This page is is for application designers who need to create forms. It explains techniques for associating text with a data field, to label a field.

Overview

There are several ways that you can label fields on a screen. You can use:

a static text component to display text
- that you have entered
- populated with the name of a selected attribute.
a dynamic text component linked to the attribute in a grid.
As an application users selects records in the grid, the dynamic text field updates.
placeholder text.

When you are designing a form, first add a form component. The form component is the container for all the data fields and labels; see Understanding Components and Layouts. You bind the form component to a stream or view; Showing Data on a Screen. This tells PhixFlow what attributes are available to display in data fields or labels.

Sections on this page

Opening the List of Attributes

To open the list of available attributes for a form component:

either right-click on the form in the dashboard and select Show Attributes
or open the properties tab for a stream or view and expand the Attributes section.

Creating a Form

There are two ways to design a form for a screen.

From a list of attributes, drag an attribute onto a form component. PhixFlow adds a default labelled field that matches the data type of the attribute; see Showing Data on a Screen.
Drag field components individually from the palette, as follows:

In the dashboard toolbar, click the Palette icon.
Expand a palette that has field or labelled field components, such as:
- Basic Components
- Labelled Fields
- Theme 1 - App Builder Base Components
- Theme 2 - App Builder Base Components
Drag components onto a form container.

Field or labelled fields must match the data type of the attribute that it will display.
Enter a name so that PhixFlow can save the component to the repository.

Adding a Static Text Label

Enter Your Own Text

Static text components display the text entered in their Display Text property.

From the palette, drag a static text field component onto the dashboard.
If this is a label for a data field, optionally group the data field and the static text field together; see Grouping Components.
In the properties, in Basic Settings → Display Text, enter the fixed text you want to appear and save your changes.

To change a fixed text label:

Click on the label to select it.
If the label is a composite component, click on the data field, then click again to select its label.
PhixFlow displays the static text properties. Edit Basic Settings → Display Text and save your changes.

Basic Components: individual data field and text components

Labelled fields: a composite component comprising a data field and a static text field

Use the Attribute Name

When designing a dashboard, you may want a field to have a label that indicates the data being displayed. Where the attribute name is a good reflection of it's data, you can use this to add a label. For example, an attribute called Name has company name data:

To create a label from an attribute:

Open the list of available attributes.
Drag an attribute onto a form container on the dashboard.
PhixFlow adds a labelled field to the form.

A labelled field is a composite component that includes:

a static text field, with properties → Basic Settings:
- Name is Label
- Display Text is the name of the attribute.
a data field that displays data from the attribute.

For information about composite components, see Grouping Components.

The default component to use when you drag attributes onto a dashboard are set in the Application properties or in System Configuration.

Adding a Dynamic Text Label

PhixFlow matches a dynamic text component to an attribute by matching their names. This is shown in the following illustration.

Illustration

A dashboard has a form container that includes a dynamic text field component that looks like this:

Dynamic text field showing the business name

The dynamic text field displays the attribute Name from the selected record in a grid. In the dashboard below, the first record, for the business Avaveo, is selected.

Dashboard with grid (top) and form (below)

Both the data grid and the form are bound to a stream called Business, which includes the attribute called Name.

Stream that is bound to the grid and the form

In the dynamic text field properties, the Name property is set to Name. PhixFlow recognises that Name is an attribute. This creates a link between the dynamic text field and the attribute.

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Setting Place Holder Text

Place holder text can be used to display a message to communicate information to the user. The value can be set manually or set to match the form field label.

Select the Form Field on the dashboard.
In the properties window on the right:
1. Type a value in the Place Holder Text field to manually set a value.
2. Tick Use Field Name as Place Holder to use the name of the field as the place holder text.

Advanced Editing

In addition to a label, you may want additional text below the field. For example you might want to add

static text, to explain what the user can do.
dynamic text that depends on selected data.

In a basic components palette, such as Basic Components, drag a Static Text or Dynamic Text layout onto a form area.
Right-click the new field and select Find. In the layouts list, find the container for the fields and double-click it to open its properties.
In the Advanced section, the View Type is Field container. Expand the drop-down list and select the empty row. Save the container component. This "opens" the container so you can add more components to it.
In the layouts list, shift-click and drag the new component into the container. PhixFlow moves your component to be a child of the container component.
Important: Open the field container properties again and reset Advanced →View Type to Field container. All child components are now contained within the parent, which is also a composite component.

Additional Reading

Showing Data on a Screen

Labelling Fields