Action Attribute

Currently in draft. Requires technical input from Eleanor and context input from Skevi.

This page is for application designers who want to configure actions.

Record-Action Concepts

To make changes to the data in a table use a record-action. Each record-action is a single operation that can happen to a record in the table. Record-actions can create, read, update or delete a record, so are sometimes called CRUD actions. To configure PhixFlow to perform several operations to the data record-actions directly to a table. Alternatively, to configure PhixFlow to perform several operations

in one table, add a list of record-actions to a table or to a table-action associated with the table.
in different tables, add a list of record-actions to an action that is not associated with a specific table. The record-actions affect the different tables.

An action/table-action can potentially run any of the record-actions in its list. To decide which record-action to run, create a rule associated with each record-action. When the rule evaluates to true, the record-action runs, making a change to the data in the table. See Record-Action and Record-Action Rule properties.

When you are creating a SIA for a stream, use the action attribute properties to add an expression that affects what an action does when applied to this specific stream's attribute.

Create a Micro-Action.
In the Basic Settings → Attributes to Update section there is a grid of attributes.
In the grid, double-click on a attribute.
PhixFlow opens the action attribute property tab.

Action Attribute Properties

This property tab is not available from the repository. It only opens from the Micro-Action properties.

For information about the properties toolbar, and about the sections Parent Details, Analysis Models, Description and Audit Summary, see Common Properties. We recommend you always add a Description that explains the purpose of the item you are creating.

For a full list of all the PhixFlow property tabs and windows, see Properties, Windows, Menus and Toolbars.

Basic Settings

Field Description

Order Enter the order in which the action attributes are evaluated.

Attribute Enter the name of the stream attribute that will be populated.

Expression

Enter an Expression to generate the new attribute value.

To refer to stream attributes, pipes and elements in the expression, use:

<attribute-name> to refer to the current value of the record you are about to update.
<pipe-name> to refer to lookup pipes on the same stream as the action. The pipe cannot reference _out variables directly. Not sure if this is related to the note about 7.6 or if its a general comment.
<dashboard-element-name> refers to selected records from other dashboard views using their dashboard element names.

Example

For example:

A dashboard element name is ACCTS.
In the dashboard, the user will select records in a grid view.
For the selected records, you want the action to sum the values in the amount attribute.

Enter an expression:

sum(ACCTS.amount)

You can also use the following prefixes:

_prompt.<form-field-name> to refer to fields from any user input form associated with this action
_form.<form-field-name> to refer to the current value displayed in a field on the form.
Example

In the screenshot below, the expressions use _form to refer to fields Unit Price, Quantity and VAT Percentage. The user sees these fields on a form.

_out.<attribute-name> to refer to the current value of an attribute in the action.
For example, in the screenshot above, you could refer to the value for the attribute ChargeAmount in VATAmount with the expression _out.ChargeAmount.
_context.<context-variable-name> refer to any context variable defined for this action.
_gridRow.<??> when the Filter Type is Edited Items this object contains a recordset pointing to an individual row that had been modified.

Messages

You can use the message functions in the expression. When the action runs, any messages are written to the system console and logs.

debug(message)
info(message)
warning(message)
error(message)
Note: this will stop the action from being completed for the current stream item. However, it will not stop the action from updating/ inserting other stream items.