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Todo - decide if this should be renamed to Screen. Link in Phixflow will need to be updated.
Overview
Create application screens by starting with a dashboard; see Creating or Opening a Screen.
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- either using the toolbar
- or right-click anywhere in the screen to display the pop-up menu.
This page has the reference documentation for dashboard properties. For information on how to divide a screen into different panes, and how to add things to a screen, see Drag-and-Drop Techniques.
See Also
Properties
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Basic Settings
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This page is for application designers who want to create screens for application users.
Overview
This page explains the screen properties. For information on how to divide a screen into different panes, and how to add components to it, see Splitting a Screen.
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Basic Settings
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| Name | The name of the screen. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Open Maximised |
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| Allow User to Resize |
This option does not affect resizing the screen in
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| Show Toolbar |
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| Show Window Button Bar |
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| Always On Top |
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| Keep Data |
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Screens, especially complex screens, can take some time to open, which can feel slow to the application user. Use this option when you need a screen to open quickly. Preloading screens adds to the time it takes PhixFlow to initially start up. For this reason we recommend you only preload screens that an application user will always want to open.
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Preloading relates to the screen itself. Any data backing the screen is only loaded when the screen opens, and this may also take time to load.
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If an application user is likely to require the same screen in different stages of a task. Use this option so that, when the user closes and reopens the screen, it loads immediately.
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Caching relates to the screen itself. Any data backing the screen will be reload each time the screen is opened.
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Todo - not yet implemented
You may have a screen that acts as your application's welcome window. Use this option to open a screen whenever the application starts.
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By default, screens are opened floating centrally. If you want a screen to open with a fixed position, select one of the drop-down options:
- Pinned to top
- Pinned to bottom
- Pinned to left: top left
- Pinned to right: top right
- Floating (default)
todo - check DEV-9189 as there are problems using these options
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Width
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Specify a screen height in pixels, for example 150px for a small confirmation window. The default size of a pop-up screen is approximately 500px.
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Available when Position is Floating.
Set an offset value in pixels to position the screen where it is required. For example, to display a screen as a pop-up window towards the top left of the screen set:
- Top:
60px - Left:
60px
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Dashboard Elements
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PhixFlow creates dashboard elements when you use the pop-up menu Add Area... options to divide up the screen. In PhixFlow version 8.3 and earlier, dashboard elements enabled different parts of the screen to be bound to different sources of data, either a stream (table) or view.
Where dashboard elements are bound to data, you can link them, so that the data in one dashboard element drives the data in another; see Linked and Driving Views.
Menu Items
This section has a toolbar with standard buttons and:
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- either Add a new sub-menu
- or Add a new menu item; see Menu
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To remove a menu, use the toolbar button 
Delete Everywhere.
Mappings
This section has a toolbar with standard buttons. The grid contains a list of mappings between attributes that are the same but have different names in different streams (tables) or views. PhixFlow will evaluate all the mapped datasets when it runs an action on the dashboard. Todo - check this is the correct mapping.
Unreachable Actions
Todo - New feature related to actionflows?
Actions
This section has a toolbar with standard buttons. The grid displays a list of actions and/or (todo - check) stream item actions (record-actions) that are linked to the screen.
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Menus and Toolbars
Screen Toolbar
There is a toolbar above the screen canvas. This provides the following options:
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Open the repository showing the list of available tables for your application.
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Unlock a screen to edit its layout.
Lock a screen to prevent accidental edits and to display the data content.
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Update the screen to reflect changes made elsewhere in PhixFlow, such as the screen properties, layer orders or shared styles.
Screen Context Menu
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Use these options to divide a screen into multiple, resizable panes. Select the option to add a pane relative to the currently selected pane.
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When a specific component is selected, delete the component.
Other delete options that may be available relate to specific types of component in the selected pane.
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Delete options depend on the selected item. Examples are:
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Toggle whether or not the currently selected component is automatically auto sized when an application window is resized by the user.
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Using this option, or manually resizing a component may change the state of the Layout → Style Settings → Auto Size property. |
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Options to arrange the selected components within a pane:
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change to Show in layers??
