PhixFlow Help
Layout
Layout templates allow you to configure layout components, which can be added to forms. It is often useful to build a Palette, which is a list of pre-configured layout templates, which allow you to build forms quickly using layout components which adhere to your chosen style.
See also Designing Forms with Drag and Drop.
The toolbar has the standard icons. For information about the sections Parent Details, Analysis Models, Description and Audit Summary, see Common Properties. For information about other property tabs, see Property Tabs.
Each layout object has the following settings:
Field | Description |
---|---|
Name | The name of the layout object. |
Display Name | This field is only available if the layout component is a stream view component or a card container. Specify a display name, which will be displayed as the heading for this component on the form. If no display name is set, The form displays the layout name. |
Cache Data | This field is only available if the layout component is a drop-down list. If ticked, the field will cache its data after the first load. |
Action | This field is only available if the layout component is a button. Specify the action to run when a user clicks the button. |
Snap Grid Size | This field is available for the following types of layout component:
Specify the grid size to use when components are snapped to the grid. |
Composite Component | Tick to indicate this component is grouped with its parent component. It can be useful to group components together, such as a dynamic text field and the static text field that acts as its label. To do this,
PhixFlow then treats the container and the components it contains, as a single, composite component. In a dashboard, when you select or drag a component, such as a text field, PhixFlow selects or moves the whole composite component. To select a component that is part of a composite component:
|
Stream Name | This field is available for the following types of layout component:
The stream that backs the layout component. |
Stream View Name | This field is only available if the layout component is a form or a card container. The name of the stream view that backs this card container or form. This can be used in order to have aggregated data in the background filter of the card container or form. |
Refresh If Not Active | This field is only available if the layout component is a stream view component or a card container. If ticked, the element will refresh even if the parent dashboard is not active (e.g. after the driving selection changes). Otherwise it will refresh as soon as it becomes active. |
Show Paging Bar | This field is only available if the layout component is a card container. If ticked, the paging bar is shown by default. |
Display Text | This field is only available if the layout component is a static text field. Enter the text you want to display on the layout component. By default the Display Text field is an expression editor. For options to format the display text as HTML, tick Use HTML Formatting. |
Use HTML Formatting | This field is only available if the layout component is a static text field. Tick to change the Display Text field from an expression editor to an HTML editor. You can then use the toolbar to apply HTML formatting to the text. |
Default Value | This field is available for the following types of layout component:
If the Dashboard that this layout component is on is opened by an action, and there are no context parameters or form mappings to populate this field, populate the field with this value. |
Date/Time Format | This field is available for the following types of layout component:
Specify the format in which to display the date or date time value. |
Number Format | This field is available for the following types of layout component:
Specify the format in which to display the number value. |
Data Type | This field is available for Dynamic Text and Drop-down Fields. The Data Type determines how the selected data will be formatted. For example if it is an Integer or Float it can have a number format, and if it is a date or date time then it can have a date-time format. |
Decimal Places | This field is only available if the layout component is dynamic text. The number of decimal places to display for numbers. |
URL | This field is only available if the layout component is a URL display. Specify the URL that you want to be displayed. |
Expression | This field is only available if the layout component is a URL display. Enter an expression which, if true, the URL will be calculated as an expression. |
Place Holder Text | This field is available for the following types of layout component:
Enter place holder text that PhixFlow will display when the input field is empty. The text is shown slightly greyed out to distinguish it from text that is entered by the user, or read-only text. |
Style Settings
Select common formatting properties for the current layout component. PhixFlow applies the style to the layout component when you save changes to the properties tab.
These options construct CSS styling for the layout component; see https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/ for details of CSS. You can also create custom styling, see CSS Properties.
Field | Description |
---|---|
Border Style | Select a border style:
|
Border Width | Enter a number to specify how many pixels wide the border should be. |
Border Colour | Specify the colour for the border and background. Click on the sample square to open a colour picker and select a color. Click back into the properties tab to close the colour picker. |
Background Colour | |
Background Image | Select an image from the drop-down list. To see the repository list of images uploaded to the current application, click List Images . To add a new image, click Add. PhixFlow opens the Image properties. |
Background Repeat | PhixFlow assumes you want to use an image to fill the background. For smaller images it will repeat the image to fill the available space. To change this property select one of the options:
|
Background Attachment | Select how the image is to be fixed:
For an example of how these work, see https://css-tricks.com/almanac/properties/b/background-attachment/. |
Background Position | Set the position of a background image; see https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/pr_background-position.asp. |
Background Size | Set the size of a background; see https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/css3_pr_background-size.asp. |
Text Colour | Click on the sample square to open a colour picker and select a colour for text. (see Border Colour, above.) |
Font Size | Specify a font point size; see https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/pr_font_font-size.asp. |
Font Weight | Select how bold the text appears:
|
Font Style | Select how angled the text appears:
|
Text Align | Select how the text aligns within the component's space:
|
Read Only | Tick to make a component read-only. |
Hidden | Tick to hide the component from application users. The data in hidden components does not refresh. If you need the data on a hidden grid to refresh, set the Position Settings: Height and Width to 0. |
Show Horizontal Scrollbar | Add a horizontal bar to the component so the user can scroll left and right if the content extends beyond the edges. |
Show Vertical Scrollbar | Add a vertical scrollbar to the component, so the user can scroll up and down if the content extends beyond the top/bottom. |
Number Format | Select a number format for number fields and grid cells, if you want to use a different format to the default. The default number format is set in System Configuration. |
Grid and card container components that have scrollbars can also scroll automatically. This means users can drag cards or grid items to targets that are currently off-screen.
