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Overview

To design a screen, you drag components and layouts,  from the 

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 onto the screen canvas.

PhixFlow comes with two pre-installed base palettes that provide the essential building blocks you need. You can download additional palettes. that have a full set of layouts with a consistent style. Using these palettes mean you can quickly create new applications with a consistent look-and-feel. Additional palettes are provided as template packages; see the Installing Template Packages.

 Once Once the template package is installed, when you create a new application, you can select the one you want to use. This sets some default styles for your application and adds its palettes to the list in 

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Tip

We recommend you use Theme 2.1 Serene Grey palette, as this makes use of all the latest features for components, including highlighting where on a screen canvas you can drop a component; see the Installing Template Packages.

What Palettes Do I Have?

To see the palettes available to you:

  1. In the right panel, switch to the repository tab, or click
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    to open it.
  2. Expand the Packages section to see all the packages available to you, for example, Theme 2.1Serene Grey.

To make a package available in your application, open 2 :

  1. Open two repository tabs side-by-side.
  2. From the Packages
list
  1.  section, drag a template package into your application's
packages
  1. properties Packages list.

Adding Content to a Screen

To add content to a screen, drag components and layouts from the 

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 onto the screen canvas.

Starting with a Complete Layout

Serene Grey has some complete screen layouts. These provide screen templates with different header-body-footer layouts, to which you can add more components. Open the palette → Serene Grey → Complete Screens and drag one of the layouts from the palette onto an empty screen canvas.For the Theme 2.1  
 

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Adding Components

If you start with a complete layout, or create your own layout, drag components from the palette onto the screen canvas. Start with container components then drag in components for headers, footers, buttons and labels.

When you drag components from the Serene Grey palette, PhixFlow highlights containers on the screen canvas where you can drop the component, as shown below. This is known as a Preferred Parent.

Adding Data Tables

You can also add content based on table data

Adding Data Tables

  • To add a data table, open the properties of the table.
  • From the properties, drag the table icon onto the screen canvas
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    Adding Form Fields

    1. To create form fields Table attributes can be added directly to a screen by dragging them from the tables Attributes section onto a screen. PhixFlow will automatically create the form fields based on the default style specified for your application.

    Starting with a Template

    1. If you have a blank screen and wish to start from a Template screen simply expand the Complete Screens section in a palette and drag the required item onto the screen.
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    Drag from Locations

    Panel
    bgColor#e6f0ff
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    titleAbout the default component palette
    When you drag items from the repository onto a screen, PhixFlow creates a component using the default template for that item. So it is important to make sure that you have set the right default component palette. This is set in System Configuration. Remember that this default will apply to all users of this

    drag a data table onto the screen canvas to display its data.

    1. Find the table you want to use:
      • either in the repository Tables list
      • or open its properties.
    2. Drag the table icon onto the screen canvas.
      The screenshot below shows how to drag the table icon from the properties onto the canvas.


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    3. Select how you want to display the data, for example in a grid or chart.

    Adding Form Fields

    It is easy to create data display or data entry using fields on a form by dragging attributes onto the screen canvas:

    1. Open the table properties.
    2. Drag attributes from the Attributes section onto the screen canvas.
    3. Enter a name for the field component.
    4. PhixFlow automatically creates the form fields using on the default style specified for the type of data that the attribute represents. For example, a telephone number has a number field, whilst a name has a text field. The default styles are set in your application properties.

    Refreshing the Screen

    Under certain circumstances changes you make on a screen will not appear immediately. There are two main reasons why this occurs and there is a solution for both.

    First, when PhixFlow opens a screen it will load any data associated to it. If you then change a default value for a component such as a Dynamic Text header, the value will not refresh until PhixFlow reloads the screen. Therefore a quick close and reopen of the screen will invoke a refresh and you will see you change appear. This is the most common fix.

    Second, and less common in PhixFlow, is your web browser caching content. This means content has been save by the browser so that it can load the website faster. Typical items which get cached are images and styles (CSS). You can search the web for how to clear saved images and temporary files from your browser.

    Understanding Default Styles

    When you set up your application, it is important to: 

    • either choose a template, which configures your default styles
    • or to select default styles in the Application Properties.

