Summary
The 2025.4 update introduces several features to the New UI for STEP (also referred to as Instrument), aimed at expanding the functionality and improving efficiency and the user experience.
The following updates have been made:
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Error messaging in tables has been improved when using cut and paste.
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Attributes, data containers, and references now support conditional attribute display, streamlining data entry and enhancing data accuracy.
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Keyboard navigation is now supported.
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Browsing and refreshing collections created in the workbench and the Web UI is now supported.
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HTML Functions are now rendered in detail pages via the Embedded Content tab.
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The new UI now retains the selected tab when switching between nodes.
Important: As of 2025.1, the STEP Instrument Documentation is part of the STEP Documentation.
Details
Enhanced error messaging for references
Users will now see more descriptive error messages when using the copy and paste functionality.
For example, when users attempt to paste values from a multi-value cell into a single-value cell, this error will display:
Additionally, users will also see informative notification messages when they paste data into cells that are invalid for object type, data type, etc.
By providing more information about the underlying cause of the error, users can quickly assess and address any issue that arises, thus improving speed and work process efficiency.
For more information on error messaging in the new UI when using copy and paste, refer to the References topic.
Conditional attribute display
This update introduces enhanced support for conditional attribute display, extending the conditional display functionality to include attributes, references, and data containers. This enhancement is exclusive to the new UI.
Conditional attribute display is configured through the Conditional Validity Attribute in the workbench. This functionality allows administrators to define when attributes, data containers, and references should be visible and valid, based on specified conditions, without requiring JavaScript knowledge.
Users benefit from a more intuitive interface where relevant fields display automatically as conditions are met, or do not display if the conditions are unmet. This dynamic behavior ensures that changes are applied immediately, and that fields become valid or invalid depending on the values of other fields.
For more information, refer to the Conditional Attribute Display topic in the System Setup documentation.
Keyboard navigation improvements
Keyboard navigation within the new UI has been improved and expanded for tables with enhanced capabilities for moving between cells and opening and closing cell editing using only the keyboard. In an effort to increase usability and accessibility in the new UI, users can now:
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Use the arrow keys to move cell focus up, down, left, or right.
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Use the 'Enter' key to open and close the cell editor (if editable) and save edits.
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Use the 'Enter' key to shift cell focus down a row to the next editable cell following a completed edit in the cell above.
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Use the 'Tab' key to shift cell focus to the right. Use 'Shift' and 'Tab' together to shift cell focus to the left.
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Use the 'Esc' key to close the editor.
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Use the 'Shift' and 'A' keys together to select all rows in a table.
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Use 'Shift' and 'Spacebar' keys together to select an in-focus row.
By streamlining user interactions with tables, users can enrich and submit products more quickly, add data more accurately, and complete more tasks in less time.
For more information on keyboard navigation, refer to the Instrument Keyboard Navigation topic.
Improved support for collections
Users can now browse and interact with collections and collection groups through browse perspectives. Previously, collections could only be created in the STEP Workbench and in the Web UI. Users can also refresh search-based collections directly in the new UI. This enhancement addresses previous limitations where collections created outside the new UI were inaccessible.
For more information, refer to the Toolbar topic in the Instrument User Interface documentation.
Support for HTML functions in Embedded Content tab
The new UI supports rendering external HTML content on a detail page using the existing Embedded Content tab framework. This framework has been extended to support HTML functions (business functions that return HTML) via a specific URL template.
This enables you to view read-only data aggregated from multiple sources or formatted in specific ways, even when the data is not directly available on the current object.
For more information, refer to the Embedded Content Tab topic in the Instrument User Interface documentation.
Tab memory on node switch
When using the new UI, the system now remembers the selected tab when switching between nodes. This eliminates the need to reselect tabs when moving between objects.