What is a Lookup?

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

• Request (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
• Return (Outgoing) Mappings: the attributes being passed out of the View Action via the lookup connector 

For views, see View Action Configuration.

Views vs Lookups

Creating Lookups

1. Hover over an 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 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 Classroom Management screen containing  - this screen was created using the Tile with Buttons template, and contains:
  • A grid basic card container of the School Courses Classroom data
  • A contacts basic card container of the School Students Courses data
  • An empty string field, StudentIDFromAttendees FilterField

Lookup to

The Actionflow will output 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.

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Classroom Courses

In this example, we want to see the courses held in each classroom when each classroom is clicked. To do this, we will use the classroom data to lookup and retrieve the associated courses data, then output that data back to the screen where it can be used to filter the courses data.

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To do this it we will:

• Lookup the courses using the Course Classroom 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 Classroom and Course tables
• Write those courses' Course ID(s) back to the screen onto a string field
• Setup a background filter to only show students courses in a Students contacts card Courses card container that match the Student Course ID in the field

Screen Setup

Event Handler Setup

Event handlers facilitate actions occurring in response to a user action. For this example, we want a user clicking on a classroom card to run an Actionflow that populates a string field that we will later to use to filter the information that can be seen on screen

1.  Click on the top card on the Classroom Management screen to open the 

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    your screen and click  for the area, Card
2. Click on the 

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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 Click 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  icon in the Event Handler section
2. In the New Card (On Click) Event Handler tab, click 

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   1. Enter a name for the Actionflow:
      1. Name:
      Find StudentsSelect Confirm
      1. Filter Courses

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Create Calculate Action and Lookup

1. Select Click to Connect and for the input, choose the School Course  Insert excerpt_grid_gridnopaneltrue View ComponentClassrooms Card Component, then select Connect InputInput   
2. In the Mappings window that opens, drag the CourseID ClassroomID attribute from the left to the right
   1. Select Save
3. Click and drag the 

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

   2. Select Create Action
      

      Note
      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.

      
      

5. Click and drag the 

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    icon onto the 

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

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

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    ActionClick and drag the  Insert excerpt_action_view_action_viewnopaneltrue icon from the toolbar onto  action node and choose, Add Lookup
   1. On the Add Connection Point window, name the lookup: luc
      1. We recommend choosing a name to indicate the action taking place, e.g. "luc" for look up courses
   2. Click Confirm
8. With the red arrow attached to your mouse, click anywhere on the canvas
9. In the Create View Action window enter:
   1. Name: GetStudentIDCourses
   2. Primary Table: choose Course Attendees School_Course 

   3. Select Create Action

Configure the

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Lookup 

1. The Output Attribute Selection window will open automatically 
   1. Click the tick box next to CourseID
   2. Click Next
2. The Request (Incoming) Mappings window will open automatically
   1. Drag the ClassroomID 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
   2. Select Next
3. For the The Return (Outgoing) Mappings: window will open automatically
   
   1. Drag the StudentID CourseID attribute from the left (View Action) to the Drag and Drop area on the right to map a corresponding attribute back to the

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       action
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      Right-click on the StudentID attribute you just created and select Insert excerpt_edit_editnopaneltrue 
   2. Rename the attribute: StudentIDFound
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   3. Click Confirm
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   4. Click Confirm and Create Filter
4. We need to filter the data coming out of the lookup 
   Click on the Insert excerpt_action_view_action_viewnopaneltrue action to open its PropertiesIn the Data Retrieval Options section, click the  Insert excerpt_addIcon_addIconnopaneltrue icon next to Filter
   1. Name: ByCourseID
   2. Filter Details: Image RemovedName: ByClassroomID
   3. Click abc to tell PhixFlow to interpret the field as an expression Insert excerpt_finish_finishnopaneltrue the Filter tab
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   1. Filter Conditions: Image Added
      1. In this filter, the top CourseID is from the Courses data, and the bottom CourseID is from the Classroom data  
   2. Select Finish

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   Configure the Calculate Action and Output

   1. Click on the

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       action on the canvas to open its

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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 CourseIDArray
      2. Type: Choose Structured DataData   

         1. This will return the results as an array

      3. Expression: 

         
         

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         luluc.StudentIDFoundCourseID

         
         

      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 output

      2. Type: choose Output

      3. Click Create Connection Point
   5. Select Click to Connect and In the Connect Output window, choose the CourseManagement ClassroomAvailabilityManagement 

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      , then Connect Output
      1. Close the Mappings window that opens as we don't have any attributes to map to this yet
   6. Hover your mouse over the

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

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   Setup

   Setting up a Background Filter

   The Event Handler and Actionflow will now populate the string field, StudentIDFromAttendees, but , FilterField, by clicking each classroom card, but the Courses card container needs a background filter setting so it can be filtered by the values in this field need to be linked to the Students contact cards using a background filter in order to only see the students for the selected course onlythe string field.

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   Anchor troubleshoot troubleshoot Note If at any point your screen does not display the expected results, such as clicking on the classroom card does not populate FilterField, or after creating the below filter the Courses cards do not filter, always try closing and reopening the screen first.

   1. Return to the Course Classroom Management screen 

   2. Click on the Students contact card Courses 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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      , in the Background Filter Rules section, click 

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

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       next to Filter:
      1. Name: ByStudentID ByFilterField
      2. In the Filter Details section, click Select an option and choose the CourseID in the Table Attributes
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      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 click a classroom card to see the Actionflow working

   Having trouble? See Troubleshooting above.

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