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This page is for application designers who need to configure functionality. It explains explains the properties you can set for table-actions. Insert excerpt_action_concepts_action_conceptsnopaneltrue

Creating Actions

To create an action:

Expand the repository branch for your application

Right-click on Actions and select Insert excerpt_add_addnopaneltrue.

Actions created this way appear in the repository in Actions. You can also export this type of action.

Optionally, you can also create an action that belongs to a stream. This option is available for backwards compatibility with applications designed with earlier versions of PhixFlow, that did not have micro-actions.

You can create actions on layout components, such as buttons. You can also create actions in grid cells that contain:

strings
numbers
dates or date-times
boolean true/false.

?? Once configured, an action can be dragged onto stream views associated with the Stream on which the Action is configured to create a set of Action Buttons which appear on the top of the Stream View. Actions can also be dragged into the menus belonging to an Application.

See Configuring Actions for related pages.

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The following fields are configured for actions:

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Overview

For applications created in version 9.0 or later, use Actionflows instead of table-actions; see Actionflows.

In PhixFlow version 8.3 or earlier use:

Record-Actions and Record-Action Rules to create, update or delete specific records
table-actions for other functionality, such as validation, messages, opening screens

Table-actions are usually associated with a table. In the repository, they are listed under the table name → Table Action section.

Table-actions can also provide functionality that is not related to data, such as opening a screen. Table-actions that are not bound to a table are listed in the repository under Table Action.

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Basic Settings

Field	Description
Name	Enter the name of the

actionWhen

Enter the name that will be used to display this action on a Stream View ??Where and why does a stream view display an action??

A stream view can have a default action set against it

stream , PhixFlow runs the default actionYou can configure the action behaviour based on the data in the record.

Enter the name for the default table-actions. PhixFlow displays this name on a view.

Progress Indicator Settings

Field	Description
Show progress indicator after (ms)	Enter the number of milliseconds which need to pass after the

action pop-up action the dashboard tickedticked dashboard

screen when it was opened. If the action/table-action specifies a new context parameter of the same name, the new context parameter will supersede the previous one.

Update Parent Context

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to not send any context parameter values to the

dashboard tickedticked dashboard

A grid listing the context parameters. Double-click to open the properties for a context parameter

Confirmation Message

FieldDescriptionAsk for Confirmation

If this flag is ticked, a message will pop up asking the user if they want to proceed with the action. By default, the message is:

Please confirm that you want to apply action Action Name

To provide a customised confirmation message, use the next field.

Confirmation MessageOptionally, enter your own text to display as the confirmation message. Use the toolbar to format the message. The maximum length for a message string is determined by System Configuration → System Tuning → Maximum Bigstring Size.

File Upload

FieldDescriptionFile Upload

If this flag is ticked, users will be prompted to browse to a file and select it for upload when they run this action.

Tag Expr.

An expression that sets the value of the tag for the file. You can use this tag in a file collector to read into PhixFlow files that the action has uploaded.

The tag expression can refer to:

any values entered on the Form View using:

Code Block
_prompt.<Form Field Name>

the values of any Context Parameters using:

Code Block
_context.<ContextParameter Name>

any attributes of any records selected on the view or dashboard from which the action was initiated using:

Code Block
<View name or alias>.<Attribute name or alias>

List of names of uploaded files can be accessed through _files variable.

Action Validation

FieldDescriptionValidation Expression

The validation expression is evaluated at the start of any Insert or Update actions. If the validation expression generates any error messages (using the error function) then the action is abandoned. The validation expression is not used to decide whether or not to run the selected task plan.

The validation expression can include multiple statements by wrapping them in a do() clause. A number of internal variables are available in these expressions:

_this: A reference to all the selected records within the view to perform the action on.
_prompt: A reference to all the user prompted action attributes.

The usual message functions debug(message), info(message), warning(message), and error(message) are all available to be used in these expressions and will result in messages being written to the system console logs.

Be careful when using the error(message) function - this will stop the action from being completed.

Example 1

Validate that the sum of the selected record amounts equate to zero before allowing the action to be executed.

Code Block
if(sum(_this.amount) == 0, info('OK'), error('Not performing Action as the Sum does not equate to zero'))

Example 2

Validate that the user entered comment is at least 10 characters long, else write a warning to the log.

Code Block
if(stringLength(_prompt.UserComment) >= 10, info('OK'), warning('Comment should be at least 10 characters'))

Using values from other views

You can also refer to records selected in other dashboard views by using their dashboard element names. E.g. if the dashboard also contains a view with database element name ACCTS, you could use the following in your validation expression:

Code Blockif(sum(ACCTS.amount)

The grid contains a list of context parameters that affect whether or not the action/table-action runs.

To edit the properties of a context parameter, double-click its name. To add a record-action to the list, click

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. PhixFlow opens the Context Parameter properties tab.

To remove a context parameter from the action/table-action, select it and click

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in the toolbar.

Confirmation Message

Field Description

Ask for Confirmation

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to run an action/table-action without requesting user confirmation.

