View Attribute
- Fiona Sargeant (Unlicensed)
- Zoe Baldwin
- Anthony George
This page is for data modellers and application designers who want to configure attributes to display data on a simple status dashboard or an application screen.
Overview
In a view you can select a subset of attributes to appear in the view, then configure options related to how the attributes are used in the view.
Access the view attributes properties from the View → View Attributes section.
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.
Properties tab
Basic Settings
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Order | The order in which the attributes will appear in the view. For a grid view, this is the order of columns. |
| Name | The display name of the attribute in the view. By default, this is the same as the name of the attribute in the underlying table. Remember that if you are applying an Aggregate Function to the attribute, it is often useful to reflect that in the display name. For example: you are going to display the average monthly spend for each customer, by applying the aggregate function Average to the attribute |
| Label is Expression |  Tick to set the Label using an expression. |
| Label | An optional label for the column header. If left blank, this is the Name of the view attribute, formatted with a space before each capital letter. The label gives you more options for setting the column header - for example, control over the white space in the column heading - but you can also make this an expression. For example, if the column contains transactions for the currently logged in user, you could use: "Transactions for " + _user.username For user Transactions for JSmith Multi-level labels These can be achieved by providing a comma separated list of values, alternatively an expression can provide a list of values. Where labels share the same parent value, this will used to group the heading (providing the view attributes are next to one another). For example, View Attributes with the label "Address, Address", "Address, City", and "Address, Postcode" will appear as follows:
To use an expression in this field, tick the above box Label is Expression. |
| Role | This option is available if the view is a chart, i.e. not a data grid. This is the role that the field has in generating the chart. You can set the role manually in the view attribute properties. However, we recommend that you create charts using the visual editor. To do this:
You will see a visual chart editor. You can drag attributes onto this editor to create your chart; see /wiki/spaces/HELP12/pages/9615616123 and /wiki/spaces/HELP12/pages/9615616123, below. |
| Number Format | Available when the underlying attribute is Type Float, Integer or Decimal. Specify the number format as it will be displayed on a grid or form; see /wiki/spaces/HELP12/pages/9615608183. |
| Date/Time Format | Available when the underlying attribute is Type Date or Datetime. Specify the format of a date/time as it will be displayed on a grid or form; see /wiki/spaces/HELP12/pages/9615608130. |
Aggregate Function
| You can specify an /wiki/spaces/HELP12/pages/9615616332 on this attribute. As soon as you have specified a single aggregate attribute in your view, any other fields will be either aggregate attributes - if you also specify an aggregate function for them - or used as grouping attributes. The following aggregate functions are available on all View Attributes:
See full descriptions on Aggregating Data. The following aggregate functions are used for Charts:
|
| Filter | Available when an Aggregate Function is selected. Choose a filter from the drop down list or select |
Backing Attribute
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Attribute Name | The name of the underlying attribute. |
| Type | The type of the underlying attribute. This cannot be edited here. It must be edited in the table. See /wiki/spaces/HELP12/pages/9615615991. |
| Relational Attribute | Indicates if the attribute is relational. See /wiki/spaces/HELP12/pages/9615611375. |
For more information on adding and changing backing attributes, see /wiki/spaces/HELP12/pages/9615605812.
Grid Settings - see View Attribute#grid
Drop-Down Settings
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Allow Empty Row | Tick to display an empty row in a the drop-down list. This means users can empty the cell value. |
| Cache Data | Tick to cache the drop-down rows after the first load. |
| Selection View | The view that will be displayed as a drop-down for the table cell. |
| Drop-Down Value Field | A custom field to be used for getting cell value from the drop-down. |
| Mappings | A list of additional mappings which can be used to set values of more table cells (columns) using this drop-down. |
| Background Filter Rules | A list of the filter rules applied to this view attribute. Click |
| Evaluate these filter rules as an OR | Tick to run the rules as a logical OR rather than an AND. |
Form Settings
These settings are only available for form views - that is, grid views that have Form View ticked.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Read Only | This makes the field read-only in the form view. |
| Height On Form (pixels) | Sets the height of the form field for this attribute. PhixFlow will create the form field with a default height - you only need to specify a value in this field if the height you want is different from this default. |
| Width On Form (pixels) | Sets the width of the form field for this attribute. PhixFlow will create the form field with a default width - you only need to specify a value in this field if the width you want is different from this default. |
| Multiline on Form | Tick to enable form users to press the Enter key to create multiple lines in this field, or copy multi-line text into this field. |
| Selection View Attribute | This sets the drop-down list from which the user can pick a value. Drag the view attribute that you want to use for the drop-down list into this field. You must tick Show the drop-down button to display the drop-down. When a user is entering or updating data using a form view, you can use the internal variable /wiki/spaces/HELP12/pages/9615616608 to use a value already entered in the form in the filter on a selection view. That is, the values that appear in a drop-down list will be governed by values they have entered so far in the form. See /wiki/spaces/HELP12/pages/9615607822, for an example of configuring selection view attributes. If another view attribute has a Selection View Attribute set and has Show the drop-down button set to yes, then it is possible to set the current view attribute from the same selection view without a further drop-down list. Drag the view attribute that you want to use to set this view attribute into this field Drag the attribute out of the field to delete the contents of the Selection View Attribute. |
| Show the drop-down button |
Errors
This section has a toolbar with standard buttons. See Menu Options and Toolbar Buttons.
