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What is an Open Screen Action?

The 

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 action opens new screens in PhixFlow. Open Screen actions run once per flow, or once after receiving the final record. SHOULD WE EXPANSD ON THAT TO SAY SO IF YOU PASS IN 100 RECORDS IT DOESNT OPEN A 100 SCREENS.This means that if 100 records are passed into the Actionflow, only 1 screen opens after receiving the final record (not 100 screens). 

Creating Open Screen Actions

  1. Click the 
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    1. Existing screens can be drag MODILEged from dragged from the Repository onto the canvas to automatically create an Open Screen node
  2. Alternatively, drag the 
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     icon from the toolbar onto the canvas and follow the steps to create or open an existing screen
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Worked Examples

Here's a worked example using the School Data (available from the Learning Centre).

We want to be able to add and edit the Courses. The first step to doing this is by creating two Open Screen Actionflows. Both will open the same screen containing an input form, but when we are adding a new course we want an empty input form, and when we are editing an existing course, we want the input form to contain course data. SCREENSHOTS?

Tip

If you are completing this chapter as part of the Actionflow course and using a training instance, the data and screens have already been pre-loaded into the Actionflow Application. For this example, we'll be working on ADDING BUTTONS TO? the Course Management screen and opening the Course Form screen.

In this example, we are using:

  • The Course Management screen containing a grid of the School Courses data - the screen was created using the Tile with Buttons template NOT SURE WE CARE HOW ITS CREATED IN THIS COURSE?
  • The Course Form screen containing form fields , and associated with School Courses data by a background filter TO ME THIS SOUNDS LIKE WE ARE SAYING A FILTER MAKES THE ASSOCIATION TO THE FORM FIELDS? - the screen was created using the Edit Form template

To save the new or edited course, the Save Action on the input form COURSE FORM SCREEN? we need to avoid switching teminology must the Course Form screen must be configured. See This is covered in 1.09 Save Action Configuration. SHOUDL WE JUST SAY WE COVER THIS IN...  

Note: When creating a new screen in PhixFlow, a Grid Actions wizard can configure the Create, Read, Update and Delete (CRUD) actions for you. For the purposes of understanding the mechanics of Actionflows, we will create these manually. NOT SURE WE NEEED THIS PARAGRAPH, IS IT NOT COVERED IN TEH STEPS BELOW?

Example 1: Open Screen to Add New Data

Create an Open Screen Action that opens an empty input form.

  1. On thescreen where the Actionflow will be initiated from, right-click on the button and choose 
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  2. Enter a name for the Actionflow,
    1. Name: Add Course ARE WE USING A SEMI-COLON COMMA OR SPACE FOR DEFININIG VALUE ENTERED BY A USER? PLEASE LET ME KNOW.
    2. Select Confirm
  3. Click the 
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     icon in the toolbar to display the existing screens in your application
  4. Drag your pre-made 
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     input form screen from the Repository onto the canvas to create an 
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     node
  5. Select Click to Connect WORTH STATING WHERE THIS IS under Connections and for the input, choose the 

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     Action Event, then select Connect Input

  6. On the canvas, click and drag the 
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     icon onto the 
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     Open 
    Screen action node to connect the input to the action
  7. Close the Actionflow to return to the screen
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     the screen and press the  button to see the Actionflow in action
    1. We can see that the Actionflow is working because it opens an empty form
Tip
titleWhy do we use an On Click input?

An input of On Click means that the Actionflow is initiated by the user clicking a button. We use an input of On Click where an Actionflow does not require any data to run the action.

In the exercise above, we are creating an Actionflow that opens a screen where new courses will be created, therefore no data needs to be transferred across to the Course Form screen when it is opened.

Example 2: Open Screen to Edit Existing Data

Create an Open Screen Action that opens an input form containing data from the school courses grid.

  1. On thescreen where the Actionflow will be initiated from, right-click on the  button and choose 
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  2. Enter a name for the Actionflow,
    1. Name: Edit Course
    2. Select Confirm
  3. Click the 
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     icon in the toolbar to display the existing screens in your application
  4. Drag your pre-made 
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     input form screen
  1. from the Repository onto the canvas to create an Open Screen node
  2. Select Click to Connect and for the input, choose the School Courses View, then select Connect Input
  3. The Mappings window will open:
    1. Drag the CourseID attribute from the left (Grid) to the right (Connection Point Interface), then click Save
  4. On the canvas, click and drag the 
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     icon onto the
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     action node to connect the input to the action
  5. Right-click the connector between the
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     node and
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     node on the canvas
  6. Choose
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     and the Mappings window will open:
    1. Drag the CourseID attribute from the left (Actionflow) to the right (Screen), then click Save
  7. Close the Actionflow to return to the screen
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     the screen and press the button to see the Actionflow in action
    1. We can see that the Actionflow is working because it displays the data from the School Courses grid in the edit form
Tip
titleWhy do we use a data source input?

A data source input means that the Actionflow requires data to perform the action.

In the exercise above, we are creating an Actionflow that opens a screen where existing courses will be edited, therefore data needs to be transferred from the School Courses grid, through the Actionflow and out to the Course Form screen.


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