Calculate Action
- Zoe Baldwin
- Anthony George
This page is for application designers who need to configure functionality for components or events. It explains the properties for the calculate node and associated expressions, which is part of an actionflow.
Overview
Use a 
Calculate node to manipulate data that is passed to it. Calculate nodes have their own attributes, which can reference incoming data via expressions using one or more of the 115+ functions available in PhixFlow.
Example
Click to play the following video that shows an example of using a calculate node in an actionflow.
The video shows an actionflow that opens a new screen containing a dynamic text field. It then populates the dynamic text field with a message, which is set in a calculate node attribute. The steps for are:
- Drag a calculate node from the toolbar and drop it into the actionflow diagram.
- Name the calculate something meaningful, e.g.
Set Message - Disconnect the
Open Screen node from the 
Driving interface connection point. - Connect the Driving interface connection point to the Calculate node.
- To pass data into the actionflow, go to the Inputs section on the left. Connect the component input connection point ScreenToOpen to the calculate node.
- Click on the calculate node to open its properties.
- In the Attributes section, add a new calculate attribute and set:
- Name to
Message Expression to:
"You have successfully set up a calculate node"
- Name to
- Map the calculate attribute to the dynamic text field on the screen as follows:
Right-click on the connection and click Configure Mappings.
- Drag the Message attribute from the calculate node, on the left, to the Message attribute on the open screen, on the right.
- Close the mapping screen.
- The actionflow configuration is complete.
After configuring an actionflow, always test the actionflow to make sure it works.
Properties Tab
Property Pane Toolbar
For information about the toolbar options, see the Common Properties page, Toolbars and Controls section.
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 | Enter the name for the action node. |
| Show in the Repository | An application can have many actionflows, and an individual actionflow can have many nodes. This can lead to many items being listed under Actionflow in the repository. Use this option to omit the node from the repository.
|
| Pass Through | Specify whether or not to allow data that has not been processed to pass through to the next action node.
|
Input Connection Points
This section has a toolbar with standard buttons. The grid contains a list of the connection points that connect into this calculate node.
- To add a new input connection point, in the section toolbar click
Add New and set the properties. - To edit an existing connection point, double-click it in the list to open its properties.
- To remove a connection points, select one and in the section toolbar click
Delete.
For details about the Name, Type and Data Attributes properties of the input connection point, see Input Connection Points.
Calculate Attributes
Calculate actions process data using expressions; see pages in the topic Expressions and PhixScripts.
This section has a toolbar with standard buttons. The grid contains a list of the expressions that the calculate action will perform.
- To add a new expression, in the section toolbar click Add New to open a new expression and set the properties.
- To edit an existing expression, double-click it in the list to open its properties.
- To remove an expression, select one and in the section toolbar click Delete.
- To reorder an attribute, drag and drop the attribute into the desired position. Alternatively, double-click to open its properties and update the Order field.
- Click Add New. PhixFlow opens the properties for a new calculate attribute; see Calculate Attributes Properties, below.
Description
We recommend that you always enter a description to explain the purpose of this item.
Audit Tab
Audit Summary
See the Common Properties page, Audit Summary section.
Calculate Attributes Properties
Properties Tab
Property Pane Toolbar
For information about the toolbar options, see the Common Properties page, Toolbars and Controls section.
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 | Enter the name of the calculate attribute. |
| Type | Select one of the data types:
Make sure you select the same data type as that of the attribute to which you are mapping; see Understanding Data Types. |
| Attribute Name |
|
| Expression | Enter an expression. To work in a larger popup window, click See also: |
| Order | Where the calculate action runs multiple expressions, enter a number to indicate the order in which this expression will be run. Remember that an expression that generates a value must run before any expression that uses the value. |
Audit Tab
Audit Summary
See the Common Properties page, Audit Summary section.
Save and close the calculate attribute properties to return to the calculate properties.
Learn More
For links to all pages in this topic, see Understanding Actionflows.
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