    This tells PhixFlow which component to use when you drag tables or attributes onto a screen canvas; see Understanding Template Packages. If you do not set a default style in your application, PhixFlow uses the styles set for the whole system in System Configuration.

    Note

    If you change the defaults set in System Configuration, the change affects all users and applications for the PhixFlow instance.



    Drag FromItemDrag on toCreates
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    component or layout

    anywhere on a screen

    the component(s) on the screen

    Repository → 

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    component or layoutanywhere on a screen

    Repository Either the repository →  

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     → 
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    Or A a popup list of 

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    attributean areaa labelled field

    Repository →  

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    table

    anywhere on a screen

    Prompts you to select the data-component you want to add. This also creates a view based on the table. 


    Repository →

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     → View

    Or Table table properties → View section

    Or Any any popup list of views

    viewan areaAdds an instance of the view.


    Dropping

    items into or next to existing content?

     As discussed in  Screen Structure → moving layouts and components,

    • Add next to an item: Dragging an item from the palette onto a screen creates a sibling relationship. For example, if you drag ad drop a form field on top of another form field they appear next to one other.
    • Add inside an item: Holding shift and dragging an item from the palette onto a screen creates a parent child relationship, where your dragged item drops into the item you drop it on.

    Preferred Parents, where a preferred parent is setup the dragged item will always drop into its preferred parent. For examples a Tile will always try and drop into a Tile Container.

    Items can also be moved directly in the layouts section, this can provide greater flexibility on where items are placed. 

    Components Into or Next To Existing Content

    When you drop a component, table or attribute onto a screen canvas, PhixFlow needs to know if you want to put the item into or next to any existing component in that location.

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    Moving Components on a Screen
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     See Moving Components on a Screen.

    Where the palette component has a preferred parent configured, when you drag the component onto the screen canvas, PhixFlow highlights suitable containers; see Component Categories and Preferred Parents.

    Palettes

    Palette content is organised into logical groups (see Theme 2.1 Serene Grey), with icons and descriptions to indicate their styling and purpose. At the top level are the pre-built screens such as*:

    • Confirmation Screen: A complete screen designed to be used as a confirmation message or other binary option.
    • Full Screens: A complete dashboard screen containing windows controls, a content area, a single tile with a header and CRUD buttons in a footer.
    • Data Entry Forms: Data Entry form with centre alignment designed as a complete screen for data entry or a popup window.
    *Please note the names may vary please see
    •  a form or popup window for an application user to enter data.
    Note

    Palette names vary. Check your palette and the descriptions of the items for full details of what is available to you.

    If you require more control over the To make changes to a screen from the palette, or to design of your screen or want to edit or add to the pre-built screensown screen, use components such as:

  • Tiles - come in various configurations from data entry tiles to google maps integrated variants. Drag these items into a Tile container to control their layout and produce a design that is device responsive.
  • Headers - can be added to your screens to provide

    • Headers: provide clarity and structure to the content on the screen, headers can be used screen and act as labels to divide a screen into logical sections.
    • Footers - can be used to house : useful for the buttons to provide create, update and delete buttons that act upon your datafunctionality, so that the application user can make changes to data.
    • Tiles: special layouts from data entry forms to Google maps. The container for a tile is configured so the components in the tile can shift their layout in response to the form-factor of the device on which your application is running; see Sizing and Positioning Screen Content.

    Finding a Component
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    To find a component When you are working on a screen:

    Selected items on a screen will be highlighted in the Layers section on the left hand side of a screen canvas. You can then see how the selected

    , it can be useful to see how a component fits into the

    screen

    hierarchy layers.

    Right-click on a component and select 

    You can see this more clearly in:

    • either the 
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       panel on the left of the screen canvas. To display the panel click the slider: 
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      .
      PhixFlow opens the Components section with the component selected. You can then see how the selected component fits into the screen hierarchy.
    Clicking on a component will open its properties
    • or in the repository Components section, in the right panel.

    To highlight the component in the Layers panel or the repository, select it on the screen canvas.

    To open the properties for a component:

    • in the canvas right-click on the component and select Show Details
    • In the Layers panel or repository click on its name and click 
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    What's

    next

    Next?

    Child pages (Children Display)
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