This page is for application designers who want to define a process using a workflow diagram, and then connect elements of the diagram to PhixFlow dashboards and actions in an application. This page describes properties

Overview

An actionflow diagram is made up of a series of nodes. Each node represents a specific action. By configuring different actions and wiring them together you can create complex functionality. This section describes the properties of the different action nodes. This page has the properties for the following nodes:

Save
Gateway
Open Screen
Open URL
Lookups
- Request Query Lookup
- Driving Query Lookup

For details of the calculate node, see Calculate Action Nodes

Adding Action Nodes

Connection Points

Everything in an actionflow is connected using connection points. They are blue when connected and grey when not connected. Find all the possible connection points below.

Connection Point	Relevant to	Description
Interface Driving Connection Point	Input Interface Output Interface	Defines the data attributes the actionflow is expecting as an input. This data is then used in the Actionflow using Driving connections and remains constant. Defines the data attributes the actionflow is expected to output. This data can then be mapped back onto components on the screen the action is being used. Each instance of the actionflow will map in its own set of data onto the expected data inputs/outputs of the connection point.
Interface Request Connection Point	Input Interface Output Interface	Defines the data (and events) the actionflow is expecting as an requested input. This data is then used in the actionflow using Lookup connections and remains constant. Each instance of the actionflow will map in its own set of data onto the expected data inputs.
Driving Output Connection Point	Input Data Components Calculate Error rendering macro 'excerpt-include' : No link could be created for '_action_view_driving'. Gateway Actionflow	A data source which drives the actionflow. Data is pushed through the actionflow using Driving connection's. Data flows from the Driving output connection point to the Driving input connection point. Has attributes which can be mapped to any Driving input connection point only.
Driving Input Connection Point	Output Data Components Calculate Error rendering macro 'excerpt-include' : No link could be created for '_action_view_driving'. Gateway Save Records Open Screen Open URL Run Analysis Gateway	A data receiver. Data is received from Driving connection's. Has attributes which can be mapped to any Driving output connection point only.
Request Output Connection Point	Input Data Components Error rendering macro 'excerpt-include' : No link could be created for '_action_view_request'.	Provides lookup data to the actionflow using Lookup connection's. Any node with a Lookup input connection point can perform a lookup to a node with a Lookup output connection point. Has request attributes and data attributes Request attributes are used in filtering. They are mapped to request attributes on the node performing the lookup. Request attributes are referenced in the nodes filter using req.[attributename] Data is flowing from the Lookup input connection point to the Lookup output connection point. Data attributes are mapped to data attributes on the node performing the lookup. These attributes are the actual data that is being returned from the lookup. Data is flowing from the Lookup output connection point to Lookup input connection point
Request Input Connection Point	Calculate Gateway	Performs a lookup to Lookup output connection point's. Has request attributes and data attributes Request attributes are used in filtering. They are mapped to request attributes on the node being looked up to. Attributes that need to be sent to the node in order to filter the data must be added as request attributes. Data is flowing from the Lookup input connection point to the Lookup output connection point. Data attributes are mapped to data attributes on the node being looked up to. These attributes are the actual data that is being received from the lookup. Data is flowing from the Lookup output connection point to Lookup input connection point

Action Nodes

The toolbar includes the following actions that you can drag onto the canvas.

Actions can be added to actionflows in 3 ways:

Drag actions from the create section in the toolbar
From existing action nodes
Users can create new actions from connections from existing actions.
Dragging the following items from the repository using
- List Screens
  Will create an Open Screen node.
- List Tables
  Will ask the user if they would like to create a Save Records node,
  Error rendering macro 'excerpt-include' : No link could be created for '_action_view_driving'.
  node or
  Error rendering macro 'excerpt-include' : No link could be created for '_action_view_request'.
  node.
- List Actionflows
  Will create an Actionflow node. Doesn't do this yet

