What is a Lookup?

Lookups are denoted by a dotted double-ended connector transferring data into and out of a 

• Incoming Mappings: the attributes being passed into the View Action via the lookup connector
• Output Attributes: the attributes being used by View Action to filter results
• Outgoing Mappings: the attributes being passed out of the View Action via the lookup connector 

Creating Lookups

1. Hover over an Action action node, e.g. a Calculate Action, on the canvas and select 
2. Enter a name for the Lookup Connector
3. Click onto a 

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    Action action on the canvas
4. Alternatively, click onto any empty space on the canvas to create a new 

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    Action

Worked Example

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

In this example, we

are using:

• A Course Management screen containing  - this screen was created using the Tile with Buttons template, and contains:
  • A grid of the School Courses data
  • A contacts card container of the School Students data
  • An empty string field, StudentIDFromAttendees

Lookup to Retrieve Data

We will create an Actionflow containing a

The Actionflow will outputs the Student IDs from the Attendees data to a string field, where we will set up a background filter that uses the string field to filter a contacts card container of Students to show only those attending the course.

To do this it we will:

• Lookup using the Course ID, which is found on both the Course and Attendees tables
• Use the Course ID on the Attendees table to find the corresponding Student ID(s) of the student(s) attending that course
• Write those Student ID(s) back to the screen onto a string field
• Setup a background filter to only show students in a Students grid contacts card container that match the Student ID in the field

Create Calculate Action and View Action

Screen Setup

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    your screen to expand the Students contacts card container on the right, shown by the tile with chevron

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    your screen and click

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    in the toolbar to open the Serene Grey palette 
3. Expand Buttons - Secondary and add a custom button to the Tile - Footer area beneath the School Courses grid
   1. Name: Enrolled Students
4. Using the 

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   , hold down shift to move the button into the area, Right

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Create Calculate Action and View Action

1. Right-click on the Enrolled Students button and choose 

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2. Enter a name for the Actionflow,:
   1. Name: Find Students
   2. Select Confirm
3. Select Click to Connect and for the input, choose the School Course 

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    data source View Component, then select Connect Input
4. In the Mappings window that opens, drag the CourseID attribute from the left to the right
   1. Select Save
5. Click and drag the 

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    icon from the toolbar onto the canvas
6. In the Create Calculate Action window enter:
   1. Name: FindStudents

   2. Select Create Action

      Note
      The Calculate Action will be configured below as it is needed for the output. For the input data, the attributes pass through the Calculate action without being processed. For the output data, the Calculate action processes the data into an array.

      
      

7. Click and drag the 

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    icon onto the 

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    action node
8. Right-click on the in connector and choose

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   1. Drag the CourseID attribute on the left onto the Drag and Drop area on the right
   2. Select Save
9. To lookup look up to the Course Attendees table, we need to create a 

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    Action
10. Click and drag the 

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     icon from the toolbar onto the canvas
11. In the Create View Action window enter:
    1. Name: GetStudentID
    2. Primary Table: choose Course Attendees

    3. Select Create Action

Configure the Lookup on the View Action 

1. Hover over the

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    Action and select 
2. Enter a name for the Lookup Connector:
   1. Name: lu
   2. Select Confirm
   3. When the red arrow shows, click on the 

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      Action  action on the canvas
3. Select the 

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   Action action on the canvas to open its

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4. In the Output Attributes section, click on the 

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    icon 
   1. In the Available Attributes window, drag StudentID into the Output Attributes section of the 

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   2. Click OK
5. Select the lu connector to map the incoming and outgoing data
6. For the Incoming Mappings:
   1. Drag the CourseID attribute from the left (Calculate Action) into the Drag and Drop area on the right to create a corresponding attribute in the 

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       Action action
   2. Select Next
7. For the Outgoing Mappings:
   1. Drag the StudentID attribute from the left (View Action) to the Drag and Drop area on the right to create map a corresponding attribute back to the

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       action
       Action
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      1. Right-click on the StudentID attribute you just created and rename itImage Removedselect

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      2. Rename the attribute: StudentIDFound
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      3. Click Confirm
   2. We need to filter the data coming out of the lookup 
   3. Click on the

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       Action  action to open its Properties
   4. In the Data Retrieval Options section, click the 

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       icon next to Filter
      1. Name: ByCourseID
      2. Filter Details: 
         1. Click abc to interpret the field as an expression

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          the Filter tab

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       the View Action tab

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   Configure the Calculate Action and Output

   1. Click on the

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       Action  action on the canvas to open its Properties

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   2. In the Output Attributes section, click the 

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       icon to create a new attribute:
      1. Name: CourseStudentIDs
      2. Type: Choose Structured Data 
         1. This will return the results as an array

      3. Expression: 

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         lu.StudentIDFound

         
         

      4. Click 

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   3. Under Connections on the left, select 

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       Add
   4. Add an Output Connection Point:
      1. Name: out
      2. Type: choose Output
      3. Click Create Connection Point
   5. Select Click to Connect and choose the the CourseManagement 

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       data source, then Connect Output
      1. Close the Mappings window that opens
   6. Hover your mouse over the Calculate Action

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       action on the canvas and click out
   7. When the red arrow shows, click on the 

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       node under Connections
   8. On the Mappings window, drag across the CourseStudentIDs output attribute from the Calculate Action action into the Drag and Drop area on the right to create a corresponding attribute in the output
      1. Click Save
   9. Click the out connection point, under Connections
   10. On the Mappings window, drag the CourseStudentIDs output attribute from the output to the string field, StudentIDFromAttendees
       1. Click Save
   11. The Actionflow is now built

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   Setup Background Filter

   The Actionflow will populate the string field, StudentIDFromAttendee StudentIDFromAttendees, but the values in this field need to be linked to the Students grid contact cards using a background filter in order to only see the students for the selected course only.

   1. Return to the screen containing the School Courses gridRight-click on the Students grid and choose  Course Management screen 

   2. Click on the Students contact card container to open the Card Component 

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      1. Ensure you click on the white space underneath the top contact card to open the Card Component

   3. On the 

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      view

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      In the Data Retrieval Options, next to

      , in the Background Filter Rules section, click 

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   4. Enter the Rule Expression: true
   5. Create a new filter by pressing 

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       next to Filter:
      1. Name: ByStudentID
      2. Filter Details: Image Added Image Removed
      1. Click 

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          on both the Filter and Filter Rule 

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       the screen and press the Enrolled Students button to see the Actionflow working

   Tip
   Once you have verified the Actionflow is working, the StudentIDFromAttendees string field can be hidden in the  Insert excerpt _property_tabs _property_tabs name style nopanel true  to tidy up the screen.

   
   

   1.17 Instances and Reusability