PhixFlow has been designed to provide quick access to the functions you are likely to need from the current view. This means you do not need to navigate complex menus. This page provides an overview of the navigation features and key screens in PhixFlow.
See also:
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Overview
PhixFlow comprises two parts:
- All the PhixFlow data and items (files) are stored in a database on a server
- As a user, you run the PhixFlow client in a web browser using the URL provided by your administrator.
You can work with PhixFlow in two ways.
We recommend that you use design mode on a desktop computer as you require screen space to build analysis models and design application screens.
- desktop or laptop computers
- mobile device, such as tablet or smartphone.
When you run the PhixFlow client in a browser, the PhixFlow window has:
- Optionally, a menu bar at the top of the screen. The menu bar includes:
- the PhixFlow name and logo, which opens the Application Menu; see Application Mode, below.
- any menu options for the loaded application
- A grey task bar at the bottom of the screen; see Task Bar, below.
At the bottom of the PhixFlow window is the grey task bar. The task bar display varies for desktop and mobile devices.
On Desktop or Laptop Computers
For desktop or laptop computers, the task bar shows:
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Overview
PhixFlow is a low-code application development tool. PhixFlow's visual design process means you can use drag-and-drop techniques to easily create everything you need to make a fully-functional application. Here are the steps:
- Create an Application
Easily create a new application and configure the settings for the project, see Creating an Application and Application Properties. - Define your Data
Create entity relationship diagrams (ERDs) to define the data that backs your application, see Entity Relationship Diagrams. - Build the Screens
Screens allow application users to interact with your data. Simply drag-and-drop templates and components to design a screen, or customise your own using CSS, see Designing Screens. - Setup Actionflows
Actionflows control the interactions users can perform with your application and its data, see Understanding Actionflows. - Analyse your Data
Use analysis models to process large data sets and create integrations with your data sources, see Analysis Models for Batch Processing Data. - Document the Workflow
Workflows visually depict the detailed sequence of activities and information flows used to run your application, see Creating Workflows.
Navigating the System
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Modes
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- is how a user experiences the application. This can be enabled by clicking
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On Mobile Devices
PhixFlow applications are often deployed on mobile devices, such as tablets. This means team members can access and update data whilst in the field. As mobile devices have less screen space available, the task bar is simplified to show the icons:- in the top right-hand corner of PhixFlow.
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is where application designers create and configure applications, and is only available to users with specific privileges. This mode can be enabled by clickingmode nopanel true Insert excerpt _
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- in the top right-hand corner of PhixFlow.
Pinning and Unpinning Tabs
Tabs can be
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Application Mode
Using the Application Menu
Your PhixFlow applications usually have a menu bar at the top of the screen. On the top left is the PhixFlow name and logo, which looks like this.
Application developers can configure PhixFlow to not display the menu bar. Instead the PhixFlow logo is displayed the bottom right of the screen.
Click on the PhixFlow name or logo to display the Applications menu. This shows the applications available to you as a set of cards. For example:
Click anywhere in a card to open the application. PhixFlow always asks if you want to confirm any action, including opening an application. Click Yes to continue.
When you select an application:
Inso that they remain open while you are working with them.
- Click the
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- icon on any tab to pin the content.
- The icon will change to
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For information about the properties tabs and their toolbar options, see Menu Options and Toolbar Buttons.
Accessing Help
When you first log into PhixFlow in
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Application Help
Application designers are responsible for providing help about how to use an application.
Accessing an Application Using a URL
An application user can also run an application and menu via a URL, by starting with the PhixFlow URL and adding:
?application=APP&menu=MENU
Where APP is the name of the application and MENU is the name of the menu the user requires.
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The PhixFlow instance for a company is
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Design Mode
Design mode has a workspace on the left and the repository tab on the right. The repository lists the items in PhixFlow to which you have access. If the repository is not visible, click theThe Repository
When you open PhixFlow in design mode, PhixFlow opens the Repository tab on the right of the screen; see Using the Repository.
