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This page is for PhixFlow application designers who need to create a new application, or change the defaults for an existing application.

Overview

In PhixFlow to design When you create an application GUIin PhixFlow, you add components to select a screen. Components include tables, charts, menus and buttons. By connecting the components to the data in tables (streams), you can create applications Are applications not a collection of these components, not created by them?. Application users can load an application to interact with the table (stream) data, for example to view and update it.

For how to:

template. This configures default styles and formats for your application. For how to create a new application, see Creating an Application.

open an application, and the application Home window, see Screen Design.

To access the application properties or Settings?:

either go the the application Home window and use the link in the top right of the window
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or open its properties from the repository. How?

PhixFlow opens the application properties on the right. You can use the options to set:

whether you want a menu bar, and which menu options appear there. We are promoting the user creating bespoke menus.

When you are working on your application in

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, you can:

define data relationships: see Entity Relationship Diagrams
design screens that form the graphical user interface (GUI) of an application: see Designing Screens
connect parts of the screen to actions or Actionflows that create functionality: Understanding Actionflows

This page lists the application properties. To open the application properties tab:

Go to the
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tab.
If the tab is not present, in the PhixFlow toolbar, click the
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icon.
In the Applications section, double-click your application's name.
PhixFlow opens the properties tab for the application on the right.

Use the options to set:

icons for the application
defaults for:
- number formats
- styles for grids
- components to use for displaying data.
menus so that user's can navigate through the application
access privileges to specify which users can use the application.
the ~~theme~~ Template that your application uses.
data formats, if you do not want to use the PhixFlow defaults.
any packages containing shared resources that your application can use; see Package.

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Application Propertiesstandardsettingsstandardsettings

About

Field

Description

Name

The name of the application.

Created by

The name of the person who created the application

DescriptionThe description of the application. Consider including the purpose of the application and who is responsible for it.Application Icon

Select an uploaded image to use in the application menu card for this application. We recommend an image size of approximately:

height: up to 100 pixels
width: 100 to 150 pixels.

See Image for how to upload an image to PhixFlow. PhixFlow uploads application icons and logos to the images folder in its database. You can see a list of uploaded images in the repository > Images section.

Menus

This section lists the menus and the associated actionflows or table-item-actions that have been created for your application.

A default menu is created automatically with the application.

You can specify that PhixFlow uses a different menu for desktop and mobile devices. In the grid, right-click a menu to display the context menu and select: These icons are out of date.

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PhixFlow will display in the default menu in the menu bar:

once options have been added
and when Show Default Menu Bar is selected (see below).

PhixFlow displays the mobile or desktop icon next to the application's name. Using that context menu the user can also load the application with selected menu. All options available in the context menu are:

Use the buttons below the list to:

Insert excerpt_new_newnopaneltrue add another menu to the list; see Menu properties Insert excerpt_delete_deletenopaneltrue delete the menu from this application.

Additional options related to user navigation are:

Field

Description

Show Application in

Access Permissions

For details about how to control access to an application, see Common Properties → Access Permissions.

Style Settings

Field

Description

Theme

The name of the theme that defines the defaults and styles for this application. The theme provides a set of palettes and sets the style defaults, such as the styles for grids that you add to screens.

Select the palette that you want to use when you drag stream attributes onto the screen. This should explain that they come from the selected template when creating an application, a template that has been associated with the application or any local palettes. PhixFlow uses this palette when its container application is running. What does this mean?

If the container application for is not running, PhixFlow uses:

either the default palette set for the area.
or the default palette for the destination application when you are dragging stream attributes into a screen for a different (destination) application that is running.

If you do not set a palette, PhixFlow uses the system default palette.

You can change style settings:

in the template components in the palette
create shared styles
set styles on individual components

See Shared Styles and Style Order

Date

to interact with data, for example to view and update it.

You can work on the files in an application's project without loading it. However, if you load an application, the repository is automatically filtered to show just the files available to the application.

There are several ways to load an application.

