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This page is for application designers who want to create screens for application users.

Overview

This page explains the screen properties. For information on how to divide a screen into different panes, and how to add components to it, see Splitting a Screen.

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Basic Settings

Field Description

Name The name of the screen.

Open Maximised

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to open the screen maximised.

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to open the screen as a popup window.

Allow User to Resize

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to enable the application user, when running in

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, to resize the screen.

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to keep the screen size fixed when running in in

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.

This option does not affect resizing the screen in

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.

Show Toolbar

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always has a toolbar with the screen name on the left and toolbar icons on the right.

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to also display the toolbar in

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. The screen name is displayed. Toolbar icons are not displayed.

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is the default as the toolbar is usually not required in

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.

Show Window Button Bar

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to display a Windows-style bar at the top of the screen. This has a maximise/restore button and a close button.

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to have no Windows-style bar at the top of the screen.

Always On Top

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to keep the screen on top of other screens. This is useful for a popup window that you want a user to complete before returning to another screen.

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to allow other screens to be displayed in front.

Keep Data

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to allow screen data to be referenced even after the screen is closed. This is useful if an application user needs access to global data available in the system.

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is the default. The screen data is not required once the screen is closed.

Preload

screens , especially complex screens, can take some time to open, which can feel slow to the application user. Use this option when you need a screen to open quickly. Preloading screens adds to the time it takes PhixFlow to initially start up. For this reason we recommend you only preload screens that an application user will always want to open.

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to preload the screen when PhixFlow first starts. When the user then opens the screen , it displays immediately. The data itself may still take time to load.

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is the default. The screen does not need to be preloaded.

Preloading relates to the screen itself. Any data backing the screen is only loaded when the screen opens, and this may also take time to load.

Cache Locally

If an application user is likely to require the same screen in different stages of a task. Use this option so that, when the user closes and reopens the screen, it loads immediately.

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to cache the screen on the application user's client computer when the screen first opens.

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is the default. The screen does not need to be cached.

Caching relates to the screen itself. Any data backing the screen will be reload each time the screen is opened.

Position

By default, new screens are set to Floating. If you want a screen to open with a fixed position, select one of the Pinned drop-down options:

Pinned to top
Pinned to bottom
Pinned to left
Pinned to right
Floating

Use the Pinned options to create a permanently visible screen. This is useful for a navigation area or toolbar that you want to be visible for all other screens. Floating screens do not overlap with pinned screens. When the user maximises a Floating screen, it expands only to the remaining space.

Width

For screens that are not set to Open maximised, specify a screen width in pixels, for example 500px for a small confirmation window. The default size for a popup screen approximately 800px.

Height

For screens that are not set to Open maximised, specify a screen height in pixels, for example 150px for a small confirmation window. The default size of a popup screen is approximately 500px.

Top

Available when Position is Floating.

For screens that are not set to Open maximised, set an offset value in pixels to position the screen where it is required. For example, to display a screen as a popup window towards the top left of the screen, set:

Top: 60px
Left: 60px

Left

Right

Bottom

Screen Elements

Screen elements are specific sections on a screen that posses their own properties, specifically each element can be backed by a different table.

To view a list of the elements for a specific screen, open the

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available from the screen toolbar; see Screen Element.

Menu Items

This section has a toolbar with standard buttons and:

Image Modified Show Table-actions
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The grid contains a list of menu items. To add a menu item to the list, click

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Click
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Select
- either Add a new sub-menu
- or Add a new menu item; see Startup Actions
PhixFlow opens a new properties tab for a menu item or sub-menu; see Startup Actions for details.

To remove a menu, use the toolbar button

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.

Mappings

This section has a toolbar with standard buttons.

Components on the screen, such as buttons or data-components, can have actionflows or record-actions. Record-actions can take data from attributes in different tables or views. Where the attributes have different names, you must map the attribute, so that the record-action recognises the data. This grid contains a list of mappings for the components on this screen.

To configure a mapping, in the screen, right-click a component and select

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Unreachable Actions

This section has a toolbar with standard buttons. The grid displays a list of actionflows that are linked to components on the screen, but do not exist yet.

Tip
Actionflows are a new way to configure actions, introduced in PhixFlow version 9.0.0; see Understanding Actionflows.

Actions

This section has a toolbar with standard buttons. The grid displays a list of actions and record-actions that are linked to the screen.

