Screen
- Former user (Deleted)
- Anthony George
- Adam Campbell
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, its parent name is shown here. See the Parent Details section on the Common Properties page 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:
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 In PhixFlow 11.1+, if this is left blank, the screen will adjust its width to the content automatically. |
Height | For screens that are not set to Open maximised, specify a screen height in pixels, for example In PhixFlow 11.1+, if this is left blank, the screen will adjust its height to the content automatically. |
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:
|
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
- Click Add New
- Select
- either Add a new sub-menu
- or Add a new menu item; see Startup Actions
- 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.
Actionflows are a new way to configure actions, introduced in PhixFlow version 9.0.0; see Understanding Actionflows.
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.
Actions and record-actions were the way to configure screen functionality before PhixFlow version 9.0.0; see Using Table-Actions and Record-Action
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:
|
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. |
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 | 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:
|
Learn More
For links to all pages in this topic, see Designing Screens.
Terminology changes in progress
As part of the redesign of PhixFlow, we are changing the following terms:
dashboard → screen
stream → table
stream attributes → attributes
stream item → record
stream set → recordset
stream view → view
stream item action → record-action
stream action → table-action
driver class → database driver