This page is for application designers who want to create screens for application users.

Overview

This page explains the screen properties. For information on how to divide a screen into different panes, and how to add components to it, see Splitting a Screen.

Property Pane Toolbar

For information about the toolbar options, see the Common Properties page, Toolbars and Controls section.

 Properties Tab

Parent Details

If this item is within or belongs to another, it's parent name is shown here. See the Common Properties page, Parent Details section for more details.

Basic Settings

Field	Description
Name	The name of the screen.
Open Maximised	Tick to open the screen maximised.  Untick to open the screen as a popup window.
Allow User to Resize	Tick to enable the application user, when running in  Application Mode, to resize the screen.  Untick to keep the screen size fixed when running in in  Application Mode. This option does not affect resizing the screen in  Design Mode.
Show Toolbar	Design Mode always has a toolbar with the screen name on the left and toolbar icons on the right.   Tick to also display the toolbar in  Application Mode. The screen name is displayed. Toolbar icons are not displayed.  Untick is the default as the toolbar is usually not required in  Application Mode.
Show Window Button Bar	Tick to display a Windows-style bar at the top of the screen. This has a maximise/restore button and a close button.  Untick to have no Windows-style bar at the top of the screen.
Always On Top	Tick to keep the screen on top of other screens. This is useful for a popup window that you want a user to complete before returning to another screen.  Untick to allow other screens to be displayed in front.
Keep Data	Tick to allow screen data to be referenced even after the screen is closed. This is useful if an application user needs access to global data available in the system.  Untick is the default. The screen data is not required once the screen is closed.
Preload	screens , especially complex screens, can take some time to open, which can feel slow to the application user. Use this option when you need a screen to open quickly. Preloading screens adds to the time it takes PhixFlow to initially start up.  For this reason we recommend you only preload screens that an application user will always want to open.  Tick to preload the screen when PhixFlow first starts.  When the user then opens the screen , it displays immediately. The data itself may still take time to load.  Untick is the default. The screen does not need to be preloaded. Preloading relates to the screen itself. Any data backing the screen is only loaded when the screen opens, and this may also take time to load.
Cache Locally	If an application user is likely to require the same screen in different stages of a task. Use this option so that, when the user closes and reopens the screen, it loads immediately.   Tick to cache the screen on the application user's client computer when the screen first opens.  Untick is the default. The screen does not need to be cached. Caching relates to the screen itself. Any data backing the screen will be reload each time the screen is opened.
Position	By default, new screens are set to Floating. If you want a screen to open with a fixed position, select one of the Pinned drop-down options: Pinned to top Pinned to bottom Pinned to left Pinned to right Floating Use the Pinned options to create a permanently visible screen. This is useful for a navigation area or toolbar that you want to be visible for all other screens. Floating screens do not overlap with pinned screens. When the user maximises a Floating screen, it expands only to the remaining space.
Width	For screens that are not set to Open maximised, specify a screen width in pixels, for example 500px for a small confirmation window. The default size for a popup screen approximately 800px.
Height	For screens that are not set to Open maximised, specify a screen height in pixels, for example 150px for a small confirmation window. The default size of a popup screen is approximately 500px.
Top	Available when Position is Floating. For screens that are not set to Open maximised, set an offset value in pixels to position the screen where it is required. For example, to display a screen as a popup window towards the top left of the screen, set: Top: 60px Left: 60px
Left
Right
Bottom

Screen Elements

Screen elements are specific sections on a screen that posses their own properties, specifically each element can be backed by a different table.

To view a list of the elements for a specific screen, open the  Propertiesavailable from the screen toolbar; see Screen Element.  

Menu Items

This section has a toolbar with standard buttons and:

•   Show Table-actions
•  Filter

The grid contains a list of menu items. To add a menu item to the list, click  Add New

1. Click  Add New
2. Select 
   • either Add a new sub-menu
   • or Add a new menu item; see Startup Actions
3. PhixFlow opens a new properties tab for a menu item or sub-menu; see Startup Actions for details.

To remove a menu, use the toolbar button  Delete.

Mappings

This section has a toolbar with standard buttons. 

