{"id":3392,"date":"2021-08-11T08:39:25","date_gmt":"2021-08-11T12:39:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/polarion\/?p=3392"},"modified":"2026-03-26T05:41:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T09:41:59","slug":"streamline-your-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/polarion\/streamline-your-process\/","title":{"rendered":"Form Menus &#8211; Streamline your Process"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>This blog follows up on a previous blog on <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/polarion\/interconnecting-your-engineering-elements\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Link Roles and Rules<\/a>. If you have not read that already it is recommended to do so before moving on to Form Menus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Form Menus is a great way for process guidance (and even enforcement). It\u2019s also helpful for the end users to make the right process choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/polarion\/interconnecting-your-engineering-elements\/?preview_id=2947&amp;preview_nonce=7d06238a72&amp;preview=true&amp;_thumbnail_id=2976\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/polarion\/interconnecting-your-engineering-elements\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Link Roles and Rules<\/a> blog post it was mentioned that a test case would&nbsp;<em>verify<\/em>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<em>validate<\/em>&nbsp;a requirement, but not&nbsp;<em>implement<\/em>&nbsp;it. This is where form menus are helpful. Assume we have the following meta-model in Polarion:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"789\" height=\"395\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/08\/MetaModel.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3419\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/08\/MetaModel.png 789w, https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/08\/MetaModel-600x300.png 600w, https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/08\/MetaModel-768x384.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 789px) 100vw, 789px\" \/><figcaption>Figure 1<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Starting from the Software Requirement level, we can go one step \u201cup\u201d, to the System Requirement. However, \u201cdownstream\u201d there are more possibilities. From here we can create <em>implementing<\/em> Work Packages and Tasks and <em>verifying<\/em> Software Test Cases. When Polarion is first installed a default set of menu options are available and looks something like <em>Figure 2<\/em>, depending on the template used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"487\" height=\"441\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/08\/default_menu.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3422\"\/><figcaption>Figure 2<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>This is not very useful for the end users and may lead to unnecessary confusion. Instead we should make it clear and easy to create and link the appropriate and valid work item from the Software Requirement:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"752\" height=\"278\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/08\/custom_menu.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3425\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/08\/custom_menu.png 752w, https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/08\/custom_menu-600x222.png 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px\" \/><figcaption>Figure 3<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The way we control the content of the form menus is from the administration section in Polarion under Administration &gt; Work Items &gt; Form Menus. Here you will see two sections; &#8220;<strong>Linked Work Item<\/strong>&#8221; Menus and &#8220;<strong>Linking Work Item<\/strong>&#8221; Menus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"942\" height=\"104\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/08\/Linked-Linking.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/08\/Linked-Linking.png 942w, https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/08\/Linked-Linking-600x66.png 600w, https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/08\/Linked-Linking-768x85.png 768w, https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/08\/Linked-Linking-900x99.png 900w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 942px) 100vw, 942px\" \/><figcaption>Figure 4<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The &#8220;Linked Work Item&#8221; controls the content of the menus when creating a <em>parent<\/em> work item and the &#8220;Linking Work Item&#8221; controls the menus when creating a <em>child<\/em> work item, as in our example with the software requirement. From an implementation perspective the concept is the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If we go back to our configured menu in <em>Figure 3<\/em>, the implementation looks like this:<br>&lt;menu&gt;<br>&lt;item <span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">label<\/span>=&#8221;Implementing Work Package&#8221; <span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">role<\/span>=&#8221;implements&#8221; <span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">titlePrefix<\/span>=&#8221;Implement: &#8221; <span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">type<\/span>=&#8221;workpackage&#8221;\/&gt;<br>&lt;item <span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">label<\/span>=&#8221;Implementing Task&#8221; <span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">role<\/span>=&#8221;implements&#8221; <span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">titlePrefix<\/span>=&#8221;Implement: &#8221; <span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">type<\/span>=&#8221;task&#8221;\/&gt;<br>&lt;item <span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">label<\/span>=&#8221;Verifying Software Test Case&#8221; <span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">role<\/span>=&#8221;verifies&#8221; <span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">titlePrefix<\/span>=&#8221;Test: &#8221; <span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">type<\/span>=&#8221;softwaretestcase&#8221;\/&gt;<br>&lt;\/menu&gt;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What is marked in blue are attributes. <em>Label <\/em>is what is shown on the menu, <em>role <\/em>is the link relationship between the software requirement and the work package, and <em>titlePrefix <\/em>makes the new linking work item inherit the title of the parent work item along with some free text. <em>Type <\/em>defines the work item type to be used (<em>work package<\/em>, <em>task<\/em> and <em>software testcase<\/em> in the example). There are many other attributes that can be used. For example, if you want the content of the description field of the requirement to be copied to a new test case or task, you would apply the <span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">copyFields<\/span>=&#8221;description&#8221; label. See <a href=\"https:\/\/almdemo.polarion.com\/polarion\/help\/topic\/com.polarion.xray.doc.user\/guide\/xid1489228_dup1.html?resultof=%22%66%6f%72%6d%22%20%22%6d%65%6e%75%73%22%20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Create and link a new Work Item in a single operation<\/a> for more details on creating Form Menus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have questions about the&nbsp;Polarion&nbsp;functionality, please&nbsp;check&nbsp;out&nbsp;our&nbsp;Polarion&nbsp;Community.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Be part of the Polarion community<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Join the community today and get in touch with us, register in our new community. Many of our experts are active in the new Polarion Community.<br><br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.polarion.com\/community\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Join the Polarion Community<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This blog follows up on a previous blog on Link Roles and Rules. If you have not read that already&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11959,"featured_media":3437,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spanish_translation":"","french_translation":"","german_translation":"","italian_translation":"","polish_translation":"","japanese_translation":"","chinese_translation":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[54,1,112],"tags":[469,438,496,470,468],"industry":[],"product":[],"coauthors":[511],"class_list":["post-3392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-news","category-tips-tricks","tag-linking","tag-polarion","tag-process","tag-trace","tag-traceability"],"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/08\/menu3.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/polarion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/polarion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/polarion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/polarion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11959"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/polarion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3392"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/polarion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3508,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/polarion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3392\/revisions\/3508"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/polarion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/polarion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/polarion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/polarion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3392"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/polarion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=3392"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/polarion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=3392"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/polarion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=3392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}