Tip
Actions and record-actions were the way to configure screen functionality before PhixFlow version 9.0.0; see Using Table-Actions and Record-Action

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Menus and Toolbars

Screen Toolbar

There is a toolbar above the screen canvas. This provides the following options:

List options

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Open the repository showing the list of available tables for your application.

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Open the repository showing the list of available screens for your application.

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	_actionflow
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Open the repository showing the list of available actionflows for your application.

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	_palette
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Open the list of palettes.

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	_styles
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Open the repository showing the list of available styles for your application.

Canvas options

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Open the help topic with details about working with screens.

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Open the properties tab for the screen.

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or

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Unlock a screen to edit its layout.

Lock a screen to prevent accidental edits and to display the data content.

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	_refresh
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Update the screen to reflect changes made elsewhere in PhixFlow, such as the screen properties, layer orders or shared styles.

Screen Popup Menu

Right-click on a screen to display its popup menu. The options available depend on where you click. If there are many options, some are moved onto the sub-menu

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Options.

Menu option

Description

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Unlock a screen to edit its layout.

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Lock a screen to prevent accidental edits and to display the data content.

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For screens created in PhixFlow versions 8.3 and earlier, open a window listing the context parameters in alphabetical order.

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	_element_show
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For screens created in PhixFlow versions 8.3 and earlier, open the properties for the screen element.

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	_area_above
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Use these options to divide a screen into multiple, resizable panes. Select the option to add a pane relative to the currently selected pane.

To remove a pane, use the popup menu options

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Pane.

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	_area_right
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	_area_below
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	_area_left
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	_area_lock_width
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Fix the height or width of the selected pane. You will no longer be able to resize a pane by dragging its dividing line.

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	_delete
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When a specific component is selected, delete the component.

Delete options depend on the selected item, for example:

Delete Selected Objects
Delete Pane
Delete Form

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Element

Remove the selected item from the screen, whilst leaving it in the repository.

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Delete a screen element.

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	_form_new
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Create a new form in the current area.

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	_pin_unpin
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Pin a component to fix its position; see Pinning and Unpinning.

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	_palette
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Open the palette to drag in components.

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	_autosize
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Toggle whether or not the currently selected component is automatically auto sized when an application window is resized by the user.

Note
Using this option, or manually resizing a component may change the state of the Layout → Style Settings → Auto Size property.

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	_align
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Options to arrange the selected components:

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	_align_left
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: Align the left edges of all the selected components to the component that is furthest to the left.

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	_align_right
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: Align the right edges of all the selected components to the component that is furthest to the right.

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	_align_top
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: Align the top edges of the selected components to the component that is positioned highest.

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: Align the bottom edges of the selected components to the component that is positioned lowest.

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	_align_horizontal
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: Equally distribute the selected components horizontally in the available space.

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	_align_vertical
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: Equally distribute the selected components vertically in the available space.

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	_repository_find
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Open the repository with to see the selected component in the list. This can be useful if you want to move a component.

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	_screen_properties
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Open the properties tab for the screen.

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	_record_show
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Display information about the table and its records.

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	_mapping
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Opens a new mapping element properties tab where you can map attributes with different names to components.

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	_children
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For the selected parent container, select all the child components.

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or Show the Table Configuration

Open the properties for the table.

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...

Show the list of attributes that are bound to the component. The attributes can be from a table or view. This is shown in the option:

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for table <name>
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for view <name>

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Unreachable Actions

A workflow can have placeholder actionflows linked to a screen. If the actionflow has not been wired then it is listed here.

Open on Startup

You may have a screen that acts as your application's welcome window. Use this option to open a screen whenever the application starts.

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to open the screen when the application starts.

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is the default. The screen is opened by a user interacting with the application.

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Learn More

For links to all pages in this topic, see Designing Screens.

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Versions Compared

Old Version 105

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Key

Overview

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Basic Settings

Screen Elements

Menu Items

Mappings

Unreachable Actions

Actions

Menus and Toolbars

Screen Toolbar

Screen Popup Menu

Unreachable Actions

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Versions Compared

Old Version 105

New Version 106

Key

Overview

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Basic Settings

Screen Elements

Menu Items

Mappings

Unreachable Actions

Actions

Menus and Toolbars

Screen Toolbar

Screen Popup Menu

Unreachable Actions

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