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This page explains how to open a screen or create a new one, as well as how to add components to a screen.

Open an Existing Screen

  1. Click the Design menu item from the top menu screen Screen or in the repository, expand your application's Screens section.
  2. Double-click the desired Screen to open it.
  3. PhixFlow opens the Screen on the left.
  4. Right-click anywhere on the Screen to open the pop-up menu and select 
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  5. PhixFlow displays the toolbar for the screen indicating it is ready to edit.
  6. Click  Palette to display the palette on the right and you can begin editing the screen.


Add a New Screen

  1. Click the Design menu from the top menu screen Screen or in the repository, expand your application's Screens section.
  2. Click  Add New, PhixFlow opens the properties for a new Screen.  
  3. Enter a Name for the screen.
  4. Specify the setup for the screen such as should the screen open maximised or as a floating pop-up. These can be changed at a later time by accessing the screen properties from the toolbar.
  5. Here are some example setups: 
    • Pop-up screen: 
      • tick Always on top
      • tick Allow user to resize
      • Set Position to Floating and if desired set the other positional settings such as the size and location of the screen. 
    • Full-screen properties
      • tick Open Maximised
      • untick Always On Top
      • if you intend to make your own navigation or screen controls, untick Show Window Button Bar.
      • optionally, untick Allow user to resize
  6. (Recommended) Scroll down to the Description section and add a useful description.
  7. In the properties toolbar, click  Apply and Close.
  8. PhixFlow opens a new, unlocked, Screen canvas on the left.
  9. In the toolbar click  Palette to display the palette on the right and begin editing.

Unlocking and locking a Screen

Locking a screen will make it uneditable while it remains locked and displays the screen content as the end user will experience it. For example clicking a button will trigger its action and components such as a URL component will display their content. Unlocking a screen will make it editable again and allow you to update the layout.

To Unlock the canvas, right-click on the canvas and select

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To Lock the canvas, from the screen toolbar click on 

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Design Mode and Application Mode

When creating and editing applications we work in Design Mode. This provides us access to all the tools and options necessary to create powerful applications. To experience your application as the end user will, we switch to App Mode.

The option to toggle between modes is available in the top right corner of PhixFlow,  Design Mode and  Application Mode.


Using the Palette

The way a screen is made up of layered components is reflected in the way components are grouped in the palette. At the top level are the pre-built items, such as:

  • Complete Screens- drag in a single tile that has all the components to create a full screen. 
  • Form Elements - drag in several components or tiles to design your own screen. These have layers of components, such as an area with headers, fields and labels. 

If you want more control over the design of your screen, use partially prepared components:

  • Tile containers - drag these in to be the containers. Containers create distinct areas on the screen, with padding and margins so that child items can be automatically positioned.
  • Tiles - drag in composite components called tiles. 

If you want to go right back to the basic screen components and fields, use the last 2 palettes.

  • Base Components - build up the different things you want on the screen from the base up.
  • Data Components - add components designed to display data.

Creating Forms Easily

If your screen is going to be a form to display individual data records for a user to edit, it's easier to start with the data rather than creating lots of individual fields. The page see Showing Data on a Screen explains how to:

  1. Select the attributes you want to appear in a form. 
  2. Drag the attributes onto the parent container.
  3. Let PhixFlow create default form fields in which to display data records.

If you have already created form fields fields, they are displayed with a broken link icon. Drag on attributes to bind them to the field.

For your selected template, PhixFlow displays a palette. This has all the components you need to build a screen.

The easiest way to move components around is in the layers panel, rather than in the screen itself. This means you can be specific about how the component relates to other components on the screen.  In the layers panel you can drag a component:

  • into another component, creating a parent-child relationship 
  • next to another component, creating a sibling relationship.

If you are using PhixFlow's palette, most components will resize into the space that is available to them; see Using Size and Position for Responsive Design.


Screen Design and Layers :

A typical screen has a nested structure, in which the main areas are the parents for other components. This structure, combined with appropriate styling, can create a responsive design that can adapt to both desktop and mobile devices. The nested structure is illustrated below:

Another way to show these layers is as a heirarchy. For example:
Screen
Controls area
Menu 1
Menu 2
Main area
Header
Tile container area
Sub-header
Tile Body
Area 1
Grid
Area 2
Form
Button Bar
Footer area
Button 1
Button 2

To show the parent/child hierarchy for a screen, click  Show/Hide Layer Panel. There is an example on the right.

You can

  • Select something on your screen to see it/them highlighted in the layers list.
    • Selected items outlined in blue
    • Parent item outlined in orange.
  • In the layers panel, drag components around to change their position on the screen. 
See Also


Where Can I Drop This?

Whenever you start to drag a component from the palette, or an attribute, PhixFlow highlights the area onto which you can drop something using light blue, as shown below.


Testing Screens

To test an application screen, click  Application Mode to interact with the screen as if you are an application user.

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