- Click to select the item and start to drag it in the direction of the target.
- At the edge of the component, pause the mouse pointer.
- PhixFlow then starts to scroll in the direction of your drag.
Automatic scrolling can be:
- left or right
- up or down
- diagonal.
The following style settings are available for the layout components: areas, forms and card containers. This means you can vary the size and position of components inside the current layout when a user resizes the dashboard.
Field | Description |
---|---|
Auto Size | If ticked this component will resize to fill the available space in the direction set on the parent. If the user resizes the dashboard the components will resize. If multiple components have auto size selected, the available space will be shared between auto sized components. You can Untick this property whilst working in a layout, by:
|
Grow Factor | The number representing how much a component can resize. When you have several components, PhixFlow uses the difference in their numbers to allocate space. For example, if you have 3 components (A, B and C) with their grow factor set to:
|
Direction | If a direction is selected, components inside this container will be distributed in the selected direction.
|
Wrap | This field is only visible if a direction is selected. Wrap affects how the components wrap when there is less space available.
|
Justify | This field is only visible if a direction is selected. Justify affects the position of the components in the direction set (horizontal for row, vertical for column).
|
Align | This field is only visible if a direction is selected. Align affects the position of the components perpendicular to the direction set (vertical for row, horizontal for column).
|
Read only | If ticked this component will be marked as read only. For input fields this means that the data in them will not be editable and for buttons it will make the button unusable. If the component is a form or an area, marking it as read only will mark ALL input fields in that area / form as read only, but buttons will NOT be automatically marked as read only |
CSS Properties
A list of CSS properties. Click Add to add a new CSS style; see CSS Properties.
Shared Styles
A list of shared styles. Click Show the List of Styles to see the styles available in the repository. You can drag styles from the repository into the grid to add a shared style to this component.
Formatting Rules
A list of rules about when to apply formatting. Click Add to add a new rule; see Formatting Rule.
Position Settings
Field | Description |
---|---|
Order | |
Tab Index | |
Width | The width of the component; https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/pr_dim_width.asp |
Height | The height of the component; https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/pr_dim_height.asp |
Top | The top of the component; https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/pr_pos_top.asp |
Left | The left of the component; https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/pr_pos_left.asp |
Right | The right of the component; https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/pr_pos_right.asp |
Bottom | The bottom of the component; https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/pr_pos_bottom.asp |
Prevent Dragging | Tick to prevent a component from being dragged or resized when a dashboard is in edit mode. This means you cannot accidentally move a component that you want to stay in a fixed position, such as a header or footer. |
Mappings
This section is only available for layout components that can have actions, such as buttons, stream views and cards. This means you can map attributes that have different names. PhixFlow will evaluate all the mapped datasets when it runs the action.
Advanced
Field | Description |
---|---|
Type | The type of layout component. |
View Type | The type of view this layout component can be used on. |
Internal Icon Source | Select an image from the list. PhixFlow uses this image as the icon if you add the component to a palette. |
Menu Icon Source | The icon displayed in menus for this component. |
Template | Whether this is a template component. |
Description
Field | Description |
---|---|
Tooltip | Enter tooltip text. When using the application, if the user hovers their mouse over this component PhixFlow displays this text. If this text is in the translation table, PhixFlow can display translated text that matches the user's locale; see Translating an Application Interface. |
Description | A free format description of the component. |
Background Filter Rules
For stream view components and card containers there is a section to specify a background filter that PhixFlow applies to the stream data before it is displayed in the component.
Field | Description |
---|---|
Evaluate These Filter Rules as an Or | Specify how to combine the Background Filter Rules. Error rendering macro 'excerpt-include' : No link could be created for '_check_box_unticked'. to combine the background filter rules as an AND filter.Tick to combine the background filter rules as an OR filter. |
Background Filter Rules | This section has a toolbar with standard buttons. The grid contains a list of the background filter rules that are combined together to create the background filter for the layout component. To add a filter rule to the list, click Add. PhixFlow opens the filter rule properties. To remove a filter rule, use the toolbar button Delete For information about the details shown in the grid, see Filter Rule. |
Creating Background Filters Within a Layout
As well as using the properties tab to set up background filters, you can apply them within an unlocked dashboard or layout that contains a grid view.
In the layout, drag the column header from a grid view onto a form or card. This creates a background filter using the backing stream attribute. When you then select a different row in the grid view, the contents of the form or card is updated to show the details for the selected row.
If the backing stream data no longer contains an attribute that appears as a column header in the grid view, PhixFlow prompts you to select an alternative attribute of the same type, if one is available. If the backing stream has no attributes of the same type, PhixFlow reports and error.
Palettes and Layouts
The format of layouts created using components from palettes can be affected by the availability of the default palette. In Design Mode , when you drag stream attributes onto a layout or area. If the component is from a palette from a different application
- If the container application that contains the layout is running, PhixFlow uses the default palette set for the application.
- If the container application is not running, PhixFlow uses the default palette set for the area.
- If the container application is not running, but you are dragging stream attributes into a layout for a different (destination) application, which is running, then PhixFlow uses the default palette for the destination application.
In all cases, if no palette has been set for the application or area, PhixFlow falls back to using the system default palette.
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