Server Rendering Guides - Nextedy Documentation

Create a Computed Property

Add a server-rendered property to your data model that computes its value dynamically from work item data, related entities, or platform services.

Use Velocity Templates

Write Velocity template expressions that access work item fields, document context, and the full set of context variables available during rendering.

Access Polarion Services

Call Polarion platform services such as $trackerService, $repositoryService, and $securityService from within your Velocity templates for advanced queries and permission checks.

Debug Template Errors

Diagnose and resolve common rendering failures including parse errors, missing variables, method invocation exceptions, and the #SERVER_RENDER_ERROR marker.

How Server Rendering Works

The following diagram shows how a server-rendered property flows from configuration to display.

 Data Model YAML              Server API                  Sheet
 +-----------------------+      +---------------------+     +------------------+
 | entity: Hazard        |      | 1. Parse YAML       |     |                  |
 | properties:           | ---> | 2. Detect            | --> | Rendered value   |
 |   riskLevel:          |      |    serverRender      |     | shown in cell    |
 |     serverRender: ... |      | 3. Build Velocity    |     |                  |
 +-----------------------+      |    context ($item,   |     +------------------+
                                |    $wi, $module,     |
                                |    $context, $tx)    |
                                | 4. Evaluate template |
                                | 5. Return result     |
                                +---------------------+

When a property includes a serverRender definition, the server API evaluates the Velocity template for each entity row. The template receives a pre-populated context containing the current work item, document, transaction, and injected Polarion services. The evaluated result is returned as the property value and displayed in the sheet column.

Server-rendered properties are best suited for values that cannot be expressed as a simple field binding:

Cross-entity lookups — aggregate or reference data from linked work items
Conditional formatting — compute display strings based on multiple field values
Platform queries — run Lucene queries via $trackerService to count or filter related items
Permission-aware values — use $securityService to vary output by user role

For straightforward field display or client-side calculations, use standard column bindings or the formula expression in your sheet configuration instead.

Context Variable	Type	Description
`$item`	ModelObject	Current work item with access to all properties
`$wi`	IWorkItem	Low-level Polarion work item API (work items only)
`$module`	IModule	Current LiveDoc document context (null for non-document entities)
`$context`	IDatabridgeContext	Server API context with project and query capabilities
`$tx`	Transaction	Current transaction for scoped read operations
`$trackerService`	ITrackerService	Query work items, run Lucene searches, access tracker metadata
`$repositoryService`	IRepositoryService	Access project metadata, users, and repository configuration
`$securityService`	ISecurityService	Check permissions and enforce role-based visibility

Server Rendering Reference — complete property and context variable reference
Use Velocity Templates — step-by-step guide to writing your first template
Configure Dynamic Expressions — client-side () => expressions as an alternative to server rendering

Create a Computed Property

Use Velocity Templates

Access Polarion Services

Debug Template Errors

​How Server Rendering Works

​Related Resources

How Server Rendering Works

Related Resources