2. Setting

Worked Example

Unhide string form field, StudentIDFromAttendees.

Lookup to Retrieve Data

What is a Lookup?

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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 Image Added
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 Classroom Management screen  - this screen was created using the Tile with Buttons template, and contains:
  • A basic card container of the Classroom data
  • A basic card container of the Courses data
  • An empty string field, FilterField

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

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Create Calculate Action and View Action

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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    for the area, Card
2. Click on the 

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3. Click the 

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

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   1. Enter a name for the Actionflow
   ,
   1. :
      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 data sourceClassrooms 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
      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.

      
      

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 lookup look up to the Course Attendees table, we need to create a View ActionClick and drag School_Courses table, hover over the 

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    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 the Course Attendees data School_Course 

   3. Select Create Action

Configure the Lookup on the View Action 

Hover over the calculate action and select Image Removed

Configure the 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. The Return (Outgoing) Mappings window will open automatically
   
   1. Drag the 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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   2. Click Confirm and Create Filter
4. We need to filter the data coming out of the lookup 
   1. Name: ByClassroomID
   2. Click abc to tell PhixFlow to interpret the field as an expression
   3. 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  
   4. Select Finish

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 on the the 

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    icon to create a new attribute:
   1. Name: CourseIDArray
   2. Type: Choose Structured Data   

      1. This will return the results as an array

   3. Expression: 

      
      

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      luc.CourseID

      
      

   4. Click 

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3. Under Connections on the left, select 

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    icon 
   1. In the Available Attributes window, drag StudentID into the Output Attributes section of the properties
   2. Click OK
4. Select the lu connector to map the incoming and outgoing data
5. For the Incoming Mappings:Drag the CourseID attribute from the left (Calculate Action)
    Add

6. Add an Output Connection Point:

   1. Name: output

   2. Type: choose Output

   3. Click Create Connection Point
7. In the Connect Output window, choose the 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
8. Hover your mouse over the

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

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    node under ConnectionsIn the Data Retrieval Options section, click the 
   1. On the Mappings window, drag across the CourseIDArray attribute from the Calculate action into the Drag and Drop area on the right to create a corresponding attribute in on the View Action
   2. Select Next
10. 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 a corresponding attribute back to the Calculate Action
    2. Right-click on the StudentID attribute you just created and rename it
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11. Click Confirm
12. We need to filter the data coming out of the lookup 
13. Click on the View Action to open its properties
14. 1. output
    2. Click Save
15. Click the output connection point, under Connections
    1. On the Mappings window, drag the CourseIDArray attribute from the output to the string field, FilterField
    2. Click Save
16. The Actionflow is now built

Setting up a Background Filter

The Event Handler and Actionflow will now populate the string field, 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 the string field.

1. Return to the Classroom Management screen 

2. Click on the 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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    icon next  next to Filter:
   1. Name: ByCourseID ByFilterField
   2. In the Filter Details section, click Select an option and choose the CourseID in the Table Attributes
   3. Filter Details: Image RemovedImage Added
   1. Click 

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       the Filter tab on both the Filter and Filter Rule 

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    the View Action tab

Configure the Calculate Action

1. screen and click a classroom card to see the Actionflow working

Having trouble? See Troubleshooting above.

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