From the application menu, click the application card to load it.
By default, PhixFlow opens with the application menu displayed. To redisplay the menu, in the top left of the PhixFlow window click:
- either the
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- or the
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  , if it appears.
From the repository, right-click on the application name and select
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In a browser address bar, enter the application URL; see Starting PhixFlow. When PhixFlow is started in this way, you can still navigate to other applications that you have permission to access.

Application

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Basic Settings

Field

Description

Name

Enter the name of the application.

Model Validation Status

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Version

Enter a version number for your application. Use this to track the stages of development or maintenance for your application.

Do not show in the Application Menu

Select whether or not this application appears in the

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. For example, you may have a test application that should not be visible to other PhixFlow users. Use the repository to open an application that is not present in the Welcome window's application list.

Show Default Menu Bar

If you want menu options for the user to navigate your application, select this potion. PhixFlow displays the menu bar at the top of the application screen. Use the Navigation settings to add menu options. See PhixFlow's Interface for screenshots showing the default menu bar.

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to include this application.

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to exclude this application. This is useful for test applications that you do not want anyone else to see.

Default Date Format

Select the default format for Date attributes and components.

Select a format from the drop-down list or click the icons to:

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list__formats_list_formats Time

Packages

This section has a toolbar with standard buttons. The grid contains a list of packages that contain this application. To add an application to the list:

Click newnew to list all the packages To remove a package from the list, use the toolbar button

Drag packages into this list.

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We now have special Template packages that act as themes.

todo This is still true we need to define the hierarchy of style settings.

From original doc and not covered by XD for new properties

The styles you select override any styles set in System Configuration. You can override these defaults for individual grids using the style settings in the View properties.

To specify a style, select it from the drop-down list or click the icons to:

Insert excerpt_style_list_style_listnopaneltrue: shows the styles available for this application in the repository. Insert excerpt_new_newnopaneltrue: create a new style.

todo - check This may be moving to system

Field

Description

Default Component Palette

Select the palette that you want to use when you drag a table, view or attribute onto a screen canvas.

PhixFlow uses this palette when its container application is running. If the container application for is not running, PhixFlow uses:

either the default palette set for the area.
or the default palette for the destination application when you are dragging attributes into a layout for a different (destination) application that is running.

If you do not set a default palette, PhixFlow uses the system default palette.

Tip
Basic palettes are installed with PhixFlow. Additional palettes are available, see Understanding Template Packages and Installing Template Packages.

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Application Icon

Select an uploaded image to use in the application menu card for this application. We recommend an image size of approximately:

height: up to 100 pixels
width: 100 to 150 pixels.

See Adding Images for how to upload an image to PhixFlow.

PhixFlow uploads application icons and logos to the images folder in its database. You can see a list of uploaded images in the repository > Images section.

Application Logo

Select an uploaded image to provide customised branding for the application. When a user clicks this image, it will open the application menu. We recommend an image size of approximately:

height: up to 40 pixels
width: up to 300 pixels.

See Image for how to upload an image to PhixFlow.

Application Menu and Context Menus Is this not covered earlier?

The Application Menu Anchorapp_menuapp_menuWhen you run PhixFlow in

Style Settings

When you drag a table or view onto a screen canvas, and select a grid component to display the table data, PhixFlow adds a grid. In this section, set the default appearance of grid views for the application. You can set the following:

Default Header Icon Style
Default Header Dropdown Pane Style
Default Paging Style
Grid Header Style
Grid Header Button Style
Grid Header Dropdown Button Style
Grid Row Style
Grid Alternate Row Style
Grid Row Hover Style - applies when the mouse is over a row in a grid.
Grid Column Style
Grid Column Header Style
Row Selection Style

To specify a style, select it from the drop-down list or click the icons to:

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to show available styles
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design_modedesign_mode without loading an application, you will see the PhixFlow logo and text in the top left of the window. You can click this area to open the

to create a new style; see Style.

The styles you select override any styles set in System Configuration. You can override these defaults for individual grids using the style settings in the View properties.

Default Components

In this section, select an appropriate component for PhixFlow to add when you drag attributes onto a form or card container. For information about data types, see Understanding Data Types.

