Style

Owned by Fiona Sargeant (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Jan 19, 2024 by Zoe Baldwin
8 min read

This page is for screen designers. It explains the options available for setting styles for borders, backgrounds, fonts etc.

Overview

A  Style is a container for a set of CSS properties. A style can be:

  • assigned to parts of an application, e.g. a component
  • used to provide default formatting, e.g. on selected grid rows

The  Properties tab makes it easy to configure the CSS for your application, using tick boxes, lists and colour pickers. For complete flexibility, you can use the CSS Properties section to enter CSS tags. PhixFlow combines the selected options and CSS properties when it applies the formatting to your application. See www.w3schools css for details of CSS.

For more on how positions and styles can affect screen design, see Sizing and Positioning Screen Content.

You can add styles to an individual component using its  Styles tab→ Style Settings section; see Component. However, if you want your application to have consistent styling, we recommend you create a style and then share it with multiple components. 

To create and share formatting:

  1. In the Repository for your application, find  Styles
  2. Click  Create New
  3. Set the style options you require (described below)
  4. Open the  Properties tab for a component
  5. In the Shared Styles section of the  Styles tab, click  - PhixFlow opens a Repository list of available styles in your application
  6. Drag the  Style from the Repository into the Shared Styles section of the component

If you want your application to have components that all look the same, you can design them once, then add them to a Changing or Creating a Palette. 


For information about the properties toolbar, and about the sections Parent Details, Analysis Models, Description and Audit Summary, see Common Properties.  We recommend you always add a Description that explains the purpose of the item you are creating. 

For a full list of all the PhixFlow property tabs and windows, see Properties, Windows, Menus and Toolbars.

New  Style - Basic Settings

FieldDescription
NameEnter the name for a style
DescriptionEnter a description of the style

CSS Properties

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

New  Style & Component - Style Settings 

Note: The fields below that only show when creating a new  Style or on the  Styles tabfor components have been flagged below. Example components are areas, forms, card containers, URL fields and string fields.

FieldDescription
Hidden

 Tick to hide the component from application users.

The data in hidden components does not refresh. If you need the data on a hidden grid to refresh, set the Position Settings: Height and Width to 0. 

Read Only

 Tick to make a component read-only. 

For input fields this means that the data in them will not be editable and for buttons it will make the button unusable.

If the component is a form or an area, marking it as read only will mark ALL input fields in that area / form as read only, but buttons will NOT be automatically marked as read only. All the children of the component will also inherit this property.

CursorSpecify a cursor style to be displayed when pointing over an component.

Fit to available space

(components only)

If ticked this component will resize to fill the available space in the direction set on the parent. If the user resizes the screen the components will resize. If multiple components have this selected, the available space will be shared between the applicable components.

Manually resizing a component will turn this property off.

Cards cannot have this property applied.

Grow Factor

(components only)

The number representing how much a component can resize.

When you have several components, PhixFlow uses the difference in their numbers to allocate space. For example, if you have 3 components (A, B and C) with their grow factor set to:

  • the same value, 1,  for all components, PhixFlow allocates the available space equally to components A, B and C
  • different values, A=1, B=2 and C=3, PhixFlow divides the space into 6 equal portions and allocates:
    • 1 portion to A
    • 2 portions to B
    • 3 portions to C.

Width

Specify a set width value as a %, px or em. See https://www.w3schools.com/css/css_units.asp

HeightSpecify a set height value as a %, px or em. 
Min WidthSpecify a set minimum width value as a %, px or em. 
Min HeightSpecify a set minimum height value as a %, px or em. 
Max WidthSpecify a set maximum width value as a %, px or em. 
Max HeightSpecify a set maximum height value as a %, px or em. 

Direction

(components only)

If a direction is selected, components inside this container will be distributed in the selected direction.

  • Row - Components will be distributed as a single row, in order. The components will shrink to fit if the window is made smaller than the width of the components.
  • Row Reverse- Components will be distributed in rows, in reverse order.
  • Column - Components will be distributed as a single column, in order. If the window height is made smaller only components with Fit to available space ticked will be resized.
  • Column Reverse - Components will be distributed as column in reverse order.

Wrap

(components only)

This field is only visible if a direction is selected.

If enabled, this wraps the components when there is less space available.

Gap

(components only)

This field is only visible if a direction is selected. 

Define the size of the gap in px between the rows or columns (Direction dependent).

Justify

(components only)

This field is only visible if a direction is selected.

Justify affects the position of the components in the direction set (horizontal for row, vertical for column). See also CSS justify-content property (w3schools.com).

  • Flex Start - Components will be positioned from the start edge of the container, with no spacing between them.
  • Flex End - Components will be positioned so the last component aligns with the end edge of the container, with no spacing between them.
  • Center - Components will be centred in the direction set, with no spacing between them, and equal spacing between the edge of the container and the first and last component.
  • Space Between - Distribute components with equal spacing in between each component, but no spacing between the component and the container.
  • Space Around - Distribute components with even spacing, between each component and half spacing between the components and their container.
  • Space Evenly - Distribute components with equal spacing in between each component. and between components and the container.

Align

(components only)

This field is only visible if a direction is selected. Align affects the position of the components perpendicular to the direction set (vertical for row, horizontal for column).

