object type that the class is to be associated with.
The class can be selected only for objects of this type.
Optional: Using the Properties table, define which properties are to be automatically added to the metadata card when this class is selected.
For more information, see New Class.
Optional: Using the Default workflow for new objects drop-down menu, specify the default workflow to be associated with the class.
Enable Force this workflow for new objects to require the selected workflow to be used for any new objects with this class.
Optional: On the Permissions tab, you can specify the users who may see this class or attach objects to it.
For more information, see Permissions and Automatic Permissions.
Optional: On the Automatic Permissions tab, you can specify whether or not objects of this class receive automatic permissions.
For more information, see Permissions and Automatic Permissions.
Optional: On the Advanced tab, you can define aliases for the class using the Aliases field.
For more information, see Aliases for Associating Metadata Between Vaults.
Click OK to create the new class.

Results

The new class is added to the list if classes in M-Files Admin and can be selected for objects in M-Files Desktop.

Assigment Class

When you are creating a new class with the object type Assignment, an additional tab appears to the Class Properties dialog, the Assignment Details tab. It enables you to select the assignment type and certain conditions related to the completion or approval of the assignment.

Assigment type

There are two types of assignments, task assignments and approval assignments. The assignees of the task assignments simply mark the assigment complete when they have successfully carried out the task, whereas the assignees of approval assigments have more say in the actual approval process: they can use the assigment for approving or rejecting the target object.

In both cases, you can set the completion of the assignment to require action from all or any assignees. You may also want to require an Electronic Signature.