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when a user triggers an action/table-action, PhixFlow displays a popup message asking them to confirm. By default, the message is:

Please confirm that you want to apply action Action Name

To provide a customised confirmation message, use the Confirmation Message property.

Confirmation Message Optionally, enter your own text to display as the confirmation message. Use the text formatting toolbar to format the message. The maximum length for a message string is determined by System Configuration → System Tuning → Maximum Bigstring Size.

File Upload

Field Description

File Upload

Use this property for an action/table-action that will upload a file.

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to prompt the user to browse to and select the file they want to upload.

Tag Expr.

Enter an expression that sets the value of the tag for the file. You can use this tag in a file collector to read into PhixFlow files that the table-action has uploaded.

The tag expression can refer to:

any values entered on the Form View using: _prompt.<Form Field Name>

the values of any Context Parameters using: _context.<ContextParameter Name>

any attributes of any records selected on the view or screen from which the table-action was initiated using: <View name or alias>.<Attribute name or alias>

You can return a list of the names of uploaded files using the _files variable.

Action Validation

Field Description

Validation Expression

Enter a validation expression. This expression is evaluated at the start of any Insert or Update table-actions or record-actions. If the validation expression generates any error messages (using the error function) then the action is abandoned. The validation expression is not used to decide whether or not to run the selected task plan.

The validation expression can include multiple statements by wrapping them in a do() clause. A number of internal variables are available in these expressions:

_this: a reference to all the selected records within the view to perform the table-action.
_prompt: a reference to all the user prompted table-action attributes.

The usual message functions debug(message), info(message), warning(message), and error(message) are all available to be used in these expressions and will result in messages being written to the system console logs.

Note
Be careful when using the error(message) function. When the action/table-action generates an error message it stops running, so does not complete.

Example 1

Validate that the sum of the selected record amounts equate to zero before allowing the action/table-action to be executed.

Code Block
if(sum(_this.amount) == 0, info('OK'), error('

Error as ACCTS Sum does not equate to zero'))

Action Rules

When the action runs, PhixFlow

A list of rules that determine which of the listed Stream Item Actions will run.

Not performing Action as the Sum does not equate to zero'))

Example 2

Validate that the user entered comment is at least 10 characters long, else write a warning to the log.

Code Block
if(stringLength(_prompt.UserComment) >= 10, info('OK'), warning('Comment should be at least 10 characters'))

Using values from other views

You can also refer to records selected in other views by using their screen zone names. E.g. if the screen also contains a screen zone name ACCTS that is bound to a view, you could use the following in your validation expression:

Code Block
if(sum(ACCTS.amount) == 0, info('OK'), error('Error as ACCTS Sum does not equate to zero'))

Record-Action Rules

The grid contains a list of rules that determine whether or not a record-action runs.

To edit the properties of a context parameter, double-click its name. To add a record-action to the list, click

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. PhixFlow opens the Context Parameter properties tab.

To remove a context parameter from the record-action, select it and click

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in the toolbar.

A record-action is the CRUD action that can operate on a data record. The rules listed here determine whether or not a record-action runs.

When the record-action runs, PhixFlow uses this list of rules to determine which of the listed record-actions; see Record-Action and Record-Action Rule.

Double-click a rule to open its properties and specify rule details and attributes

: see Stream Item Action RuleStream stream

table.
Name: The rule name.
Expression: If this expression evaluates to true, this record-action will be run. A blank (null) expression counts as true.

When the record-action runs, PhixFlow evaluates the record-action rules in order. For each record-action rule that evaluates to true, PhixFlow will run that record-action.

Note
The action type of the first record-action rule is overwritten if the button that initiates the action has both an Action Type and an Action; see

LayoutLayoutLayouttickedticked reference any context parameter.Task Plan RulesThis section has a toolbar with standard buttons and Insert excerpt_taskplan_show_taskplan_shownopaneltrue

reference any context parameter.

Task Plan Rules

The grid contains a list of task plans and their associated expression. The expression is the rule to determine whether the task plan runs.

To add a task plan to the list:

Click
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to list all the task plans in the repository.
Drag task plans into this list.

To remove a task plan, use the toolbar button

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.

To add an expression, double-click the task plan in the grid to open a task plan rule property tab.

The first task plan whose expression evaluates to true will be run. Only this task plan will be run. If none of the expressions evaluates to true, no task plan will be run.

Double-click a task plan rule to specify:

Order: The order in which the rules are evaluated.
Task Plan: The task plan that will be run if the accompanying expression evaluates to true.
Expression: If this expression evaluates to true, this task plan will be run. A blank (null) expression counts as true.

See Task Plans for details.

Action Completion

Field	Description
Close Parent

Dashboard dashboard Dashboard dashboard dashboard Dashboard Rules dashboard Context Parameters dashboard dashboard Action evaluating Form Context Parameters Records dashboard Dashboard Dashboard Dashboard dashboards dashboard dashboard dashboard dashboard dashboard Dashboard dashboard dashboard

screen will be opened once the action/table-action has completed. A blank (null) expression counts as true.

