Versions Compared

Key

  • This line was added.
  • This line was removed.
  • Formatting was changed.

Anchor
pageStart
pageStart
This page is for PhixFlow data modellers and application developers. It describes the different menu and toolbar options available in the PhixFlow interface.


Panel
borderColor#7da054
titleColorwhite
titleBGColor#7da054
borderStylesolid
titleSections on this page

Table of Contents
indent12px
stylenone


Repository Context Menu

In the repository browser, you can right-click on an item to display its context menu.

  • Categories/Collections
  • "items"
  • modelling objects
  • layout components


OptionDescription

Insert excerpt
_add
_add
nopaneltrue

Creates a new item of the selected type.

When you create a new application, PhixFlow automatically shows only this application in the repository list and asks if you want to load the application into 

Insert excerpt
_app_mode
_app_mode
nopaneltrue
.

To see the full list of applications again, clear the application's name from the Applications search field.

Insert excerpt
_list_show
_list_show
nopaneltrue
Opens a new window listing all the items with the selected. The window includes information about the key properties for each item.
Display
icon depends on item type
A model, dashboard, layout or area opens in the workspace. 
A palette opens in a pop-up.
Insert excerpt
_model_show
_model_show
nopaneltrue
Opens a new window listing all the models that contain the item.
EnableThe icon depends on the item
Insert excerpt
_template_copy
_template_copy
nopaneltrue
for layout components you can copy an existing component and save it as a layout template.

Insert excerpt
_edit
_edit
nopaneltrue



Insert excerpt
_delete
_delete
nopaneltrue
- deletes the item from the repository and from all the items that contain it.
Insert excerpt
_remove
_remove
nopaneltrue
  from container  

Set Audit Required

options for privileges, to set whether or not PhixFlow records these actions in the audit log
Set Audit Not Required
Insert excerpt
_stream_sets_show
_stream_sets_show
nopaneltrue

Insert excerpt
_stream_view_chart
_stream_view_chart
nopaneltrue
pens a new window  listing the steam data.
Insert excerpt
_run_analysis
_run_analysis
nopaneltrue

Load Application
In 
Insert excerpt
_design_mode
_design_mode
nopaneltrue
, show only the selected application in the repository browser and automatically load it into 
Insert excerpt
_app_mode
_app_mode
nopaneltrue
..
Filter by Name

Show only the selected application in the repository browser.

To see the full list of applications again, clear the application's name from the Applications search field.


User Menu

On the top right of the PhixFlow screen is the 

Insert excerpt
_user
_user
nopaneltrue
 menu, which has the following options:

OptionDescription
Insert excerpt
_user_details
_user_details
nopaneltrue

Opens a User Details Form allowing the user to change their own account settings (including their password).

Online SupportOpens a browser window into PhixFlow's online support desk. Your designated support contacts will have login details.
Send Feedback EmailOpens a new email window.
About PhixFlowShows general information about PhixFlow, in particular the current version that you are using.
Insert excerpt
_help
_help
nopaneltrue
Opens this online help system.
Insert excerpt
_logout
_logout
nopaneltrue

Returns PhixFlow to the startup screen so that the user must log back in to resume work.

Status Bar
Anchor
TaskBar
TaskBar

The status bar is at the bottom of the PhixFlow window. On the left the number of currently running actions is shown. There is also the button to show/hide the windows bar. If there are any notifications on screen, they can all be dismissed in one go by clicking 'Dismiss notifications'. This will dismiss the green notification pop ups but not red error/failure messages.

On the right are icons which can be used to access different features:

Insert excerpt
_palette
_palette
nopaneltrue
Open the palette panel on the right. You can drag preconfigured layout components from the palette into dashboards.
 Console
Show the System Console. This shows currently running tasks and log messages from processes run in PhixFlow.
 Show Repository
Open Using the Repository. This shows all of the available objects in your PhixFlow instance.
 Administration
Administration Menu. Options to Import Configuration, Export Full Configuration or Open Export Pane
Insert excerpt
_design_mode
_design_mode
nopaneltrue
Insert excerpt
_app_mode
_app_mode
nopaneltrue
The icon indicates which mode you are currently running. Click it to switch between App Mode and Design Mode.

The Windows bar appears in the bottom of the screen if 'Show Windows Bar' is selected from the footer bar. The Windows bar contains links to all open windows (both open and minimised). Click on a link to restore the window (if needed) and bring the window to the front of the screen. Each window link also has a context menu which allows you to close it directly.

On the bottom right of the PhixFlow screen is the 

Insert excerpt
_administration
_administration
nopaneltrue
 menu, which has the following options:

OptionDescription
Insert excerpt
_admin_import
_admin_import
nopaneltrue
Import
Insert excerpt
_admin_import_stream
_admin_import_stream
nopaneltrue
Import stream data
Insert excerpt
_admin_export
_admin_export
nopaneltrue
Export
Insert excerpt
_admin_export_open
_admin_export_open
nopaneltrue
Opens a window with export options

Insert excerpt
_admin_stream_open
_admin_stream_open
nopaneltrue

Opens  window with stream export options


Tip

Whether or not these options are visible in the menu depends on your privileges. Administrators configure privileges in roles; see Managing User Groups and Privileges.

