Layout Properties

Each layout component has the following properties. Some properties are only available for some types of component.

For information about the properties toolbar, and about the sections Parent Details, Analysis Models, Description and Audit Summary, see Common Properties.  For a full list of all the PhixFlow property tabs and windows, see Property Tabs.

Field	Description
Name	Enter the name of the component.
Allow Empty Row	Available for drop-down list components.  Tick to allow empty rows in the drop-down list.
Cache Data	This field is only available if the layout component is a drop-down list.  Tick to cache the data in the field after it is loaded for the first time.
Parent	Available for button components. PhixFlow displays the name for the parent component.
Action Type	Available for button components. Select one of the following action types that will run when the user clicks the button. General Insert Clear All Fields Update Delete Alternative, use the Action field, below, to specify an action in which you can configure more details.
We recommend that you use either an Action Type or an Action, not both. If you specify both, the Action Type overwrites the type of the first stream item action rule that is configured in the action properties. The rest of the stream item action rule configuration remains the same. For example: A button Action Type is Update. Its Action has 3 stream item action rules, to: insert  insert update. When the user clicks the button, PhixFlow runs the stream item action rules in turn, but runs the actions update insert update Only the first insert stream item action rule type is replaced by the update type specified in the Action Type.
Action	Available for button components. Select the action to run when a user clicks the button. The drop-down list shows the actions available in the repository.
Snap Grid Size	Available for the following types of layout component: form area tab header tab display area labeled number field labeled date field labeled date-time field labeled drop-down field labeled true/false field. Enter the grid size to use when components are snapped to the grid.
Composite Component	Tick to indicate this component is part of a composite component.
Stream Name	Available for the following types of component: form area card container labeled number field labeled date field labeled date-time field labeled drop-down field labeled true/false field. Select the stream that backs the layout component.
Display Text	Available for static text field components. Enter the text you want to display on the layout component. By default this field is an expression editor. For options to format the display text as HTML, tick Use HTML Formatting.
Use HTML Formatting	Available for static text field components.  Tick to change the Display Text field from an expression editor to an HTML editor. You can then use the toolbar to apply HTML formatting to the text.
Default Value	Available for the following types of layout component: true/false field date field date-time field number field string field dynamic text. Select or enter a value to display in the field. PhixFlow uses this value if: an action opens the dashboard to which this layout component belongs and there are no context parameters or form mappings to populate this field.
Date/Time Format	Available for the following types of layout component: date field date-time field dynamic text drop-down field. Select the format in which to display the date or date time value.
Number Format	Available for the following types of layout component: number field dynamic text drop-down field. Select the format in which to display the number value.
Type	Available for dynamic text and drop-down components Select one of the data types: String Integer Float Date Datetime HTML The data type determines how the selected data will be formatted. Integer or Float must have a number format Date or Datetime must have a date-time format.
Decimal Places	Available for dynamic text components. Enter the number of decimal places to display for numbers.
URL	Available for URL display components. Specify the URL that you want to be displayed.
Expression	Available for URL display components. Enter an expression which, if true, determines the URL.
Multi-line	Tick to allow the text to wrap over 2 lines.
The following options are only available for date, date-time, number, string and drop-down fields.
Use Field Name as Place Holder	Tick to automatically use the field name as the placeholder text in the empty field.
Place Holder Text	Enter text that PhixFlow will display when the input field is empty. Placeholder text is shown slightly greyed out to distinguish it from text that: either is entered by the user or is read-only text.
The following options are only available for a stream view or a card container.
Parent	The name of the form or area that this component is a part of.
Display Name	Enter a name to be displayed as the heading for this component. If no display name is set, the file name for the layout component is displayed.
Stream View Name	Select the stream view that backs this card container or form. This means you can have aggregated data in the background filter of the card container or form.
Select First Row By Default	Tick to automatically select the first grid row or card when the dashboard is opened.
Refresh If Not Active	Tick to refresh the data in the component even if the parent dashboard is not active. Use this option if a user selection elsewhere in the application can affect the data in this component.  Error rendering macro 'excerpt-include' : No link could be created for '_check_box_unticked'.  to refresh the data in the component when the dashboard becomes active.
Show Paging Bar	Tick to display the paging bar by default.
Default Page Size	Available for card components. Specify the number of cards to be displayed. If not specified, PhixFlow uses the default page size set in System Configuration.
Use Custom Data Range	Untick to use the default data range, which is set in the Stream → Basic Settings → Data Range property. It determines whether this layout component displays data records from: either all stream sets or the latests stream set only.  Tick to override the setting in the backing stream. PhixFlow shows the Data Range property.
Data Range	Available when Use Custom Data Range is ticked. Select which stream set data is displayed. Latest: displays the records from the latest stream set only. Recommended when stream sets are updated by batch process, and therefore have a Period of Daily or Monthly.  All: displays the records from all stream sets. Recommended when stream sets are updated incrementally and therefore have a Period of Transactional or Variable. This value is used instead of the data range specified on the backing stream.
Offset Periods	Specify an offset.
Use Custom Default Filter	Tick to display the Default Filter field.
Default Filter	This field is available when Use Custom Default Filter is ticked. Select or add a filter. This overrides any default filter set in the original view.
Default Action	Select an action to run when a grid row or card is double-clicked
Drag Type	Select or add a drag type to use when the user drags a grid row or card; see Drag Types and Drop Targets.
Default Sort Order	Select or add a default order in which data will be displayed; see Stream View Sort Order.

