What is a PCF element?

Guidewire defines each PCF file as a set of XML elements defined within the root <PCF> tag. Guidewire calls these XML elements PCF elements. These PCF elements define everything that you see in the PolicyCenter interface, as well as many things that you cannot see. For example, PCF elements include:

  • Editors
  • List views
  • Detail views
  • Buttons
  • Popups
  • Other PolicyCenter interface elements
  • Non-visible objects that support the PolicyCenter interface elements, such as Gosu code that performs background actions after you click a button.

For a reference of all PCF elements and their attributes, see the PCF Format Reference in PolicyCenter/modules/pcf.html in your installation.

Every page in PolicyCenter uses multiple PCF elements. You define these elements separately, but PolicyCenter renders then together during page construction. For example, consider the tab bar available on most PolicyCenter pages:


Tab bar with Search drop-down menu highlighted.

Using Ctrl+Shift+W, you can discover that these elements are defined in the PCF file TabBar.pcf. In Guidewire Studio, you can open TabBar.pcf in the PCF Editor. Clicking on the arrow next to the Search tab in this file causes the search menu items to appear:


TabBar.pcf open in Guidewire Studio with the Search menu widget highlighted.