Overview

An actionflow is a diagram in which you create the functionality of your application. An actionflow is made up of individual actions, or nodes, wired together. The actionflow is then wired onto the screen using connectors and attached to event handers on:

• a component such as a button or area
• a grid view component and its attributes
• a card component.

When the application user triggers an action with an event handler, PhixFlow processes the actionflow. 

Actionflows can affect data, for example by making changes to data records, such as update or delete. Actionflows can also move the application user through their task, by validating input or opening the next screen.

For example, a simple Contacts application would include a screen where the user enters details of a new contact. When the user clicks a "save" button, PhixFlow can run the actionflow to:

1. Check the input provided is appropriate.
2. Ask the user to confirm they want to add the contact.
3. Add the new contact record to the table.

This page explains actionflow concepts. For details of how to create an actionflow, and reference information about its properties see: Creating Actionflows.

Actionflow Page Layout

The  illustration shows the layout of an actionflow diagram. The central white area with blue outline represents the reusable part of the actionflow. The outer grey area with pink numbers represent items related to the actionflow instance only. The numbered areas are explained below:

1. Toolbar
   The toolbar is split into 3 sections:
   • Create
     Contains icons that you drag onto the actionflow canvas to create the different nodes, such as a calculate action.
     
   • List
     Clicking on these options will open the repository pane to display a list of all available items in the application and associated packages for the selected action node.
     The available options are actionflow, screen and table.
     
   • Canvas
     Contains canvas properties, such refresh, alignment and save. It will also take you to the actionflow help page.
     
2. Instance Origin
   The origin indicates the event that triggers the actionflow instance. It displays its location in a hierarchy showing:
   • the name of screen 
   • the name of the component, such as a button, grid or card component
   • the event type, such as a double-click.
3. Instance Options
   These options affect the entire actionflow instance, such as closing the screen after the action runs. 
4. Actionflow Phases
   Actionflows can be made up of multiple phases. The first phase will run automatically when the action is triggered. Any additional phases will only run when prompted to by a start phase node. See Using Actionflow Phases.
5. Instance Inputs
   The inputs to an actionflow for that actionflow instance:
   • Event starts the actionflow regardless of data. The actionflow always runs when triggered by the instance origin.
   • Data provides data to the actionflow. The data displayed belongs to the same screen or component as the event handler.  Data could be any data-bound component on a screen, including:
     • grid views
     • cards
     • forms
6. Input Interface
   There are 2 connection points to wire the actionflow instance inputs to the action nodes in the reusable actionflow:
   •  Driving interface connection point to provide data that the actionflow will process
   •  Lookup interface connection point to provide look-up data to the actionflow.
7. Actionflow Canvas
   The canvas represents the reusable actionflow. It contains actions, or nodes, that are wired together using connection points. Each action has a specific purpose. It can look-up data, processes data or pass data on unchanged. Data passes from one action to another via:
   
   • a  Driving connection to move data through the actionflow
   • a  Lookup connection to look-up data and use it in a calculation.
8. Output Interface
   There are  Driving interface connection point connection points to wire the reusable actionflow to the actionflow instance outputs.
9. Instance Outputs
   For an actionflow instance, connect to the specific data-bound components to which you want to send data when the actionflow has run. The instance outputs are similar to the instance inputs, without events. Data can be output to a data-bound component on a screen, including:
   • • grid views
     • cards
     • forms.

Actionflow Nodes

In an actionflow diagram, each smallest action that PhixFlow can perform is represented as a circle, called a node. Nodes can be:

• data interactions, such as save, delete, add
• data calls and calculations that connect to data views to look-up, use or process records
• screen interactions, for example to open or close screens in the application
• another actionflow, so that you can simplify an actionflow diagram by nesting complexity in nodes. You can also reuse common functionality as a single node; see Reusing Actionflows, below.
• gateways, which are decision points with logic to determine the path that PhixFlow takes next.

As you add action nodes to the actionflow, you wire the output connection point of one node to the input connection point on the next. In this way, you are create the logical steps needed to complete a specific piece of functionality. 

To learn more, see Using Actionflow Nodes. 

Reusing Actionflows

You can reuse an actionflow throughout your application. This means you only need to create one actionflow for functionality that occurs on different screens or layouts, such as to update records or to open a screen. You can also include an actionflow as a node within another actionflow.

For each instance of an actionflow, you specify the data that the actionflow uses by wiring into connection points. This means you can connect to attributes with any name, and changing the names of these attributes will not affect the actionflow.

To select an existing actionflow to reuse it, click  Actionflow next to any actionflow field to display a list of previously created actionflows. Drag the selected actionflow onto the actionflow field. The actionflow opens for you to specify the data the actionflow needs to use in that instance.

Reusability Example

The picture below shows an actionflow that validates the format of data to ensure it is a valid area code. Its input connection is called Area Code.

The actionflow is reused by two applications, shown on the left. The actionflow is owned by a package that is shared between the applications. Each application has separate data with different fields. The actionflow takes data from:

• Postcode data in the Contact App
• Zip Code in the Asset Manager App. 

This shows that an actionflow can take its input from an attribute with any name. It also illustrates the 2 instances of the actionflow:

• Instance 1 is the actionflow with input from Postcode 
• Instance 2 is the actionflow with input from Zip Code

As actionflows are reusable, you:

• create an actionflow, setting up all the nodes, wires and the logic
• use and actionflow, connecting it to screen components, events and data, thin mapping the data through the actionflow.

What's next?