What is an Open URL Action?

Open

The 

The 

Open

For the full list of Open URL

Creating Open URL Actions

1. Click and drag the 

    icon in the toolbar onto the canvas

2. Enter a name for the Open URL action, then select Create Action

3. In the Open URL Action 

    on the right, the available Input Parameters can be seen

Opening a Webpage Example

Show Example

To open a webpage, a valid URL must be mapped onto the URL attribute, in the format:

https://www.phixflow.com

If you want the application user to provide the URL, use a

action to ensure the URL has the correct format. For example, the following expression uses a switch statement to prepend https://www.

//for URLs to open correctly they must start with https://www. switch( [startsWith(in.URL, "https://"), in.URL ], [startsWith(in.URL, "www."), "https://" + in.URL ], "https://www." + in.URL )

The following video shows how an application user types a URL into a field, and the web page then opens.

Open

The underlying Actionflow includes an Open URL node, as follows:

Open

Sending an Email Example

Show Example

Use the Open URL action to send an email, a valid email address must be mapped to the URL attribute in the format:

'mailto:' + in.EmailAddress

The function 'mailto:' causes the browser to open an appropriate email web client and sets the email address to the one provided.

Open

Provide different URL expressions to populate the email:

• subject

• cc

• bcc

• body text

Subject

'mailto:' + in.EmailAddress + "?subject=" + in.Subject //or 'mailto:' + in.EmailAddress + "?subject=Email Subject"

CC

'mailto:' + in.EmailAddress + "?cc=" + in.cc1 + "," + in.cc2 //or 'mailto:' + in.EmailAddress + "?cc=someoneelse@email.com, another@email.com"

BCC

'mailto:' + in.EmailAddress + "?bcc=" + in.cc1 + "," + in.cc2 //or 'mailto:' + in.EmailAddress + "?bcc=someoneelse@email.com, another@email.com"

Body Text

'mailto:' + in.EmailAddress + "?body=" + in.Body //or 'mailto:' + in.EmailAddress + "?body=This is the body of the email."

Adding Body Text Lines

The body is by default one line and will wordwrap according to the email client settings. In order to split the body over multiple lines or paragraphs, use: %0d%0a

For example, to generate the following email body text:

This is the body of the email.

This is the second line of the body of the email.

specify:

// use %0d%0a to start a new line 'mailto:' + in.EmailAddress + "?body=This is the body of the email.%0d%0aThis is the second line of the body of the email."

Combining Fields

The following expression shows how to create all the different email fields using one expression:

"mailto: " + in.EmailAddress + "?cc=" + in.cc1 + "," + in.cc2 + "&bcc=" + in.bcc + "&subject=" + in.Subject + "&body=" + in.Body

Calling a Telephone Number Example

Show Example

Use the Open URL action to make a VoIP call to a telephone number. Map a valid telephone number to the URL attribute as follows:

'callto:' + in.TelephoneNumber

The function 'callto:' causes the browser to open an appropriate VoIP client, such as Microsoft Teams. The VoIP client then calls the number provided. This is illustrated in the following video.

Open

Worked Example

Here's a worked example using the School Data (available from the Learning Centre).

In this example, we are using:

• A Teacher Management screen containing a grid of the School Teachers data - this screen was created using the Tile with Buttons template

We want an icon in the Teachers grid, on the Teacher Management screen, to open a webpage when clicked. To do this, we will configure an Open URL Action that opens a specified URL when the user clicks an icon.

Open

Open URL Action to Open Webpage

Setup the Input

1. On the Teacher Management screen, where the Actionflow will be initiated from, click on the attribute, Find Address, on the grid (column header) to open the View Attribute 

2. Click on the 

   1. Open

      

3. Here you will find a blank Actionflow, FindAddress, along with the Action Icon Style you can see in the grid: 

4. Click on the Actionflow link, 

   , to open the blank Actionflow

5. Select Click to Connect and for the input, choose the School_Teachers 

    View datasource, then select Connect Input

6. On the Mappings window, drag the attribute, Address, from the left (Teachers View) into the Drag and Drop area on the right (Input Connection Point)

   1. Select Save

7. Click and drag the 

    icon from the toolbar onto the canvas

8. In the Create Open URL Action window enter:

   1. Name: Open Map

   2. Select Create Action

9. Click and drag the 

    icon onto the 
   action node

Checkpoint

Open

Setup the Calculate and Open URL Action

We need to add a Calculate Action to the FindAddress Actionflow because the attribute data we want to use for our Open URL node is not in a URL format. We will use a calculate node to turn our address data into a Google maps search.

1. Click and drag the 

    icon from the toolbar onto the canvas

2. In the Create Calculate Action window enter:

   1. Name: Add Prefix

   2. Select Create Action

3. Drag the Add Prefix Calculate Action node onto the in connector between the 

    node and the 
    Open Map action node and drop it when the 
    icon appears

4. Right-click on the in connector between the 

    node and the 
    and select 

5. On the Mappings window, drag the Address attribute from the left into the Drag and Drop area on the right (calculate action)

   1. Select Save

6. Click on the Add Prefix Calculate Action to open its 

    and in the Output Attributes section click 

7. Create the following attribute:

   1. Name: PrefixedAddress

   2. Type: choose String

   3. Expression: 

      "https://www.google.com/maps/place/"+in.Address

   4. Select

8. Right-click on the in connector between the 

    action and the 
    action and select 

9. On the Mappings window, drag the PrefixedAddress attribute from the left (Calculate Action) onto the URL input parameter on the right (Open URL Action)

   1. Select Save
      
      Checkpoint
      

10. Close the Actionflow to return to the Teacher Management screen

11.  the screen and press the 
     icon for a record to see the Actionflow in action

    1. We can see that the Actionflow is working because a new tab will open in your browser, with the teacher's address line in a Google maps search