This page is is for application designers who need to create forms. It explains techniques for associating text with a data field, to label a field.

Setup the Dynamic Text Field Value

Dynamic Text Field will link to data by matching its name with the name of a Stream attribute that is bound to the form or area the Dynamic Text Field resides on.

Worked Example

1. The DashboardCreate a Dashboard with a Dynamic Text Field and back it by data (see Showing Data on a Screen for more detail) 

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2. The dashboard is backed by a stream called Business

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3. The dashboard contains a Dynamic Text Field

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   This has the Name, Name., its Name is set to Name

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4. As the Dynamic Text Field Name matches the name of an attribute on the Business stream a link is created dynamically., and the name of the business is displayed.
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Manually Creating Form Fields

1. In the Screen's toolbar click the Palette button .

2. Open the your desired palette e.g. Theme 2.1

3. Open the Labelled Fields section e.g.

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4. Drag a labelled field onto your screen. Note, select a field that matches the type of data the attribute will display.

5. Provide a name when prompted.

Optional Steps

If you need your field to be backed by data it will need to be associated to an attribute on a stream. 

1. Click on the Broken link Icon.

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3. Follow the wizard prompts.

Setting Place Holder Text

Place Holder Text can be used to display a message to communicate information to the user. The value can be set manually or set to match the Form Field Label.

1. Select the Form Field from the Dashboard.
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3. In the properties window on the right:
   
   1. Type a value in the Place Holder Text field to manually set a value.
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   2. Tick Use Field Name as Place Holder, to use the name of the field as the place holder text.
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Advanced Editing

In addition to a label, you may want additional text below the field. For example you might want to add

• static text, to explain what the user can do.
• dynamic text that depends on selected data.

1. In a basic components palette, such as Basic Components, drag a Static Text or Dynamic Text layout onto a form area.

2. Right-click the new field and select Find. In the layouts list, find the container for the fields and double-click it to open its properties.

3. In the Advanced section, the View Type is Field container. Expand the drop-down list and select the empty row. Save the container component. This "opens" the container so you can add more components to it.

4. In the layouts list, shift-click and drag the new component into the container. PhixFlow moves your component to be a child of the container component.

5. Important: Open the field container properties again and reset Advanced →View Type  to Field container. All child components are now contained within the parent, which is also a composite component.

Additional Reading

Showing Data on a Screen

Move these to Understanding Components and layouts

This type of layouts is made up of at least 3 components: 

• a form component, with the settings:

  • Basic Settings → Composite ticked

  • Advanced → View Type → field container

• the child components

  • a static or dynamic text field

  • a data field, such as string, number or date.

Creating your own composite

1. In a basic components palette, such as Basic Components, drag onto a form area

   • an area to be a container

   • the components you want to treat as a single layout 

2. Right-click one of the new fields and select Find. In the layouts list, shift-drag to move the components into the container you created.

3. In the Advanced section, set the View Type to Field container.

4. In the Basic Settings section, tick Composite.