Background Filter Rules

For stream view components and card containers there is a section to specify a background filter that PhixFlow applies to the stream data before it is displayed in the component.

Kanban Board 

This section is available when the Advanced → Type is Cards.

Kanban boards display data records as cards in columns, with headings. The columns usually represent the status of the record. When a Kanban application user drags a card from one column to another, the default kanban drag action automatically updates these attributes to match those of the target column.

Example: a stream may record information about status using the attributes StatusID and StatusName.

Table 1: Example stream attributes for a kanban board

Use the following properties to set the columns and headers for the kanban board.  To specify the styles for the kanban board columns and headings, see Layout#Style Settings, below.

Background Filter Rules

For stream view components and card containers there is a section to specify a background filter that PhixFlow applies to the stream data before it is displayed in the component.

Style Settings

Select formatting properties for the current layout component. The Style Settings properties are the same as those that you can set in a Style, except for those related to kanban boards. These options construct CSS styling for the layout component; see w3schools.com CSS for details of CSS. If the formatting you require is not available in this section, you can also create custom styling, see CSS Properties. PhixFlow applies the style to the layout component when you save changes to the properties tab.

CSS Properties

A list of CSS properties. Click  Add to add a new CSS style; see CSS Properties.

Shared Styles

A list of shared styles. Click Show the List of Styles to see the styles available in the repository. You can drag styles from the repository into the grid to add a shared style to this component.

Formatting Rules

A list of rules about when to apply formatting. Click  Add to add a new rule; see Formatting Rule.

Position Settings

Field	Description
Order	The order of the layout component.
Tab Index	The order of the tab.
Width	The width of the component; https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/pr_dim_width.asp
Height	The height of the component; https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/pr_dim_height.asp
Top	The top of the component; https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/pr_pos_top.asp
Left	The left of the component; https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/pr_pos_left.asp
Right	The right of the component; https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/pr_pos_right.asp
Bottom	The bottom of the component; https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/pr_pos_bottom.asp
Prevent Dragging	Tick to prevent a component from being dragged or resized when a dashboard is in edit mode.  This means you cannot accidentally move a component that you want to stay in a fixed position, such as a header or footer.

Mappings

This section is only available for layout components that can have actions, such as buttons, stream views and cards. This means you can map attributes that have different names. PhixFlow will evaluate all the mapped datasets when it runs the action.

Advanced

Description

Creating Background Filters Within a Layout 

As well as using the properties tab to set up background filters, you can apply them within an unlocked dashboard or layout that contains a grid view.

In the layout, drag the column header from a grid view onto a form or card. This creates a background filter using the backing stream attribute. When you then select a different row in the grid view, the contents of the form or card is updated to show the details for the selected row.

If the backing stream data no longer contains an attribute that appears as a column header in the grid view, PhixFlow prompts you to select an alternative attribute of the same type, if one is available. If the backing stream has no attributes of the same type, PhixFlow reports and error. 

