Navigation

PhixFlow screens have been designed to provide quick access to the functions you are likely to need from the current view without having to navigate complex menus. This help page provides an overview of the navigation features and key screens in PhixFlow.

General Notes on the User Interface

Please read Client Application Notes for general advice on mouse and other actions available on the user interface.

Applications

On the top left of the PhixFlow screen is the Applications button. Clicking an Applications button opens a list of all Applications available for the user. The user can run the selected one using its default Menu by clicking or right clicking to open in a new tab or window. An application may have more than one menu item which will be displayed after clicking on the application.

The user can also choose an Application and Menu by adding ?application=APPLICATION_NAME&menu=MENU_NAME to the PhixFlow URL where APPLICATION_NAME is the name of the selected application and MENU_NAME is the name of the selected Menu.

User menu

On the top right of the PhixFlow screen is the User menu, a drop down menu giving access to basic user functions.

Repository browser and object property editor forms

When opening PhixFlow in design mode the Repository Browser will open on the right side of the screen. When an object is opened to edit, a property editor form will be opened in a new tab in this pane. If an object is opened for editing when another property editor form is already open, the new property editor form will replace the already opened one, unless the open form contains unsaved data or the tab is pinned.  You can close the property editor by clicking on the white cross on the tab.

If the Pin icon is yellow when another edit form is opened, then the tab will be closed and the other tab will be opened. If the open tab contains unsaved data then a new tab will be opened. Clicking the Pin icon turns it red indicating that the pane is now pinned. This means that when another form is opened, this pane remains open (in addition to the new pane opening). Click the icon again to toggle the pinned status.

The property editor form has a number of icons at the top.  If there is insufficient space on the header bar then some icons may be moved to the hamburger menu which can be accessed by clicking on the hamburger menu icon shown in the table below.

	Save the current details and close the editor
	Save the current details without closing the editor.
	Back.  This icon will cause the form to refresh to show the details for the previous object that was in this editor
	Forward.  This icon will cause the form to refresh to the details of the object that was in this editor before the Back icon was pressed.
	Find in Explorer.  This icon will bring the repository browser tab to the front and will close all nodes except those leading to this object.  You may need to scroll the explorer to see the selected object.
	Context sensitive help.
	The hamburger menu icon.  This icon reveals a dropdown menu with additional options.  If there is insufficient space to show all of the items above on the header bar of the editor then some items may be moved to the hamburger menu.

The hamburger menu on the top of the property editor form may also contain the following options which are configured to remain in the hamburger menu even if there is space on the header bar:

	Permanently delete the current object
	Close the property editor

Each property editor form may contain a number of sections.  Each section has a header represented by a green bar with a small arrow before the section label which can be clicked to collapse and open the section.  Some sections contain fields whereas other sections can contain grids.  Sections which contain grids may have a number of icons on them to allow you to add and delete records, see a more detailed grid with more columns or refresh the current grid.

	Open up a grid showing more details about each item.
	Delete the selected item or items.
	Refresh the list (e.g. if the list has been updated on another computer by another user).
	Create and insert a new item into the list.

Windows bar

The Windows bar appears in the bottom of the screen if 'Show Windows Bar' is selected from the footer bar. The Windows bar contains links to all open windows (both open and minimised). Click on a link to restore the window (if needed) and bring the window to the front of the screen. Each window link also has a context menu which allows you to close it directly.

Task bar

The task bar is at the bottom of the PhixFlow window. On the left the number of currently running actions is shown. There is also the button to show/hide the windows bar. If there are any notifications on screen, they can all be dismissed in one go by clicking 'Dismiss notifications'. This will dismiss the green notification pop ups but not red error/failure messages.

On the right are icons which can be used to access different features:

	Show the System Console. This shows currently running tasks and log messages from processes run in PhixFlow.
	Open Repository Browser. This shows all of the available objects in your PhixFlow instance.
	Administration Menu. Options to Import Configuration, Export Full Configuration or Open Export Pane
	Switch between App Mode and Design Mode