  • Flex Start - Components will be positioned from the start edge of the container, with no spacing between them.
  • Flex End - Components will be positioned so the last component aligns with the end edge of the container, with no spacing between them.
  • Center - Components will be centred, with no spacing between them, and equal spacing between the edge of the container and the first and last component.
  • Stretch - Components with no size set in this direction will have their size increased to fill the container in this direction.
z-index

Specifies the stack order of a component (which component should be placed in front of, or behind, the others).

Margin 
  • All - Create space around components, outside of any defined borders.
  • Split - Set the margin for each side of a component (top, right, bottom, and left).
Padding
  • All - Create space around an component's content, inside of any defined borders.
  • Split - Set the padding for each side of a component (top, right, bottom, and left).
Border
  • All - Specify the border width in pixels, the colour and style: Solid, Dashed, Dotted, Double or None.
  • Split - Set the border for each side of a component (top, right, bottom, and left).
Border Radius
  • All - Specify the radius of the component's corners. This allows rounded corners to be added.
  • Split - Set the border radius for each corner of a component (top-left, top-right, bottom-right, and bottom-left).
Fill

Specify the colour for background. Click on the sample square to open a colour picker and select a colour. Click back into the properties tab to close the colour picker.

Opacity

Specifies the opacity/transparency of a component. Enter a value from 0.0 - 1.0. The lower the value, the more transparent.

Note: All child components inherit the same transparency.

Shadow

Enter a value for x and/or y to specify a horizontal and vertical shadow. The default colour of the shadow is the current text-colour. 

Enter a value for b to specify a blur radius. The higher the number, the more blurred the shadow will be.

Image Select an image from the drop-down list. To see the repository list of images uploaded to the current application, click  List Images .

To add a new image, click  Create New. PhixFlow opens the Image properties.

SizeEnter values for W and H to specify the width and height of the image.
Position

Set the position of the image:

  • Left
  • Center
  • Right


  • Top
  • Center
  • Bottom
  • Custom

Repeat

PhixFlow assumes you want to use an image to fill the background. For smaller images it will repeat the image to fill the available space. To change this property select one of the options:

  • repeat - repeat the image to fill the space available
  • repeat-x - repeat the image to fill the space horizontally
  • repeat-y - repeat the image to fill the space vertically
  • no-repeat - show a single instance of the image.
Font

Specify a font point, size and colour.

Text Align

Select how the text aligns within the component's space:

  • left
  • right
  • center
  • justify 
Font Style

Select the weight of text or specify any decoration:

  • bold
  • italic
  • underline
  • strikethrough
Type

Select the capitalisation of the text:

  • uppercase
  • lowercase
  • capitalise
Spacing
  • Letter Spacing - Specify the space between the characters in a text.
  • Line Height - Specify the space between lines
Horizontal ScrollAdd a horizontal bar to the component so the user can scroll left and right if the content extends beyond the edges.
Vertical ScrollAdd a vertical scrollbar to the component, so the user can scroll up and down if the content extends beyond the top/bottom.
Absolute Position

Enable this to position a component in an exact location. Enter values for top, left, bottom, and right to set the location - these values will be relative to the next parent component.

Note: Absolute positioned components are removed from the normal flow, and can overlap other components.

See https://www.w3schools.com/css/css_positioning.asp

Transition

Change property values smoothly over a given duration, e.g. mouse over on a button. This typically works with CSS Properties.

Specify the time in seconds. Note: If the duration part is not specified, the transition will have no effect, because the default value is 0.

  • Ease - specifies a transition effect with a slow start, then fast, then end slowly 
  • Linear - specifies a transition effect with the same speed from start to end
  • Ease In - specifies a transition effect with a slow start
  • Ease Out - specifies a transition effect with a slow end
  • Ease In Out - specifies a transition effect with a slow start and end
Transform

Enable to apply a transformation to a component.

  • Origin - set a component's base placement
  • Rotate - rotates an component clockwise or counter-clockwise according to a given degree. Using negative values will rotate the component counter-clockwise
  • Translate - moves a component from its current position (according to the parameters given for the X-axis and the Y-axis)
  • Scale - increases or decreases the size of a component (according to the parameters given for the width and height)
  • Skew - skews a component along the X and Y-axis by the given angles.

Prevent Dragging

(components only)

Prevents the component being dragged.

Number Format

( Styles only)

Select a number format for number fields and grid cells, if you want to use a different format to the default. The default number format is set in /wiki/spaces/HELPTRUNK/pages/49611187.

Date/Time Format

( Styles only)

Select a date format for date fields and grid cells, if you want to use a different format to the default. The default date format is set in /wiki/spaces/HELPTRUNK/pages/49611187.


Grid and card container components that have scrollbars can also scroll automatically. This means users can drag cards or grid items to targets that are currently off-screen.

  1. Click to select the item and start to drag it in the direction of the target.
  2. At the edge of the component, pause the mouse pointer.
  3. PhixFlow then starts to scroll in the direction of your drag.

Automatic scrolling can be:

  • left or right
  • up or down
  • diagonal.

Responsive Sizing

When a user resizes the screen that is displaying the screen, PhixFlow can vary the size and position of some components (areas, forms, card containers, URL fields, string fields) in the screen. To configure this, use the following style settings:

  • Fit to available space
  • Grow Factor
  • Direction
  • Wrap
  • Justify
  • Align
  • Read Only

More details on these settings can be found above in the Style Settings.

The Order in Which Styles Are Applied

PhixFlow applies styles in the following order:

  1. Shared Styles
  2. CSS properties
  3. Style Settings
  4. Formatting Rules

This means a style from a CSS Property is overwritten by the Shared Styles on the component.

Sections on this page

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