Why Use Theme 2?
Theme 2 offers a subtle, contemporary look and feel, with minimalist grey tones and a flourish of colour that can be easily configured to suit your design needs. The flourish of colour can be updated to suite your own design needs as can the logos used; this is all achieved by updating the styles and icons used in the theme.
The Theme 2 palettes are designed to be easy to use. It has the flexibility to fit your application requirements, from data grids to integrated maps.
The Theme 2 provides a responsive layout right out of the box, meaning that your application can adapt to the form factor of the device on which it is being viewed. This is achieved using a tiles. The tiles contain all of the application content and can be resized proportionally to one another depending on the content. So, for example, a tile is larger for a data entry form and smaller for a map.
We recommend using Theme 2 because it provides more functionality than Theme 1 or the standard palettes. It has more flexibility and is even easier to use. We’ve also included a set of the example dashboards that you can use to see how the tiles work in a dashboard. You can find the example dashboards in the PhixFlow repository → Packages → Theme 2.
What Does it Look Like on a GUI Screen?
To see what a screen designed using Theme 2 looks like, go to the repository → Packages → Theme. Open the T2 - Example Dashboard.
When you first open the dashboard there is no data. To generate the data click the Generate Data button. This adds test data for you to interact with. For example, you can add comments or update employee records. To reset the data back to its original state, simply click the Clear Data button, follow the prompts and then click Generate Data.
The T2 – Example Dashboard includes:
- windows controls
- main content, which includes:
- a header
- a tile with:
- a grid, filter buttons and an editable company field.
- icon tabs, for embedded comments. These also use the horizontal and vertical splitters.
- tabs containing:
- a CRUD form for data entry
- a set of graphs on a split area.
- an embedded video
- a tile with a map for an integrated google map.
The Theme 2 package also has the following example dashboards.
- Splash screen: can be configured to open other dashboards and provide a pleasant landing page for users.
- Popup: for data entry, providing additional information or anything that requires an additional dashboard to show.
- Confirm: a simple screen to show a custom message such as confirming an action.
How Do I Install Theme 2?
First check your palette. Your administrator may already have installed Theme 2 when setting up your PhixFlow installation. If you need to install Theme 2, it is provided as a package which you can download from Installing Packages.
What Palettes Use Theme 2?
Theme 2 is made up of 3 palettes:
- Base Components:
These are like the basic lego blocks from which all screens are created. They have minimal styling and can be used to create to create your own layout components or palette tiles. They include the attribute fields that allow users to create, review, update and /or delete (CRUD) records. - App Builder
These are preconfigured layout components. If Theme 2 - Base Components contains the basic lego blocks, these components are made up of several blocks already fixed together for you. Each component is something you commonly need in the GUI of an application. For example, you often need a CRUD form to update data tables. You may want users to add comments or notes to specific records. The Tiles in the Theme 2 - App Builder pallete make creating your own apps much easier and quicker, as it gives you ready-made screen components. - Buttons: This section provides you with a host of preconfigured buttons that can be used in your applications. These include simple action buttons with an icon, an embedded button with a field that auto generates an email and a filter button which shows the number of records for that filter.
All Theme 2 components have a consistent look and feel, so that your applications will look stylish and professional with minimal effort.
Remember, you can see Theme 2 in action in the example dashboards. You can find these in the repository → Packages → Theme 2→ T2 - Example Dashboard.
How do I Use Theme 2:
GUI Screen Structure
Before we look in more detail at the layout components in Theme 2, it helps to understand the levels of structure in typical GUI screen, as shown in the following picture.
Using Complete Forms
Theme 2 contains complete forms that can be added directly to a dashboard. You can find these in the Theme 2 – App Builder palette.
- Splash Screen is useful as a landing page for an application.
- Form Complete has all the elements for a standard dashboard in one tile.
- Form Content - Complete is similar to the Form Complete but it excludes the windows controls.
- Form Content - Empty provides a blank canvas to which you can add your own form design.
- Form Popout - Complete is standalone dashboard for data entry or to display more information in a smaller window.
- Form Confirmation is the smallest of the complete dashboards. it is designed for binary options, “Cancel” or “Confirm”, “Yes” or “No”. It provides a means of styling the messaging.
- Comments Complete is designed as a comments form. It can be added to its own dashboard panel or directly into a tile.
Using Constituent Components
If you want to tailor your form layouts, Theme 2 also provides parts of forms that you can combine easily into your own design.
- Windows Controls
- Primary Controls consist of the top-level navigation for the application.
- Secondary Controls handle the operation of the window, such as closing it. You could also use this for additional controls that an administrator could use.
- Windows Buttons provides CRUD buttons in a button bar area. These apply actions at the window level. This button bar is intended to be added at the footer of a window.
- Header for main sections in your screen. The header contains both static text for you to enter and dynamic text that can be driven from the data backing the form.
- Tile Container has controls for the layout of all tiles on a dashboard. All tiles must be placed in this container to provide a responsive application.
- Tile is the building block of Theme 2. Tiles are designed to contain layout components for an application. Each tile consists of:
- Tile Header to appear at the top of tile. It acts as a secondary section header.
- Tile Body holds the main content such as a data grid.
- Tile Buttons is the action button bar for the bottom of the tile.
- Tabs Tiles let you create tabbed forms with any number of tabs. tabs can have:
- headers, with an icon, header, and subtext.
- an icon, rather than a header.
- Tile Map & Tile Map Directions is preconfigured with an integrated Google map. All you need to add is the Google Map Key API.
- Resizable has drag-handles so that a user can resize the tile in application.
- Expanding Tiles can automatically expand to accommodate additional content that is only required occasionally. For example users can expand the tile to see more options.
- Comments This is a preconfigured card component designed specifically for adding comments.
Theme 2 also include separate palettes for
- Base Components the building blocks from which all of the layout components and tiles are made. These include fields and date pickers.
- Buttons are described in a separate video.
How do I Rearrange Components?
There are several reasons why you may want to move things around in your dashboard.
- you need to find a layout component
- you want to see how a component is constructed
- you have added an item in the wrong place and want to move it.
It is much easier to move components within the repository, where you can see the contained/containing structure. Right-click a component and click View in Repository. PhixFlow opens the repository tab with the current component selected. You can see how the component fits into the structure. To move a component, drag it to the desired position.
When you drag a component in the repoistory, it moves the component to the drop position in the hierarchy and on the dashboard.
To move a component down a level, so that it is contained by another component, SHIFT+drag the component. It is added to the component at the drop position and is moved into the component on the dashboard.
Rather than dragging components and tiles from the palette to the dashboard, you can drag them directly into the repository to add them to the dashboard.