The documents repository is a remote repository located on the Business Pilot Server. It is where all files, documents and workflows are stored, so that they can be accessed by any authenticated desktop running Business Pilot Studio. The repository is partitionned into six sections that have a specific function within Business Pilot. Users may create sub-folders under some sections to better organize the documents.

Custom Workflow Items: Lets you store custom workflow elements, developped in Java™ and deployed on the Business Pilot Server. Custom elements can be added to any workflow and are backed up by custom developped Java™ code. They are mainly used to implement connectors to third-party systems.

Private Documents: Allows user to store documents, spreadsheets, databases, images, etc., in the Business Pilot. This serves as a useful way for users to store their documents to be shared or retrieved by any authorized user. It allows user to store documents in a convenient manner, for transfer into workflows by using the Document Producer element of the Studio.

User Directories: Allows user to create, edit or view user directories for Business Pilot. Directories are used to protect web resources such as forms, web pages and web reports.

Web Site: Contains the entire web site hosted by Business Pilot. In this directories, administrators can create web pages, upload images and other resources.

Web Templates: Allows user to import templates into Studio from a local computer. Templates are 'skins' that can be applied to web pages and online forms so that they keep a consitent look and feel. Modifying a template will result in modifying the look and feel of all the pages.

Workflows: This area is used to store all workflows.

The workflow outline lists, in a tree structure, all the steps currently layed out in the workflow. Expand an item will reveal all the attributes it makes available for other steps to read. Once a step is traversed, it populates its attributes with data specific to the current execution. Other steps can read this data and use it for their own execution.

This view provides the user with a good overview of the workflow and the available data.

The database explorer is a view that helps the user understand the structure of the databases Business Pilot Studio is connected to. It is represented by a 3-level tree structure:

1. Level 1: The databases
2. Level 2: The tables in the selected database
3. Level 3: The attributes (required and optionals) of the selected table

This is the main work area of Business Pilot Studio. It is a generic viewer framework that displays an appropriate viewer for the document currently being edited. Business Pilot Studio comes with five standard viewers/editors:

• Workflow editor: Allows the workflow designer to draw the workflows by dropping steps and linking them together. This is the view shown on the screenshot above.
• Forms editor: Similar to the workflow editor, it is a drag and drop editor allowing the workflow designer to design forms used in conjunction with workflows.
• HTML editor: An embeded HTML editor with syntax coloring allowing the user to quickly distinguish the text from the formatting tags. It comes with a toolbox aimed at helping users format their HTML text (ie. Create bold, italic and underlined text, create hyperlinks to other pages in the repository, etc...)
• Text editor: This is the default editor for unknown formats. It displays plain text and allows the user to edit it.
• Image viewer: This view displays images stored in the repository, allowing the user to quickly identify the image resources available in the repository.

When a workflow step is selected in the workflow editor, its configuration is displayed in this view so that it can easily be edited. The fields displayed in the configuration panel differs based on the type of selected item. For instance, is an online form item is selected, the panel will display information like the Web template used for the form, the Internet address (URL) of that form, etc... If the selected item is an email notification, then the view will show fields such as the recipient, subject and content of the email.

Clicking the magnifying glass on the top-right corner of the configuration panel, will detach it from the main window. This feature is useful for low resolution screens.

When building a workflow, Business Pilot Studio provides the user with real-time feedback indicating configuration errors (misconfigured workflow elements, missing configuration elements, wrong linkages, etc...). Selecting an error in this view will automatically open the configuration panel of the misconfigured step.

This view is meant to keep the user aware of potential errors in order to avoid runtime errors. Note that misconfigured steps appear in red on the workflow whiteboard.