Extracting Actions to a New Actionflow

Action nodes, within an Actionflow, can be re-used by extracting them from their original Actionflow and converting them into a new Actionflow. In the original Actionflow, the actions are transferred to an embedded Actionflow node.

The newly created Actionflow automatically contains:

• input, output and lookup connection points to connections outside of the new Actionflow, e.g. to action nodes and the original Actionflow
• all transferred action nodes 

• the original attributes, which are mapped to match the original Actionflow setup 

Creating a Reusable Actionflow

1. To make a reusable Actionflow, select the required action nodes and right-click to choose 

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   1. A new Actionflow is automatically created
      
   2. On the original Actionflow, the selected action nodes are replaced with the new embedded Actionflow node - see Actionflow NodeAction Properties
      

Moving Actions to Another Actionflow

An action node or group of action nodes actions can be moved to another Actionflow. This is useful where you wish to reverse an action node extraction.

The actions must be disconnected from the Actionflow's inputs and/or outputs before moving.

How-to Move Actions

1. Disconnect the action or group of actions from the Actionflow's inputs and/or outputs
2. Right-click on the actions nodes to be moved and choose choose

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3. On the Select Actionflow popup, use the dropdown to select the Actionflow to move the action nodes actions to and select click OK
4. On the Select Action Phase popup, use the dropdown to select the phase within the chosen Actionflow to move the action nodes actions to and select click OK
   The
   1. In PhixFlow 12.1+, the Select Action Phase popup will only show if the Actionflow that the
   action node(s) have been moved to will open
   1. actions are being moved to contains multiple phases

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   Worked Example

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

   In this example, we are using:  

   • A Customer Form screen containing blank input fields, set up to create a new staff member  - this screen was created using the Edit Form template

   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 Intermediate Application. For this example, we'll be working on the Save button on the Customer Form screen.

   GIF/SCREENSHOT OF FINISHED RESULT

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   name extract
   Extract Proper Case Calculate Action In this example, we'll modify the Actionflow on the Save button for when a customer is created. We'll configure this Actionflow to convert the string entered for the First Name attribute to proper case, for example, if the user enters "JOHN" or "john", this action will convert this string to "John".  Image Added We'll then extract this Actionflow for use elsewhere in our application. Create Proper Case Calculate Action Open the Actionflow on the Save button on the Customer Form Add a Insert excerpt _action_calculate _action_calculate nopanel true  Action This will be used to convert the text to proper case  Drag the Calculate Action onto the connector between the input and Save action Click on the input connector under Connections and map in the first_name and last_name attributes attribute Map these two attributes into the Calculate action Create On the Calculate action, create a new Output Attribute that will convert text to proper case, using the following Expression Code Block theme Emacs title Expression do( //* put the name into lowercase, e.g. "john" */ toLower(in.first_name), " ", //* put the first letter into upper case, e.g. "J" */ $firstLetter = toUpper(substring(in.first_name, 1,1)), ///* put the name from the 2nd letter onwards into lower case, e.g. "ohn" */ $remainingLetters = toLower(substring(in.first_name, 2)), ///* create a new proper case name using the upper case first letter and lower case remaining letters, e.g. "J" + "ohn" = "John" */ $newName = $firstLetter + $remainingLetters ) Click on the connector between the Calculate action and the Save action Map across the new Output Attribute onto the first_name attribute Expand title Checkpoint Image Added Close the Actionflow and Customer Form Reopen the Customer Form and enter a First Name in upper or lower case, then press Save to test the Actionflow Open the Shop Staff screen to see the new customer record with a correctly formatted first name Extract Proper Case Calculate Action Re-open the Actionflow Right-click on the Proper Case Calculate Action and choose  Insert excerpt _extract_actionflow _extract_actionflow nopanel true Name the Actionflow: Proper Case This Ensure the attribute customerID is removed from the out connector on the canvas of the Proper Case Actionflow so that the Actionflow can now be used reused elsewhere in your application

   1.02 Actionflow Principles

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