Reusability

As Actionflows can be reused throughout your application, and other applications if shared via a package, you only need to create one Actionflow for functionality that occurs on different screens, e.g. processing address data or opening a specific screen. For each instance of an Actionflow, you specify the data that the Actionflow uses by mapping onto its Connection Points. 

Actionflows are reusable because the inputs to the Actionflow are separate from the Actionflow itself, allowing instances of the Actionflow to be used in different contexts with data from many different sources. 

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Instances

For each instance, only the data coming into and out of an Actionflow changes. You can easily map a different input source to the attributes on the Connection Points.

Each time you connect an Actionflow to a different input, you create a new instance of the Actionflow. 

• Instance 1 = input A + Actionflow
• Instance 2 = input B + Actionflow

How to Reuse an Actionflow

Select an existing Actionflow to reuse, and drag and drop them as required.

Reusability Example

The diagram below illustrates an Actionflow that normalises the format of data. The Actionflow is reused by two applications, shown on the left. Each application has separate data which is mapped onto the Connection Point for its instance of the Actionflow:

• Instance 1 of the Actionflow: Postcode data from the Contact App
• Instance 2 of the Actionflow: Zip Code from the Asset Manager App.

For more information on this example, see 1.01 Actionflow Basics.

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Locating and Opening Instances

1. Open an Actionflow and in the Settings, above the canvas, there is an option for Show all instances
2. The amount of instances of this Actionflow can be seen in brackets 

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3. Click Show all instances to display a list of the instances where the Actionflow is being reused, along with that instance's data source, the component and the event type that initiates the Actionflow

Image RemovedStartup Actions

• Opening a landing screen
• Opening a navigation menu bar

Configuring Startup Actions

Adding a Screen to the Startup Action

1. Open an application
2. On the 

   Insert excerpt
   _screen_home _screen_home nopanel true

    home page, right-click on a screen
3. Select

   Insert excerpt
   _startup_open _startup_open nopanel true

   1. If a Startup Action already exists, this screen will be added to it
   2. If no Startup Action exists, one will be created

Removing a Screen from the Startup Action

1. Open an application
2. On the

   Insert excerpt
   _screen_home _screen_home nopanel true

    home page, right-click on a screen
3. Select 

   Insert excerpt
   _startup_IconOnly _startup_IconOnly nopanel true

   Remove from the Application Startup Action.

Viewing Existing Startup Actions

1. Open an application
2. Click on the 

   Insert excerpt
   _home _home nopanel true

    button in the header bar
3. Select 

   Insert excerpt
   _startup _startup nopanel true

    to see the current active Startup Actions for your application
   1. Image Added
4. The icons indicate the defaults set:
   1. Image Added indicates a default desktop Startup Action
   2. Image Added indicates a default mobile Startup Action
5. Double-click on an action to view more details
6. New Startup Actions can be added by pressing 

   Insert excerpt
   _addIcon _addIcon nopanel true

Worked Example

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

In this example, we are using:

• A Home screen containing text and an image - this screen was created using the Landing Screen 1 template

We want to configure a message on the Home screen to display the user's full name when they open the application.

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Configure the Startup Action

1. Open the Startup Actions for the application by clicking on the 

   Insert excerpt
   _home _home nopanel true

    button in the header bar
2. Select 

   Insert excerpt
   _startup _startup nopanel true

    to see the current active Startup Actions
3. Double-click Default Menu to open the Startup Action 

   Insert excerpt
   _property_settings _property_settings nopanel true

4. Click on the Actionflow link to open the Actionflow
5. On the Actionflow canvas are the two screens that open when the application starts
6. Click on the message 

   Insert excerpt
   _action_calculate _action_calculate nopanel true

    action to open its 

   Insert excerpt
   _property_settings _property_settings nopanel true

7. Double-click on the Output Attribute, pfMessage, to open its 

   Insert excerpt
   _property_settings _property_settings nopanel true

    and make the following changes to the Expression:

   1. 
      

      Code Block
      theme Emacs
      _user.firstName + " " + _user.lastName

      
      

      Expand
      title Checkpoint
      Image Added

      
      

8. 
   

   Close the Actionflow and reload the page to run the Startup Action

1.18 Foundation Module - Next Steps