Icon	Description	Connection Points	How to wire this action
Create
Actionflow	Add another complete actionflow as a node within this actionflow. This is useful to reuse existing actionflows, or to refactor a complex workflow by moving part of the logic to its own node.	Driving input connection point Driving output connection point Lookup input connection point	The input and output connection points of the actionflow node must be wired into the rest of the actionflow. Need to test to add detail
Screen	Add an action to open a specified dashboard (screen). Only use this action as the final node in an actionflow or branch of it.	Driving input connection point	Open screen nodes can be created with or without a screen attached. This is useful if the screen has not been created yet. Open screen nodes which do not have a screen attached appear with a warning symbol to remind users that this still needs to be configured. Each open screen node has 1 primary input connection point by default called 'in'. Connecting to this connection point simply opens the screen and cannot pass any data to it. Do we still need this? Once a screen has been attached to the open dashboard node an input connection point for each form on the screen is created. Each input connection point automatically has any data fields on the form (dynamic text or form fields) added as attributes. These attributes can be mapped to and supplied with data. Each input connection point has the following properties: Type This is always driving Open Mode update: opens form fields with the latest data (not clear, refresh) insert: opens the screen with form fields empty (clear, not refresh) change: opens form fields with data (not clear, not refresh) Role Primary: Simply opens the dashboard regardless of data Component: Opens the dashboard and can provide forms with data Attributes A list of attributes available on the input connection point. These directly link to the fields available on the form. Only component connection points have attributes. To set the actionflow to close the active dashboard on completion, on the top right of the canvas, tick Close Parent Dashboard.
Error rendering macro 'excerpt-include' : No link could be created for '_action_view_driving'.	Add a node for a data view. The actionflow uses views to grab additional data to use when processing stream-items.	Driving input connection point Driving output connection point	Connect a view node to the action node that needs to look-up data via the Lookup input connection point. A look-up connection has 2 parameters: data attribute: the attribute in the view from which you want to look-up data. For example, the view may have the attribute staff_number that you require. request attribute: the data returned by the look-up. This maps to an input on the destination point.
Error rendering macro 'excerpt-include' : No link could be created for '_action_view_request'.	Add a node for a data view. The actionflow uses views to look-up to additional data to use when processing stream-items.	Lookup output connection point
Calculate	Add an action to manipulate the data that is passed to the calculate action. In the calculate action, write an expression using one or more of the 115+ functions available in PhixFlow.	Driving input connection point Driving output connection point Lookup input connection point
Delete Records	Add an action to deletes the specified stream-items passed to the node.	Driving input connection point
Gateway	Add a node to specify decision logic. Gateways control the route that stream-items take as they flow through the actionflow.	Driving input connection point Driving output connection point Lookup input connection point
Save	Add a node to saves the specified stream-items to their stream.	Driving input connection point
Open URL	Add an action to open a specified URL.	Driving input connection point
Tap	tbc	Driving input connection point Driving output connection point
Task	tbc	Driving input connection point Driving output connection point
List
Actionflow	List actionflows available to your application.
Screen	List dashboards available to your application.
List Tables	List tables available to your application.

Properties

Parent Details

If this item is within or belongs to another, it's parent name is shown here. See the Common Properties page, Parent Details section for more details.

Basic Settings

Todo-Fiona - How do you specify the different types of gateway

Field	Description
Name	Enter the name for the action node.
Show in the Explorer	An application can have many actionflows, and an individual actionflow can have many actions. This can lead to many items being listed in the repository. Use this option to omit the action from the repository. Tick to display this action node in the repository. Untick to omit this action node from the repository.
Stream Item Action	Todo-Fiona- find out if this can be renamed to something else unless it really relates to existing stream item actions. Available for save actions. Select the specific change to make to the stream-items: Either: Todo-Fiona Insert: create a new stream-item in the stream. Update: change part of the stream-item in the stream. Delete: delete the stream-item from the stream. Todo-Fiona- check about delete node, Adam think sit may be going away. Terminology changes in progress As part of the redesign of PhixFlow, we are changing the following terms: dashboard → screen stream → table stream attributes → attributes stream item → record stream set → recordset stream view → view stream item action → record-action stream action → table-action driver class → database driver
Stream Name	Select the stream Todo-Fiona why isn't this identified by the parent of the attribute/stream-item?
Exclusive	Available for gateway actions. Tick Todo-Fiona Untick Todo-Fiona

Input Connection Points

This section has a toolbar with standard buttons. The grid contains a list of the wires that pass data into the action.

To edit an existing connection, double-click its name in the list.

To add a new

create a new attribute: click Add New and set its properties. Todo-Fiona- why would this be useful

Drag add an existing attribute to this list Todo-Fiona- is this possible??

To remove attributes, select one and click Delete

Calculate Action Expressions

Calculate actions process data using expressions; see pages in the topic Expressions and Scripts.

This section has a toolbar with standard buttons. The grid contains a list of the expressions that the calculate action will perform. To add a new expression:

Click Add New to open a new expression and set the properties.

To remove attributes, select one and click Permanently Delete. Todo-Fiona- check icon and label.

Output Connection Points

Todo-Fiona

Security Tab

Access Permissions

See the Common Properties page, Access Permissions section.

Access Permissions section is available for gateway actions.

Description

We recommend that you always enter a description to explain the purpose of this item.

Audit Tab

Audit Summary

See the Common Properties page, Audit Summary section.

Pop-up Toolbar