Skip to main content

Card Designer: Request Card

Every request in Aeon shows up as a card — the compact tile you see in a queue list, in search results, and in the request split-view. By default that card shows the item title, the author, and a row of metadata chips (researcher name, document type, scheduled date, and any flags). The Card Designer lets you decide which fields appear on that card and how they're styled, so staff see the information that matters most to your reading room at a glance — call numbers, container IDs, appointment times, custom fields, whatever fits your workflow.

This is a configuration tool, not part of daily request processing. You'll come here once when setting Aeon up, and again whenever your team decides the queue list should surface different information.

When you'll use this
  • A queue list isn't showing the field staff need most (for example, you want the Call Number or Container ID on every card so pagers don't have to open each request).
  • You want the cards in one specific queue to look different from the rest — for example, showing appointment time on cards in the reading-room queue.
  • You're building a role-specific view and want a tailored card layout assigned to that role.
info
This page covers the request card

The Card Designer is the same tool for request, user, and activity cards — only the available fields differ. This page uses the request card. For the others, see Card Designer: User Card and Card Designer: Activity Card. There is also a separate Request Wide Card layout for the wider lists where requests appear embedded in another record.

Opening the Card Designer​

  1. Open the Customization Manager.
  2. In the Designers category, choose Card Designer. It opens on the Request Card by default.
  3. To switch to a different card (User, Activity, or the Request Wide variant), use the Card Designer sub-items in the left menu.
Who can use the Card Designer

The Card Designer is part of the Designers configuration area. Your role must have the Designers configuration capability to open and edit it; without it, the Card Designer won't appear in the Customization Manager. See Roles & Capabilities.

How the designer is laid out​

The Card Designer has two toolbars across the top and two working areas below them:

  • Template toolbar (top) — which template you're editing, the ⋯ template menu, and Save.
  • Designer toolbar — the per-queue Layout: selector, a reset control, and undo / redo.
AreaWhat it does
Fields (left)The palette of fields you can add, grouped into categories (Item, Location, Dates, User, and so on), with a Search fields... box at the top.
Card Preview (center)A live preview of the card — this is your canvas. Drag fields onto it, click a field to select it, reorder rows, and edit a field's content in place. When you select a field, a small toolbar appears above it with that field's settings.

There's no separate properties panel — a selected field's settings live in the floating toolbar that appears over it in the preview.

Row 1 is fixed​

The very first row of every request card is fixed and cannot be customized. It always shows the selection checkbox, the lock and view (eye) icons, the transaction number, any flags, and the request's status badge. The preview labels this row "Row 1 is fixed and cannot be customized." Everything you design goes in the rows below it.

A request card can have up to 5 rows total (Row 1 plus four you control).

Building a card​

The example below adds the call number to every request card so pagers can read it without opening the request.

Add a field​

You can add a field two ways:

  • Drag it. Grab a field from the Fields palette and drop it onto a row in the preview (or onto the gap between rows to start a new row).
  • Click it. Click a field in the palette and it's added to the row of whatever field is currently selected — or to the last row if nothing is selected.

To add the call number:

  1. In the Fields palette, type call in the search box, or scroll to the Location category.
  2. Drag Call Number onto the row where you want it (say, the metadata row at the bottom of the card).
  3. The field appears in the preview and is automatically selected, so its floating toolbar opens above it.

Add or remove a row​

  • To add a row, click Add Row at the bottom of the card preview. The button shows how many rows you've used (for example, Add Row (3/5)). It disappears once you reach the five-row limit.
  • To remove a row, use the Remove row control on the row itself. You can't remove the last remaining customizable row.

Reorder fields and rows​

  • Move a field within or between rows: drag it to the new spot. You can also select a field and press Ctrl/Cmd + ↑ or Ctrl/Cmd + ↓ to move it to the row above or below.
  • Reorder whole rows: drag the row to a new position.
  • Keyboard: in the preview, press Space to grab the selected item, the arrow keys to move it, and Space again to drop. Press Escape to deselect.

Delete a field​

Select the field and either press Delete / Backspace, or click the Remove field (trash) button on its floating toolbar.