String
Bigstring
Long
Float
Decimal
True/False
Date
DateTime

Also set the styling for a:

Form
Card
Drop Down
Dynamic Text

And select a default:

Table Action - This is the button that PhixFlow adds when you drag a table-action onto a screen canvas.
Menu Button

Menus

This section has a toolbar with standard buttons. The grid lists the menus that have actionflows or record-actions that can be applied for this application.

PhixFlow automatically creates a default menu when you create the application project. PhixFlow will display in the default menu in the menu bar:

once you have added options to the menu
and when Show Default Menu Bar is selected (see below).

If there are several menus, listed PhixFlow uses the selected (ticked) menu as the menu bar for the application.

You can specify that PhixFlow uses a different menu for desktop and mobile devices. Right-click on a line in the list to show the popup menu options:

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appmenuappmenu menu lists the applications available in the current PhixFlow instance.When you run PhixFlow in either appmodeappmode or design_modedesign_mode, if your PhixFlow URL does not specify an application, the app_menuapp_menu opens automatically when you log into PhixFlow. To open the app_menuapp_menu at any time:either click on the logo/name in the top left of the PhixFlow screen. By default this is the PhixFlow logo and name

Advanced

Field	Description
Backslashes must be escaped in expressions	There is a change in 9.0.0 which affects escaped backslashes in expressions. This option maintains backwards compatibility. By default this will be ticked for applications created before 9.0.0, and unticked for later applications.

Packages

This section has a toolbar with standard buttons. The grid contains a list of packages.

A package is a bundle of PhixFlow items that are shared between multiple applications. When you export/import an application to another PhixFlow instance, it is important to export/import all packages with the application; see Application Administration.

One package will include your applications theme settings. To add another package to the application:

Click
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phixflow_logo_namephixflow_logo_name.or, if your application has been configured to have no menu bar, click the logo in the bottom right of the PhixFlow screen. By default this is the PhixFlow logo phixflow_logo_onlyphixflow_logo_only

Your administrator can configure the graphic that appears in the menu bar in the application properties → Basic Settings → Application Logo option, below.

The app_menuapp_menuThe lists the available applications as cards, for example:

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Tipapp_menuapp_menu displays the applications:

that have been configured to appear on menu
and that you have permission to use.

The repository → Applications branch displays the applications that you have permission to use.

Application Card Context Menu

Each application card also has a context menu. To open the application card context menu:

either right-click anywhere in the card

or hover your mouse pointer over the card, then

Popup Menu Options

To access popup menus for an application:

Either, in the repository, right-click on an application's name to show the popup menu.
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Or, in the application menu:
- click the
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icon, which is displayed in the top right. Repository Application Context MenuApplications also have different context menu available from the repository. To display the repository application context menu, the name of an application.

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Context Menu Options

Available in context menu

- anywhere on the card

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Available in a popup accessed from

Option

Description

application card and
repository application name

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Load the selected application so that it is running in

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.

application card

Load application in a New Tab

Open a new browser tab with the selected application loaded.

application card

Load Application in a New Window

Open a new browser window with the selected application loaded.

repository application name

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In the repository

browser, use the application name to display only the repository tree for Edit properties for the selected application

application properties tab to make changes.

repository application name

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Delete the selected application from the repository. This cannot be undone.

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Learn More

Version	Old Version 68	New Version Current
Changes made by	Fiona Sargeant	Zoe Baldwin
Saved on	Jul 20, 2021	Aug 12, 2024

/Time Format	Select the default format for DateTime attributes and components.
Default Number Format	Select the default format for numbers.

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Overview

Loading an Application

About

Navigation

Menus

Access Permissions

Style Settings

Application

Basic Settings

Packages

todo This is still true we need to define the hierarchy of style settings.

Application Menu and Context Menus Is this not covered earlier?

Style Settings

Default Components

Menus

Advanced

Packages

Application Card Context Menu

Popup Menu Options

Context Menu Options

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Versions Compared

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Overview

Loading an Application

About

Navigation

Menus

Access Permissions

Style Settings

Application

Basic Settings

Packages

todo This is still true we need to define the hierarchy of style settings.

Application Menu and Context Menus Is this not covered earlier?

Style Settings

Default Components

Menus

Advanced

Packages

Application Card Context Menu

Popup Menu Options

Context Menu Options

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