This page is for data modellers or application developers who want to apply special formatting to data that meets specific criteria.

Overview

A formatting rule allows you to specify an expression which evaluated can apply the selected style to the parent object. It allows to apply styles conditionally, depending on current values displayed on the screen; see Applying Formatting Rules for some examples.

A formatting rule can be applied to a view attribute or to a component. If you apply a formatting rule to a template component, all components created from the template will have a copy of the formatting rule applied.

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, its parent name is shown here. See the Parent Details section on the Common Properties page for more details.

Basic Settings

Field	Description
Rule Expression	Expression to be evaluated on order to determine should the Style be applied. This expression takes PhixFlow Internal Variables. See examples below. For more help on expressions, see Regular Expressions and Expressions and PhixScripts.
Style	Style to be applied when the Rule Expression evaluates to true.
Order	Order of the Rule Expression.
Enabled	Flag showing is the Rule Expression enabled.
Stop If True	Flag showing if the subsequent rules shouldn't be evaluated if the current Rule returns true.

Audit Tab

Audit Summary

See the Common Properties page, Audit Summary section.

Example

For the Status Type attribute in a view, set the properties to:

Properties

For the Status Type attribute in a view, set the properties to:

Rule Expression:
- either _field.value == "OK"
- or _current.StatusSummary=="Validation Passed"
Style: BackgroundColour-LightGreen
Enabled: Tick

_field.value == "OK" identifies the status type of OK and highlights the cell

_current.StatusSummary=="Validation Passed" identifies the status summary of Validation Passed and then highlights the corresponding status type cell.

Resulting View

This displays the OK field with a green background.

Formatting Rule Expressions

Variables

In formatting rules, you can use the following Internal Variables.

To determine the maximised state of a screen, use _screen. In a formatting rule, use the state of this variable to set the button icon. This means the button can match the current maximised state of the screen.
To act on a specific record use one of the following:

Formatting expression variable		Where can the variable be used?
Formatting expression variable	Description	View	Form	Card	Form Fields
_form Acts on the record	Provides access to the data currently displayed on the form. e.g. _form.MyAttribute	n/a	Yes	Yes	Yes
_grid Acts on the record(s)	References the record currently selected on a grid. e.g. _grid.MyColumn	Yes, can be used in actions to get details of the selected record.	Yes, can be used to reference a selected grid item.	Yes, can be used to reference a selected grid item.	Yes, can be used to reference a selected grid item.
_current Acts on the record(s)	use _current in expressions for the CSS Properties of grid rows or cards. e.g. _current.AnyColumn	currently displayed in the grid	n/a	currently displayed in the card	n/a
_selected Acts on the record	The currently selected item, i.e. The selected record or card. e.g. _selected.AnyField	n/a	Currently selected field	Currently selected card or field on the card.	n/a
_field.Value The value held in the form field.	The value held in the form field. e.g. if _field.value > 100	n/a	Access the value in the field	Access the value in the field	n/a
_user Available in PhixFlow 11.1.1+	The details of the current logged in user. e.g. _user.jsmith	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Functions

For quick changes to screen appearance, you want formatting rules to be evaluated quickly. To ensure a quick response, only use the attribute functions that are evaluated by the client rather than the server; see the list of Responsive Attribute Functions.

Sections on this page

Learn More

For links to all pages in this topic, see Designing Screens.

Formatting Rule