Double-click on an item in the repository to open its properties tab. Here you can set the properties for modelling objects and application components.
In addition to having properties, you can open and edit some items in the workspace on the left. These are:
- Analysis Models: represent the flow and transformation of data.
- Stream Views: display the data in streams as tables (called grids) and charts.
- Dashboards: combine several stream views. Application screens are dashboards with more complex layouts, including menus and actions.
To display and update these items:
- From the repository, open the item's properties.
- From the toolbar on the properties tab, click the icon for the item, which is its Display option.
- PhixFlow opens the item in the workspace on the left.
Property Tabs
Click on the name of an item to open its properties tab. Usually PhixFlow opens each property tab in the same space and automatically closes any saved property tab.
- Click the icon again to unpin the tab.
Selected Component Tab Highlight
When a component is selected on a screen, it is highlighted blue and its parent component is highlighted yellow. The selected components properties open and the tab header is highlighted blue to indicate which tab corresponds to the selected component.
Dragging Tabs
Properties and information lists open in tabs on the right. These tabs can be moved by dragging the tab header to the left or right of the current column, as illustrated below:
Accessing the Help
- Context Help: This opens on the right, and can be collapsed or opened by clicking the
toggle tab in the middle of the screen. To have this collapsed by default, see User Details → Show Contextual Help Panes.Insert excerpt _help _help nopanel true - Key Concepts links to a page that provides the key concepts associated to the area of PhixFlow you are in.
- Fundamentals Video links to the video of the area of PhixFlow that you are in.
- Guides links to pages that explain how to achieve key tasks for the area of PhixFlow you are in.
- Item Specific Help: This is available in the properties for any item. Click the
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.Insert excerpt _more_options _more_options nopanel true - Learning Centre: Click the
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Selecting Items
Either in the repository or in dashboards or models, you can click an item to select it. A selected item is highlighted. Also the highlighting on any previously selected items is cleared.
There are several places in PhixFlow where you can make a change to several items at the same time, for example deleting items. To select a continuous subset of items in a list,
- Select the first item on the list.
- Hold down the Shift key.
- Then select the last item.
To select several items separately, press the Control (Ctrl) key as you click the different items. This will add each item to the list of selected items. If you click on an item that is already selected, it is removed from the selection list.
Drag-and-Drop
The user can drag-and-drop many of the items in PhixFlow. What happens when you drag items depends on the context. In general:
- Items can only be dragged onto a compatible location. PhixFlow does not let you drop an item if it makes no sense for the item to be in that location.
- You can often drag multiple selected items to/from lists.
- Items can be reordered when dragged into ordered lists. For example, the order of the items is important in the Stream Attributes.
- In model windows, you can drag single or multiple modelling objects around the model; see Using the Model Window.
To drag objects off the model and onto another location, select the object and then use Shift-drag. - One or more Stream Views can be dragged onto Dashboards to display data.
Right-click any item to display its context menu. You can display a context menu when you right-click:
- its name in the repository
- for modelling objects, its icon in a model
- for layout components, its representation in a dashboard
Deleting Items
When you delete a PhixFlow item it is deleted from the repository and from any model or dashboard that contains it. Deleting cannot be undone. For this reason, PhixFlow
- always asks for confirmation that you really do want to delete an item before actually deleting it.
- will not delete an item when another object within PhixFlow still refers to it.
PhixFlow notifies you about how many and what type of items still refer to the item you are trying to delete.
- button within the system controls to open the Learning Centre. Here you will find access to all courses, as well as a host of resources, such as sample data sets. The Learning Centre also enables you to search the help for specific topics, such as Functions or API integrations.
- ChatBot: The ChatBot is available in Design Mode from the system controls in the top right. This chat facility provides direct access to PhixFlow Support, who will answer any questions you have.
What's Next?
The PhixFlow Fundamentals course provides a practical guide to using PhixFlow, including the design and creation of screens in our applications.
Further Reading
To find out how to get started with using PhixFlow, see:
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