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This page is for application designers who need to configure specific operations that will change records in the table.

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Creating a Record-action

To create a record-action:

  • either open a table's properties. In the Record-Action section, click 
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     .
  • or open the repository branch for a table. Right-click Record-Actions and select 
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In both cases, PhixFlow opens a new record-action properties tab.

Properties

 Use the following properties to configure the record-action.

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Basic Settings

FieldDescription
NameEnter the name of the record-action.
Show in Repository

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  to list the record-action in the repository.

Record-Action

Select the type of operation:

  • None 
  • Insert
  • Delete
  • Update

The remaining options available in Basic Settings depend on the type of operation you select.

Note

You cannot undo or reverse a record-action that deletes records from a table.

If you want users to have the option to undo a change:

  1. Configure a record-action to Update rather than Delete.
  2. The update marks the records as 'deleted', for example in a "status" attribute.
  3. Set up a scheduled archive task. Configure it to archive (delete) records set that have had status set to 'delete' in a specified time period, e.g. 48h hours.

This gives users time to reinstate records that have been deleted by mistake. The user will need to manually update the status attribute for the record to remove 'deleted'. If you do not  want your users to see deleted records, you can filter them from any views.


Copy Values by Name

Available when Record-Action is Insert,

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Attributes to Update

Available when Record-Action is Insert,Update or Delete.

This section has a toolbar with standard buttons and 

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The grid  contains a list of attributes on which the record-action will operate. If the grid is empty, the record-action will operate on all attributes in the table. To add attributes to the grid, in the toolbar, click 

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. PhixFlow opens the list of attributes. Drag attributes into the grid.

To create a new attribute, click 

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. To edit an attribute that is listed in the grid, double-click its name. In both cases, PhixFlow opens the Record-Action Attribute properties.

The grid displays information from the record-action attribute:

  • Order: The order in which the rules are evaluated.
  • Name: The backing table.
  • Expression: Any expression that has been defined for the attribute.

To remove an attribute from the grid, use the

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 in the toolbar.

For Delete actions, use the expression to include information related to the action. For example, you may want users to add a reason for deleting the record. This means the Delete action has an audit record that also records the reason. The alternative is to use an Update action to record the information, then use a Delete action. However, this results in two audit records.

Filter Type

Available when Record-Action is Delete or Update.

Select an option from the drop-down list.

The action will only apply to the records that:

  • Selected Records - the user has selected on the screen from which the action was initiated, unless the Target View is specified.
  • Edited Records - that the use has updated on the view from which the action was initiated, unless the Target View is specified.
  • View Filter - that are currently displayed  on the view from which the action was initiated unless the Target View is specified.
  • Action Filter - that the filter defined in the action has retrieved.
  • Dragged Items- the user is dragging, for a drag-and-drop action.
  • Drop Target Items - the user is dropping something onto, for a drag-and-drop action.
Target View

Available when Record-Action is Delete or Update.

Enter a view name.

Where Filter Type is one of Selected Records, Edited Records or View Filter, PhixFlow takes the records from the named view. The user may have started the action on a different view.

Condition

Available when Record-Action is Delete or Update and Filter Type is Action Filter.

Create a filter to specify the records to which the action applies.

Expressions in this filter can refer to items on the view or screen from which this action was initiated, for example:

  • form fields
  • context parameters
  • attributes from any selected record.

Configure this filter in the same way that you would a pipe filter.

Copy Values By Name

Available when Record-Action is Insert or Update.

Specify what to do if the screen from which the action was initiated includes more attributes than those listed in the properties grid Attributes to Update.

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 to update only those attributes listed in Attributes to Update. All other attributes are unchanged. For insert actions, nothing is added (null).

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 to update only those attributes are not listed in Attributes to Update

PhixFlow looks for a form field or view attribute with the same name as the attribute. If it finds a match, PhixFlow updates the attribute to the value of the form field or view attribute. If PhixFlow does not find a match, it does not update the attribute value.

Maximum Records Expr.

Available when Record-Action is Delete or Update.

Enter an expression that evaluates to a number. The number limits how many records this action can affect. If this action applies to more than the maximum number of records, PhixFlow updates only the specified number of records and ignores the rest. Phixflow reads records in the  order they are listed in the view from which they are selected.

Minimum Records Expr.

Available when Record-Action is Delete or Update.

Enter an expression that evaluates to a number. The number specifies the minimum number of records that the action must be applied to for this action to run. If fewer than this number of records, the action will return an error and will not run.

Action Validation

Enter a validation expression.