In this chapter we will create a simple workflow, to create invoices for a chosen contact. This uses many of the features of app building you have used up to this point, and adds a new feature - context variables - which are crucial as you take users from one screen to another in a workflow.

Intermediate step: assign transaction to contact

In this exercise, we will create the intermediate step of the workflow, where the user can assign a transaction to a chosen contact. In the exercise you will need a sample file of transactions. You can download the file here:

• Invoice Transactions.xlsx

Create this first step of the workflow in your app. To recap the steps in the video:

• Add a file collector to your model, call this Invoice Transactions
• Upload the test file Invoice Transactions.xlsx to configure the file collector and create a stream
• Load the list of invoice transactions
• Create a new dashboard Assign Transactions
• Add two views to the dashboard:
  • In the top half, create a form called Contact Details Assign Trans
  • Open the configuration form for the stream Contacts, and drag on all attributes on to the form
  • Hide the UID field, and re-arrange the fields on the form - don't forget about the layout options on forms under [right click] → Arrange the selected items
  • Create a grid view in the bottom half, from the stream Invoice Transactions, including all attributes from the stream
• Create an action on the Contacts stream - we will use this to initiate the invoice creation process from the Contacts dashboard:
  • Name: Start invoice creation
  • Display Name: Start invoice creation
  • In the section Action Completion:
    • (We will not tick Close Parent Dashboard - in this case, the parent dashboard is the Contacts dashboard, and we want to leave this open)
    • Tick Open Post Dashboard, then Apply
    • Drag in the dashboard Assign Transactions to create a dashboard rule
  • Open the section Context Parameters
  • Create a new context parameter:
    • Name: UID
    • Expression: _form.UID
    • This will take the value of UID from the currently select contact in the Contacts app, and save it to a context variable; we can then use this value at the next stage of the process
• Add a button to the Contacts dashboard to start the invoice process
• Call the button: Create Invoice
• Associate the custom action Start invoice creation with the button
• Update the button label to Create Invoice
• Apply a filter to the contact form in the dashboard Assign Transactions to show the selected contact:
  • Right click on the contact form in the dashboard, and go to Dashboard Options → Show Element Details
  • In the element details, add a background filter:
    • Name: by UID
    • Condition: UID = _context.UID (don't forget to make the condition an expression, by pressing the ABC button)

Open the Contacts dashboard, and go into App Mode. Select a contact, and press the Create Invoice button - this will take you to the Assign Transactions dashboard, with details for the selected contact shown.

Final step: create invoice

Complete configuration of the invoice generation process in your app. To recap the steps in the video:

• Create a stream Invoices, by creating a stream from the hover menu on the stream Contacts
• Set the period of the stream to Transactional
• Drag all attributes from Contacts into Invoices
• Drag all attributes from Invoice Transactions into Invoices
• Create a dashboard Invoices to show invoices: add a grid view including all attributes from the stream Invoices, and hide the UID field
• Create a custom action that will take users from the intermediate stage of the process to the invoices screen (the intermediate dashboard is backed by the stream Invoice Transactions):
  • Open the configuration form for the stream Invoice Transactions, and add an action:
    • Name: Complete invoice creation
    • Display Name: Complete invoice creation
    • In the Action Completion section:
      • Tick Close Parent Dashboard; in this case the parent dashboard will the be intermediate dashboard, used to assign transactions to a contact, so we want to close this when the user goes to complete the process
      • Tick Open Post Dashboard, and drag in the dashboard Invoices to create a dashboard rule
    • Open the section Context Parameters:
      • Tick Include Previous Context Parameters - this will bring forward any context parameters from the previous dashboard, in this case UID
      • Add new context parameters, to capture new details from the intermediate dashboard - these are details of the chosen transaction
        • First, get the dashboard element name of the grid view of transactions from the intermediate dashboard (Assign Transactions)
        • Use this to set the expression for each context parameter as: [dashboard element name of transactions in Assign Transactions].[View attribute name]
        • Do this for:
          • SKU
          • TransValue
          • TransDate
• Add a button to the intermediate dashboard (Assign Transactions) to complete the generation of an invoice:
  • Call the button Complete invoice creation
  • Find the custom action under the stream Invoice Transactions, and drag it on to the button to set the custom action
  • Update the button label to Complete Invoice Creation
• Complete configuration of the stream Invoices, in the model view:
  
  • Make the stream Contacts static; this will stop this stream being run when the stream Invoices is run
  • Open details for the pipe that connects Contacts and Invoices
    • Set Data To Read = All; after you added importing of contacts from files into the contacts app, there are multiple runs in the Contacts stream, and this setting ensures that we can get all contacts down the pipe
    • Create a filter on the pipe:
      • UID = _context.UID (don't forget to press ABC)
  • Open the configuration form for the stream Invoices, and set the expressions for SKU, TransDate and TransValue, in each case using the expression: _context.[context parameter name]
• Create a task plan, Complete invoice creation, to run the Invoices stream
• Complete configuration of the custom action Complete invoice creation:
  • Tick Run Selected Task Plan, and drag in the task plan Complete invoice creation to create a task plan rule

1. Add a filter to the Invoices dashboard to show only invoices for the currently selected user:
   • From the grid view in the Invoices dashboard, open the dashboard element details
   • Add a background filter:
     • UID = _context.UID (don't forget to press the ABC button)

Open the Contacts app, and go into App Mode. Press Create Invoice. In the intermediate step, select a transaction, then press Complete Invoice Creation. You should see details for a new invoice, for the contact you chose on the Contacts dashboard, and the transaction you chose on the Assign Transactions dashboard.