Styling a field​

Select a field in the preview to bring up its floating toolbar. From left to right it gives you:

  • Edit content (the pencil) — compose what the field says. This is the primary way to set a field's content, and you can also double-click the field in the preview to edit it in place.
  • Width — how much horizontal space the field takes: Auto, Fill, 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, or Full width.
  • Swap field — replace this field with a different one from a searchable picker, keeping its place.
  • Display style — how the value is rendered:
    • Plain Text — just the value.
    • Icon + Text — the value with a small icon (reveals an Icon picker).
    • Badge — the value in a pill (reveals a Badge style: Default, Outline, Secondary, Destructive).
    • Template — a free-form string mixing static text with field placeholders (reveals a Template string box; write something like {itemTitle} by {itemAuthor}, wrapping field names in { }).
  • Typography — Text Size (Extra Small / Small / Medium), Font Weight (Normal / Medium / Semibold / Bold), and Color (Default / Muted / Primary / Accent).
  • Field options — a Custom Label (override the field's name; leave blank for the default) and Hide if Empty (on by default — the field drops off the card when the request has no value for it, so cards stay tidy).
  • Remove field (the trash) — take the field off the card.
Available fields go beyond the request itself

The palette for the request card includes fields from the linked records too. Alongside Item, Location, Dates, Service, Identifiers, and request Custom Fields (Item Info 1–5), you'll find a User group (researcher name, department, email), an Appointment group, and an Activity group — so a card can surface the requester's name or their appointment time, not just the bibliographic data. The Special group includes the Flags element and a reusable Template Text element.

Showing a different card for one queue​

By default, every queue uses the same request card — the Default layout. You can override that for individual queues. For example, you might want appointment time and reading room on cards in the reading-room queue, but not anywhere else.

The Layout: selector in the designer toolbar controls which layout you're editing. It starts on Default.

  1. Click the + button next to the Layout selector (its tooltip reads "Add queue override").
  2. In the Add Queue Override dialog, pick the queue from the dropdown and click Add Override. The new layout starts as a copy of the Default, so you're never building from scratch.
  3. The Layout: selector switches to that queue. Edit it just like the default — your changes now apply only to cards in that queue.
  4. To go back to editing the shared layout, switch the Layout: selector to Default.

To remove a queue's custom layout, select it in the Layout: selector and click the trash icon ("Remove this override"). Aeon asks you to confirm with a Remove Override? dialog; click Remove Override and that queue returns to using the Default layout.

Per-queue overrides are request-only

Only request cards support per-queue overrides — the Layout: selector doesn't appear for user or activity cards, because those aren't queue-scoped.

Templates: saving and reusing layouts​

A card layout is stored as a template. The template toolbar at the very top lets you keep more than one and choose which is in effect.

  • Switch templates: use the template dropdown on the left of the toolbar. The one marked default is the layout staff actually see (unless a role assigns a different one — see below).
  • New Template: from the ⋯ menu, choose New Template and name it. It's created from the template you currently have open.
  • Duplicate / Rename: also in the ⋯ menu.
  • Set as Default: ⋯ → Set as Default makes the selected template the one in effect for everyone (unless overridden per role).
  • Reset to System Default: ⋯ → Reset to System Default discards all customizations in the selected template and restores Aeon's built-in layout. This can't be undone.
  • Delete: ⋯ → Delete. Note the warning: deleting a template also removes any role assignments that reference it.
Saving your work

Your changes are not saved automatically. The toolbar shows Unsaved while you have pending edits and Saved once they're written. Click Save (or press Ctrl/Cmd + S) to commit. Click the discard (circular-arrow) button to throw away pending edits and revert to the last saved version.

If you try to leave the Card Designer — or switch templates — with unsaved edits, Aeon warns you first ("You have unsaved changes…") so you don't lose work.

Undo and redo​

The designer toolbar has Undo (Ctrl/Cmd + Z) and Redo (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + Z, or Ctrl/Cmd + Y) for stepping back and forth through your edits before you save.

Assigning a card layout to a role​

Setting a template as Default affects everyone. If you instead want a particular role to see a specific card layout, assign the template in the Role Editor rather than here.

In the Role Editor, open the Layouts tab, find Request Card under the Cards group, and pick the template for that role. Leaving it unset means that role uses whichever template is set as the system default. See Editing a Role: Layout Assignments.

Preview reflects the layout, not live data

The card preview uses representative sample data, so you can design the layout without opening a real request. Once you save and the layout is in effect, open any queue to see your cards rendering with real requests.

Editor review — remove this callout (and the HTML comment below it) before publishing

A few things to confirm on this page:

  • Screenshots needed (re-capture against the CURRENT UI — the field editor is now a floating toolbar, not a right-hand Properties panel): (1) the workspace — the Fields palette + Card Preview with a field selected showing its floating toolbar; (2) the floating toolbar's Display style popover expanded; (3) the Add Queue Override dialog / Layout: selector.
  • Cross-links: the links to Roles & Capabilities and Layout Assignments resolve to existing pages; confirm they're the intended targets.
  • Page header/subtitle: confirm the on-screen header still reads Card Designer with a subtitle like "Customize how request cards appear in the queue list" (verify on screen — this string lives in StaffWeb, not re-checked line-by-line at the current release).

The full generation metadata is in the HTML comment directly below this callout.