Administrators can configure whether or not these options are visible to users via the associated role privileges; see Managing User Groups and Privileges

Property Tab Toolbar
Anchor
formIcons
formIcons

When you open the property tab for a model or one of its modelling objects, the tab has a toolbar at the top. 

Insert excerpt
_finish
_finish
nopaneltrue

Save the current properties and close the tab.

Insert excerpt
_save
_save
nopaneltrue

Save the current properties and keep the tab open.

Insert excerpt
_back
_back
nopaneltrue

Toggle between the current property tab and one that was previously open.


Insert excerpt
_forward
_forward
nopaneltrue
Insert excerpt
_repository
_repository
nopaneltrue

Find in Explorer. This icon will bring the repository browser tab to the front and will close all nodes except those leading to this object.  You may need to scroll the explorer to see the selected object.

Insert excerpt
_help
_help
nopaneltrue

Context sensitive help.

Insert excerpt
_toolbar_squashed
_toolbar_squashed
nopaneltrue

If there is insufficient space on the header bar then some buttons are moved into this drop-down menu. The following options are always on the drop-down menu:

Insert excerpt
_delete
_delete
nopaneltrue
 Delete the current object. Delete is:

  • permanent as there is no "undo" option
  • everywhere, so if the object is used by other models, it is also deleted there.

Insert excerpt
_delete
_delete
nopaneltrue
 Close the current property tab. You can also use the X on the tab itself. 

The Audit trail is a useful way of reversing changes made by mistake as each audit entry shows both the new and old values. In the case of text fields, simply copy the old value and paste it into the form field.

Property Section Toolbars

Each property tab can contain a number of sections.  Each section has a header represented by a green bar with a small arrow before the section label which can be clicked to collapse and open the section. 

Some sections contain fields whereas other sections can contain grids.  Sections which contain grids may have a number of icons on them to allow you to add and delete records, see a more detailed grid with more columns or refresh the current grid.

Insert excerpt
_add
_add
nopaneltrue
Create and insert a new item into the list.
Insert excerpt
_detailed_list
_detailed_list
nopaneltrue

Open up a grid showing more details about each item.

Insert excerpt
_delete
_delete
nopaneltrue

Delete the selected item or items.

Insert excerpt
_refresh
_refresh
nopaneltrue

Refresh the list (e.g. if the list has been updated on another computer by another user).

Insert excerpt
_add
_add
nopaneltrue

Create and insert a new item into the list.

Model Toolbar

All objects have context menus associated with them which are accessed by right-clicking the mouse button. One key context menu item is Permanently Delete which is always the last item on the list (to help ensure it is not pressed accidentally)! 

Note that all objects that appear on Analysis Models have a context menu entry "Show Models" which will display a list of all the models that contain that object.

There are two types of grid display. The first are simply lists of the configuration objects but showing more details than the repository explorer. The second type of grid shows data e.g. Stream Items. The operations on configuration object grids are all very similar (e.g. add, delete, refresh etc.) however data grids will have additional operations which are all described on the help page for that object.

The following general features of grids are worth noting:

  • The items on grids are paged which means that PhixFlow fetches a batch of data at a time to populate the grid. The grid footer bar indicates which items are being shown, how many items there are in total and the page size. The user can page forwards and backwards using and . Note that the user can also change the page size (the number of rows brought back from the PhixFlow Database). Please note that with very large datasets it will be more efficient to filter the the data rather than page through it!
  • Columns can be ordered by clicking the column header. Each click reverses the order direction. Please note that only the items currently paged in the display are ordered.

The following functional icons are common to many grids:

Anchor
gridIcons
gridIcons

Select an existing (or predefined) Filter or create, delete and modify Filters. This causes the grid to refresh and display only those entries which match the selected Filter.

Select an existing (or predefined) multi-column Sort Order or create, delete and modify Sort Orders. Note that data is ordered across all records which are implied by the Filter, not just the current page of data.

Export the data being shown to an Excel spreadsheet. However, please note that when viewing Stream Data, pressing this button causes an option form to open which amongst other things allows you to choose to export the data to Excel, CSV or HTML. Note also that this will export all data implied by the Filter, not just the current paged result.

When viewing data in a Chart, an Excel template can be configured on the Stream View that is used to specify the properties for the Chart.

Delete the currently selected items. A form will appear to confirm that you wish to proceed.

Refresh the contents of the current grid.

Open the help page for the grid.

Show or hide the paging bar

When you drag stream attributes onto a layout, such as a dashboard or form, PhixFlow prompts how to display the data.

IconTypeDescription

GridDisplay the data laid out in a table.

Line ChartPlot a line or lines to represent quantities against a horizontal axis of categories. 

BarchartsPlot a quantity as a set of bars aligned vertically against a set of categories along the horizontal axis.

Plot a quantity as a set of bars aligned horizontally against a set of categories along the vertical axis.

Pie Chart

Plot a quantity as a pie chart, grouped by a category.

FormLayout the stream attributes as a form

Most PhixFlow objects have an optional description field. PhixFlow will display this description as you hover over the item whether the item is on a list or on a model pane. We highly recommend that you provide descriptions for all your objects to help document your work for both yourself and colleagues.