Result

Field

Description

Result includes Warnings

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to report the result in a message without any information about warnings. You can view the warnings in the console.

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to include warning messages generated by the action/table-action to be listed in the result message.

Result includes Errors

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to report the result in a message without including any information about errors. You can view error messages in the console.

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to include error messages generated by the action/table-action to be listed in the result message.

Result Message Timeout (s)

Optionally, specify the number of seconds that the result message is displayed to the user.

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Result Message

Enter the text for a message that PhixFlow will display when the action/table-action has completed. Use the toolbar to format the message. You can use the message to notify the user of a summary of the action, or the to provide information about the completed state.

You can

include expressions

include expressions within the message by enclosing each expression in curly brackets { } . PhixFlow evaluates each expression in turn before displaying the message.

For result messages that report on the status of the action/table-action, you can use the following internal variables in the expressions:

_error: Details of the error messages generated.
_errors: The number of error messages generated.
_warning: Details of the warning messages generated.
_warnings: The number of warning messages generated.
_messages: The number of warning messages generated.
_taskPlan: The name of the

Task Plan Action Stream Action Action Action Action

action/table-action.

Code Block

title	Example message showing the number of errors and warnings

Action {_action} failed with {_errors} errors and {_warnings} warnings.

You can also use context parameters and values to report different messages. For example, if you have a context parameter (called balance) that calculates the outstanding balance, you can use an expression that reports different messages depending on the calculated value.

Code Block

title	Example of different messages around a threshold value

{if(_context.balance < 0,"Money still owed", "Balance paid")}

Access Permissions

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

Advanced

Field

Description

Prevent Parallel Processing

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so that a user can run this action/table-action multiple times, even if the previous run has not completed.

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so that a single user cannot run this action/table-action more than once at the same time. For example, if a user has started this action, they will not be able to start it again until the first action/table-action has finished.

Wait for Selection

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so that the action/table-action can run immediately. Only untick this check box if your action does not depend on any data or context parameters from the

dashboardtickedticked dashboard stream

view to which this action/table-action will apply.

Form View

You can specify a form view to appear when the user starts the action/table-action. They will be able to enter values on this form view, and the values can be used to update selected records for an update action, or populate fields for an insert action.

Select a form view

either from the drop-down list of all forms views in PhixFlow
or click
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streamstream streams stream

table into this field.

Values entered in the form view are referenced in expressions in the table-action with the form.

Code Block
_prompt.<form field name>

For example, if there is a field on the form with the label Name, then the value entered in that field by the user can be referenced in subsequent expressions as

Code Block
_prompt.Name

If this is an update table-action, then the form will be pre-populated with the values from the selected record. Where multiple records are selected, then only those values which are common to all the selected records will be displayed. For insert table-action, when the form pops up all fields will be blank.

Additional Properties for Update or Delete Table-Actions

Field	Description
Maximum Items Expr.	This field appears if the update table-action selected is Update or Delete. The expressions entered here must evaluate to a positive whole number. The expression can reference any fields entered on the

Form View dashboard Context Parameters

context parameters configured for this table-action. If the number of items selected on the view from which this table-action is initiated, or retrieved by the filter configured on this table-action, is greater than this number then an error message will be generated and no updates or deletes will take place.
Minimum Items Expr.	This field appears if the update table-action selected is Update or Delete. The expression entered here must evaluate to a positive whole number. The expression can reference any fields entered on the Form View associated with this table-action, any attributes of any records selected on the view or

dashboard deletes will take place.

deletes will take place.

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Using Variables in Expressions

In table-actions, the _form, _grid and _gridRow act on a specific record. The record depends on the structure of layout components on the

dashboardStream view directly dashboard dashboardstream view on a formform on a cardgrid on a card_form acts

card

_form acts on the record

currently selected in the view

currently displayed on the form

currently displayed on the card

backing the card

_grid acts on the record currently selected in

the view

currently displayed on the form

currently displayed on the formcurrently displayed on the card
backing the card_grid acts on the recordcurrently selected in the viewcurrently selected in the view_gridRow acts on the recordcurrent record

the view	currently selected in the view
`_gridRow` acts on the record	current record

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Learn More

Table-Actions (Legacy)

Version	Old Version 85	New Version Current
Changes made by	Fiona Sargeant	Zoe Baldwin
Saved on	Apr 27, 2020	Aug 12, 2024

table-actions is submitted before PhixFlow displays a progress indicator.
In Progress Message	Enter a message that you want the user to see with the progress indicator. If not specified, PhixFlow displays a default progress message.
In Progress Popup Message	Enter a message to display in a

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Creating Actions

Overview

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Basic Settings

Progress Indicator Settings

Context Parameters

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File Upload

Action Validation

Confirmation Message

File Upload

Action Validation

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Record-Action Rules

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Using Variables in Expressions

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Overview

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Context Parameters

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File Upload

Action Validation

Confirmation Message

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Action Validation

Action Rules

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Action Completion

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Access Permissions

Advanced

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Using Variables in Expressions

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