Components on the screen, such as buttons or data-components, can have actionflows or record-actions. Record-actions can take data from attributes in different tables  or views. Where the attributes have different names, you must map the attribute, so that the record-action recognises the data. This grid contains a list of mappings for the components on this screen. 

To configure a mapping, in the screen, right-click a component and select  Add Mapping.

Unreachable Actions

This section has a toolbar with standard buttons. The grid displays a list of actionflows that are linked to components on the screen, but do not exist yet.

Actions

This section has a toolbar with standard buttons. The grid displays a list of actions and record-actions that are linked to the screen.

Description

We recommend that you always enter a description to explain the purpose of this item.

 Security Tab

Access Permissions

See the Common Properties page, Access Permissions section.

 Audit Tab

Audit Summary

See the Common Properties page, Audit Summary section.

Menus and Toolbars

Screen Toolbar

There is a toolbar above the screen canvas. This provides the following options:

List options
Table	Open the repository showing the list of available tables for your application.
Screen	Open the repository showing the list of available screens for your application.
Actionflow	Open the repository showing the list of available actionflows for your application.
Palette	Open the list of palettes.
Style	Open the repository showing the list of available styles for your application.
Canvas options
Help	Open the help topic with details about working with screens.
Properties	Open the properties tab for the screen.
Unlock or  Lock	Unlock a screen to edit its layout. Lock a screen to prevent accidental edits and to display the data content.
Refresh	Update the screen to reflect changes made elsewhere in PhixFlow, such as the screen properties, layer orders or shared styles.

Screen Popup Menu

Right-click on a screen to display its popup menu. The options available depend on where you click. If there are many options, some are moved onto the sub-menu Screen Options.

Menu option	Description
Unlock	Unlock a screen to edit its layout.
Lock	Lock a  screen to prevent accidental edits and to display the data content.
Show Context Parameters	For screens created in PhixFlow versions 8.3 and earlier, open a window listing the context parameters in alphabetical order.
Show Element Details	For screens created in PhixFlow versions 8.3 and earlier, open the properties for the screen element.
Add Area Above	Use these options to divide a screen into multiple, resizable panes. Select the option to add a pane relative to the currently selected pane. To remove a pane, use the popup menu options  Delete Pane.
Add Area on Right
Add Area Below
Add Area on Left
Lock Width	Fix the height or width of the selected pane. You will no longer be able to resize a pane by dragging its dividing line.
Lock Height
Delete	When a specific component is selected, delete the component. Delete options depend on the selected item, for example: Delete Selected Objects Delete Pane Delete Form
Remove  Element	Remove the selected item from the screen, whilst leaving it in the repository.
Delete Element	Delete a screen element.
Create New Form	Create a new form in the current area.
Pin/Unpin Selected Objects	Pin a component to fix its position; see Pinning and Unpinning.
Palette	Open the palette to drag in components.
Turn Auto Size Off/On	Toggle whether or not the currently selected component is automatically auto sized 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.
Arrange Selected Items	Options to arrange the selected components:  Align Objects to Left: Align the left edges of all the selected components to the component that is furthest to the left.  Align Objects to Right: Align the right edges of all the selected components to the component that is furthest to the right.  Align Objects to Top: Align the top edges of the selected components to the component that is positioned highest.  Align to base: Align the bottom edges of the selected components to the component that is positioned lowest.  Distribute Objects Horizontally: Equally distribute the selected components horizontally in the available space.  Distribute Objects Vertically: Equally distribute the selected components vertically in the available space.
Find in Repository	Open the repository with to see the selected component in the list. This can be useful if you want to move a component.
Screen Properties	Open the properties tab for the screen.
Show Record Details	Display information about the table and its records.
Add Mapping	Opens a new mapping element properties tab where you can map attributes with different names to components.
Select All Children	For the selected parent container, select all the child components.
Table Properties or Show the Table Configuration	Open the properties for the table.
Show Attributes...	Show the list of attributes that are bound to the component. The attributes can be from a table or view. This is shown in the option:  Show Attributes for table <name>  Show Attributes for view <name>