Palettes and Layouts

The format of layouts created using components from palettes can be affected by the availability of the default palette. In   Design Mode , when you drag stream attributes onto a layout or area. If the component is from a palette from a different application

• If the container application that contains the layout is running, PhixFlow uses the default palette set for the application.
• If the container application is not running, PhixFlow uses the default palette set for the area.
• If the container application is not running, but you are dragging stream attributes into a layout for a different (destination) application, which is running, then PhixFlow uses the default palette for the destination application.

In all cases, if no palette has been set for the application or area, PhixFlow falls back to using the system default palette.

Understanding Kanban Boards

A kanban board is a project tracking tool that shows work at various stages of a process. Each column represents a stage in the process. Each piece of work is represented by a card. 

Card components have properties so that you can easily create kanban boards. In the Layout → Kanban Board section, select an attribute from the backing stream to define kanban columns, and optionally their headings. PhixFlow creates one card for each record in the stream data, and displays it in the appropriate column. To define the styles for the columns and headings, use the options in Layout → Style Settings.

There are two ways to move cards to different columns.

• Either update the backing stream data. When you refresh the kanban board, PhixFlow automatically moves the cards to the columns that reflect their stage in the process.
• Or drag a card from one column to another. PhixFlow automatically updates the values of its kanban attributes to reflect the target column. 

Example

The backing stream for a layout has the attribute Status, which can have the values:

• Not started
• In progress
• Blocked
• Done

PhixFlow uses these values to create 4 columns, and uses the status values as the headings. Each data record is displayed as a card. The Status attribute determines which column the card is in. You can drag a card between columns, for example from Not started to In progress. In the backing stream, PhixFlow updates the Status of the record to In Progress.

Layout Context Menu

The context menu options vary for different types of component. Options for dashboards will be listed:

• either in the context menu itself
• or in the   Dashboards Options sub-menu.

In the following table, the menu options are grouped according to purpose. This may not be the order in which the options appear in the menu.

Menu option	Description
Fixing and Moving
Unlock the Layout	When a layout or dashboard is locked, unlock to make changes.
Lock the Layout	Lock a layout or dashboard to display the data content.
Pin/Unpin Selected Objects	Pin or unpin a component. You can drag unpinned components to different locations in the layout. Unpinned components will move if another component is dropped on or near them.
Lock Height	Fix the height of the selected component.
Turn auto size off/on	Toggle whether or not the currently selected component is automatically autosized when an application window is resized by the user. Using this option, or manually resizing a component may change the state of the Layout → Style Settings → Auto Size property; see Style.
Arrange the selected items sub-menu
Align objects to the left	Align the left edges of all the selected components to the component that is furthest to the left.
Align objects to the right	Align the right edges of all the selected components to the component that is furthest to the right.
Align objects to the top	Align the top edges of the selected components to the component that is positioned highest.
Align objects to the bottom	Align the bottom edges of the selected components to the component that is positioned lowest.
Distribute the objects horizontally	Equally distribute the selected components horizontally in the available space.
Distribute the objects vertically	Equally distribute the selected components vertically in the available space.
Information
Show Element Details	Open the properties tab for the layout element.
Show Dashboard Details	Open the properties tab for the dashboard.
Show the Stream Configuration	Open the properties tab for the steam.
Show Context Parameters	Open the list of context parameters.
Show Attributes for <stream name>	Open the list of attributes for the stream. This option is available when a dashboard has a backing stream.
Show Attributes for view <stream name>	Open the list of attributes for the stream view. This option is available when a dashboard has a backing view as well as a backing stream.
Show Stream Item Details	Open a window showing the data record.
Find in Repository	Open the repository with the component's name highlighted.
Add Component Mapping	Open a new mapping properties tab.
Adding
Create New Form	For new dashboards, add a form container.
Show Palettes	Open the palette to drag in components.
Add Vertical Bar	Add a vertical bar to the current area.
Add Horizontal Bar	Add a horizontal bar to the current area.
Selecting
Select all children	For the selected area or container, select all the components contained in it.
Copy as Template	Use the selected item as a layout template. This also copies any background filter rules and data mapping to the template.
Deleting
Remove Element From Dashboard	Delete a layout element.
Permanently Delete <component>	Delete the selected component from the layout.