What is a View Action?

The 

Creating View Actions

required by the Actionflow. 

Creating View Actions

1. Click the 

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    icon in the toolbar to display existing tables in the application
   1. Existing tables can be dragged from the Repository onto the canvas - choose

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       in the pop-up box to create a View action node
2. Alternatively, drag the 

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    icon from the toolbar onto the canvas and select a primary table to view from the drop down list

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?

Example Uses

Example: Many Attributes are Needed in the Actionflow

Solution: Rather than map all of these attributes into the Actionflow, the primary key can be mapped in and a

Example: Not all Attributes are Displayed on the Screen

Solution: Where attributes from the table are needed in the Actionflow but are not displayed on the screen,

Worked Example

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

In this example, we are using:

• a Course A Teacher Management screen containing a grid of the School Courses Teachers data - the screen was created using the Tile with Buttons templatea
• Course A Teacher Form screen containing form fields , and associated with School Courses Teachers data by a background filter - the screen was created using the Edit Form template

To save the new or edited course, the Save Action on the input form must be configured. See 1.09 Save Action Configuration.

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.

Updating data for one table dynamically updates data in another table

Setup the View Action

• A Course Management screen containing a grid of the School Courses data - the screen was created using the Tile with Buttons template

We want the status of a course to be dynamically updated to On Hold if the associated teacher's status is changed to Inactive. To do this, we will add

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Dynamic Updates Between Tables

Using a View Action, modify the Save Actionflow for the School Teachers data to dynamically retrieve and update the School Courses data.

Configure a View Action

Create a View Action to access the School Courses data within an Actionflow for the School Teachers data.

1. Open the

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    Save Actionflow for the Teacher Form
2. Right-click on the input connection point, under Connections, and select 

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3. Drag the TeacherStatus attribute from the left to into the Drag and Drop area on the right 
   1. Click Save
4. Drag a View Action

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    Action from the toolbar onto the canvas
   1. Name: Get Courses
   2. Primary Table: choose School Courses Courses 
   3. Select Create Action
5. Drag and drop the View action you just created Get Courses 

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   Action onto the in connector between the input node and the Save action

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    Node and the

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    Action
6. Click on the in connector between the input node and the View node the 

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    node and the 

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   Action to open the Mappings
7. Drag both the TeacherID and TeacherStatus attributes (hold Ctrl to multi-select) from the left to the Drag into the Drag and Drop area on the right
   1. Select Save
8. Click on the View Action to open the propertiesIn the Output Attributres sectionthe Get Courses 

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    Action to open its 

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   1. In the Output Attributes section, select the 

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       icon
      1. Drag the CourseID and CourseStatus attributes into the Output Attributes section in the properties

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      2. Select OK
   2. In the Data Retrieval Options section, click the 

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       next to Filter and create a filter:
      1. Name: ByTeacher
      2. Filter Details: 
         1. Click abc to tell PhixFlow to interpret the field as an expression
      3. Select 

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   3. Select 

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       on the properties

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Configure a Calculate Action

Create a

Calculate Action to alter the CourseStatus data based on the TeacherStatus data.

1. Drag a 

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    Action from the toolbar onto the canvas
   1. Name: Change  Change Course Status
   2. Select Create Action
2. Drag and drop the Calculate action you just created Change Course Status 

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    action onto the in connector between the View action node and the Save action nodethe 

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    action and the

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    action
3. Click on the in connector between the View action node and the Calculate action nodethe 

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    action and the 

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    action to open the Mappings
4. Map across the CourseStatus, TeacherID and TeacherStatus attributes, as these are needed for the Calculate actionthe 

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    action
   1. Select Save
5. Click on the Calculate action to open its propertiesIn the output attribute the 

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    action to open its 

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6. In the Output Attribute section, click 

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    to create a new attribute:
   
   1. Name: NewCourseStatus
   2. Type: Choose String

   3. Expression: 

      
      

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      // If TeacherStatus is Inactive, set CourseStatus to On Hold if( in.TeacherStatus == "Inactive", $pfCourseStatus = "On Hold", // Else, set CourseStatus to Open $pfCourseStatus = "Open" )

      
      

   4. Select 

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Configure an Additional Save Action

As we are modifying the Save Actionflow for the Teachers table, we need an additional

1. Drag a

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    Action from the toolbar onto the canvas
   1. Name: Save Courses
   2. Table: Choose the School Courses table
   3. Select Create Action
2. In the 

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    Action's Properties, toggle on

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    Auto Save Attributes
3. Select

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4. Hover over the 

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    action and select out
5. When the red arrow shows, click on the 

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    Courses action node
6. On the Mappings window:
   1. Drag the NewCourseStatus attribute from the left onto the CourseStatus attribute on the right
   2. Drag the CourseID attribute from the left onto the CourseID attribute on the right

   3. Select Save
      

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7. Close the Actionflow and return to the Teacher Management screen

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    the screen and select a record to Edit
9. On the Teacher Form, change the teacher's Status to Inactive and press Save
   
   1. To see that the Actionflow has worked, open the Course Management screen
   2. Any course(s) assigned to the teacher you just updated should have a Status of On Hold

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