Overview

PhixFlow stores data in tables, formally known as streams. Views are used to display the data in these Tables. Often they can contain more data than you want to show to a user. For this reason, whenever you show data on a screen, you first compile a view of the data, which displays the information you specify.

Views Consist of:

1. Attributes
   1. Attributes from the base table
      Specify which attributes to include in your view. You can hide attributes that you want access to but do not necessarily want a user to see, such as the UID of a record.
   2. Attributes from related tables.
      These are the attributes available to the view as the table they originate from shares a relationship with the base table as defined in the ERDs; see Understanding ERDs. Views which contain these type of attributes are referred to as a relational view.

2. Records:

   1. For each table, the view includes records specified in the tables default period. This can be all data (usually for transactional data) or only the latest.
3. Sorting and Filtering
   1. You can filter and sort

1. 1. records. See Filtering and Sorting Data.

View Components

The components in the list below are designed to display a view of views below display data in different ways. Add a view component to a screen then drag specific attributes from a table onto the view component. In the case of a card view, any palette item can be added. 

1. Insert excerpt
   _grid _grid nopanel true

   : the attributes form the grid columns and data records are displayed in rows. PhixFlow can add scroll bars or paging where grids cannot be accommodated by the screen size.

2. Insert excerpt
   _card _card nopanel true

   : rather than using a form to display data, you can use a card. Any palette item can be added to a card which offered great flexibility.

3. Insert excerpt
   _chart _chart nopanel true

   : attributes are represented in different segments of a pie chart, with values aggregated to represent the segment size. 

4. Insert excerpt
   _graph_horizontal _graph_horizontal nopanel true

   : attributes are represented on the vertical axis, with values aggregated and represented in the bar length.

5. Insert excerpt
   _graph_vertical _graph_vertical nopanel true

   : attributes are represented on the horizonal axis, with values aggregated and represented in the bar height.

6. Insert excerpt
   _graph_line _graph_line nopanel true

   : attributes are represented as points on a horizontal axis, with values aggregated and setting the point position on the vertical axis.

7. Insert excerpt
   _form _form nopanel true

   : attributes are represented by different fields. Usually a form is linked to an action on a grid. For example, the application user selects a line on a grid, and the form displays the data from that record.

Form and card components are special data components, as they can contain other elements, usually fields and labels.

How to Create and Display a View

As views are designed to display data on a screen, for more information on the specific of setting up charts and graphs see Creating Dashboards and Reports.

Step 1  Select a table

1. Drag a table onto a screen, this can be achieved by dragging
2. a table from the list in the repository.
a table icon from a table's properties

There are several ways to show data on a screen:

1. From  an Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD), select a table and use the Create Screen option; see Creating a Screen from an ERD Table.
2. Drag a Table from the repository or a tables icon from its properties directly onto a screen.
   1. A list of available tables is available by clicking the Tables button on the toolbar.
   2. This method will typically set the data for the backing form to that of the table.
3. PhixFlow asks you how you want the data to be displayed, select the desired option:
   
4. The view will be added to the screen.

Step 2  Select attributes

1. Drag attributes from the Available Attributes window onto the view.
2. Start with attributes from the current (base) table.
3. Optionally, click on related tables to show additional attributes that are available.
4. When you have dragged all the attributes you require, close the window.
5. 
6. These attributes can be changed at a later time when for different view types when date, when a screen is unlocked by:
   1. For Forms, click the attributes button from the toolbar.
   2. For Card Components (and Kanbans), right-clicking on the card and selecting Show table view configuration
   3. Grid For Grids and Charts: right-clicking on the item, selecting Show Table view configuration. In the attributes section click 

      Insert excerpt
      _attributes _attributes nopanel true

      .
7. See Available Attributes Window for details.

Step 3  Apply

Filtering and

Sorting for records

You have now created your view and added it to a screen. Optionally, specify if you want to apply any filters or sort orders to the data records:

1. Select the view you have added.
   You may need to right-click the view and select Show Stream View Configuration.
   PhixFlow opens the view properties.
   1. For Forms, we can only apply filters. Right-click on a screen → Show Element Details → Background Filter Rules. This setup is slightly different see Screen Element for guidance.
2. Image Modified
   
   

3. Select an existing Default Sort Order, Default Filter or Background Filter or create new ones, see Sort Order and Filter for more detail.

4. Save all your changes and PhixFlow applies filters when the application user sees the view in the application window.

   Tip
   The application user Users can remove the default filter a Default Filter, where as background filters Background Filters are permanent.

   
   

Reusing Views

Once you have created a view, you can reuse it in multiple locations. In the repository navigate the the table which owns the view, the base table, open the table and in the views section drag the desired view onto your screen. Be aware however that changes made to the view will affect all instances of that view.

Form Field Name

When you drag attributes from the Attribute Selection window or table onto a form, PhixFlow adds a field and label for each attribute. By default, the label is the attribute's name. However, for an attribute from a related stream, the Display Name will be shown and not the foreign key value.

For example:

For information about primary and foreign keys and the Display Name option; see Understanding ERDs.