When you save changes to the properties of a table or view attribute, PhixFlow validates that the properties are set correctly. If there is an issue with the properties, PhixFlow indicates this with a Model Validation Status of ERROR.
The Errors grid contains a list of the validation checks. For those that failed, the Validation Message indicates which properties need fixing. For example, PhixFlow reports an error if the steam has no Data Retention option set. Double-click on a row to view a full message.
PhixFlow can process data from tables or view attributes that have validation errors. The validation checks help you to configure tables and view attributes so that PhixFlow can continue to run efficiently. For example, PhixFlow reports an error if a table has no Data Retention option set because it can affect performance when all old tablesets are retained,
When a table or view attribute has validation errors, these are also be listed in the Errors section of the application or package to which the table or view belongs.
Styles tab
Formatting Rules
These settings are only available for view attributes for grid and pivot views. For details of formatting rule properties, see /wiki/spaces/HELP12/pages/9615610103.
A list of the formatting rules that apply to this field in the view.
All formatting rules whose Rule Expression evaluates to true will be applied to the field in the grid. However, you can tick Stop if True so that, if a rule evaluates to true, no styles that follow this in the list of rules will be applied - regardless of the result of their Rule Expression.
Grid Settings
These settings are only available for view attributes for grid and pivot views. This section is on the Styles tab.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Grid Default Width (pixels) | Specify a value, in pixels, to set a fixed column width for this attribute, overriding the default. If you do not specify a Grid Default Width for a grid view, PhixFlow automatically creates the grid and adjusts the column widths to fit the space available. For example, PhixFlow can flex the grid as the window is resized. |
| Minimum Width | Where no Grid Default Width is specified, set a Minimum Width in pixels for this attribute's column. Where space is available, PhixFlow will resize the column to fit the available space, but will not make the column narrower than the minimum specified here. A user can make the column narrower, by dragging its column divider in the grid. When Grid Default Width is specified, PhixFlow ignores this option. |
| Changes Row Colour | Tick to change the row colour when the value in this field changes. |
| Always Hidden |
Use this option when you need to include a field in a view for a filter or/wiki/spaces/HELP12/pages/9615615629, but displaying it would make the view cluttered. |
| Hide if evaluates to True | Enter an expression that determines whether or not the attribute's field is displayed on the view. When the expression evaluates to true, then the field will be hidden. When Always Hidden is ticked, the result of this expression is ignored. |
| Read Only |
|
| Alignment | Set the alignment of values in this column to:
|
Actions tab
Action Settings
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Action Method | Select the type of action that PhixFlow will run when the user double-clicks the view.
|
| Actionflow | Available when Action Method is Actionflow. Select the actionflow that will run when the the user double-clicks on this view attribute.
|
| Action | Available when Action Method is Table Action. Select a table-action for this view attribute. For grid views, an application user can hover their mouse over the grid column for this attribute to display a cog. Clicking the cog to run this action on the clicked row. |
| Always Show Action Icon | Available when an Actionflow or Table Action is specified.
|
| Hide the Input Field | Available when an Actionflow or Table Action is specified.
|
| Hide the Action Icon | Available when an Actionflow or Table Action is specified.
This option is not available for editable columns (i.e. where Read Only is disabled), this is because the icon cannot be hidden where clicking the icon runs the action. If the column is Read Only, this option is available because clicking anywhere in the grid fires the action. |
| Action Icon Style | Available when an Actionflow or Table Action is specified.The style applied to the action icon. If no style is set, PhixFlow uses a default icon, |
| Tooltip | Available when an Actionflow or Table Action is specified. Specify a custom tooltip on grid cells, such as displaying details of the action that will be run on click. This tooltip will override any tooltip set in the /wiki/spaces/HELP12/pages/9615611466. |
Learn More
For links to all pages in this topic, see /wiki/spaces/HELP12/pages/9615607957.
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