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default. The screen does not need to be cached. Caching relates to the screen itself. Any data backing the screen will be reload each time the screen is opened. | |
| Position | By default, new screens are set to Floating. If you want a screen to open with a fixed position, select one of the Pinned drop-down options:
Use the Pinned options to create a permanently visible screen. This is useful for a navigation area or toolbar that you want to be visible for all other screens. Floating screens do not overlap with pinned screens. When the user maximises a Floating screen, it expands only to the remaining space. |
Width | For screens that are not set to Open maximised, specify a screen width in pixels, for example 500px for a small confirmation window. The default size for a popup screen approximately 800px. |
| Height | For screens that are not set to Open maximised, specify a screen height in pixels, for example |
| Top | Available when Position is Floating. For screens that are not set to Open maximised, set an offset value in pixels to position the screen where it is required. For example, to display a screen as a popup window towards the top left of the screen, set:
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| Left | |
| Right | |
| Bottom |
Screen Elements
Screen elements are specific sections on a screen that posses their own properties, specifically each element can be backed by a different table.
To view a list of the elements for a specific screen, open the
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Menu Items
This section has a toolbar with standard buttons and:
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Show Table-actions Insert excerpt _filter _filter nopanel true
The grid contains a list of menu items. To add a menu item to the list, click
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- Click
Insert excerpt _add _add nopanel true - Select
- either Add a new sub-menu
- or Add a new menu item; see Startup Actions
- PhixFlow opens a new properties tab for a menu item or sub-menu; see Startup Actions for details.
To remove a menu, use the toolbar button
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Mappings
This section has a toolbar with standard buttons.
Components on the screen, such as buttons or data-components, can have actionflows or record-actions. Record-actions can take data from attributes in different tables or views. Where the attributes have different names, you must map the attribute, so that the record-action recognises the data. This grid contains a list of mappings for the components on this screen.
To configure a mapping, in the screen, right-click a component and select
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Unreachable Actions
This section has a toolbar with standard buttons. The grid displays a list of actionflows that are linked to components on the screen, but do not exist yet.
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Actionflows are a new way to configure actions, introduced in PhixFlow version 9.0.0; see Understanding Actionflows. |
Actions
This section has a toolbar with standard buttons. The grid displays a list of actions and record-actions that are linked to the screen.
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Actions and record-actions were the way to configure screen functionality before PhixFlow version 9.0.0; see Using Table-Actions and Record-Action |
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Menus and Toolbars
Screen Toolbar
There is a toolbar above the screen canvas. This provides the following options:
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| Open the repository showing the list of available tables for your application. | ||||||||||||||||
| Open the repository showing the list of available screens for your application. | ||||||||||||||||
| Open the repository showing the list of available actionflows for your application. | ||||||||||||||||
| Open the list of palettes. | ||||||||||||||||
| Open the repository showing the list of available styles for your application. | ||||||||||||||||
| Canvas options | |||||||||||||||||
| Open the help topic with details about working with screens. | ||||||||||||||||
| Open the properties tab for the screen. | ||||||||||||||||
or
| Unlock a screen to edit its layout. Lock a screen to prevent accidental edits and to display the data content. | ||||||||||||||||
| Update the screen to reflect changes made elsewhere in PhixFlow, such as the screen properties, layer orders or shared styles. | ||||||||||||||||
Screen Popup Menu
Right-click on a screen to display its popup menu. The options available depend on where you click. If there are many options, some are moved onto the sub-menu
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| Unlock a screen to edit its layout. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lock a screen to prevent accidental edits and to display the data content. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| For screens created in PhixFlow versions 8.3 and earlier, open a window listing the context parameters in alphabetical order. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| For screens created in PhixFlow versions 8.3 and earlier, open the properties for the screen element. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Use these options to divide a screen into multiple, resizable panes. Select the option to add a pane relative to the currently selected pane. To remove a pane, use the popup menu options
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| Fix the height or width of the selected pane. You will no longer be able to resize a pane by dragging its dividing line. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| When a specific component is selected, delete the component. Delete options depend on the selected item, for example:
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| Remove the selected item from the screen, whilst leaving it in the repository. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Delete a screen element. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Create a new form in the current area. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pin a component to fix its position; see Pinning and Unpinning. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Open the palette to drag in components. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Toggle whether or not the currently selected component is automatically auto sized when an application window is resized by the user.
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| Options to arrange the selected components:
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| Open the repository with to see the selected component in the list. This can be useful if you want to move a component. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Open the properties tab for the screen. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Display information about the table and its records. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opens a new mapping element properties tab where you can map attributes with different names to components. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| For the selected parent container, select all the child components. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
or Show the Table Configuration | Open the properties for the table. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Show the list of attributes that are bound to the component. The attributes can be from a table or view. This is shown in the option:
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Unreachable ActionsA workflow can have placeholder actionflows linked to a screen. If the actionflow has not been wired then it is listed here. Open on Startup You may have a screen that acts as your application's welcome window. Use this option to open a screen whenever the application starts.
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Learn More
For links to all pages in this topic, see Designing Screens.
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