PhixFlow Help

Application

This page is for PhixFlow application designers who need to create a new application, or change the defaults for an existing application.

Overview

In PhixFlow to create an application GUI, you add layout components to a dashboard. Layout components include tables, charts, menus and buttons. By connecting the layout components to the data in streams, you can create applications. Application users can load an application to interact with the stream data, for example to view and update it.

You can use the application properties tab to configure the application to set:

  • different data defaults compared to the PhixFlow system defaults
  • default style settings to use for all the layout components in the application
  • the options to appear in the menu bar for the application
  • access privileges to specify which users can use the application.

Loading an Application

There are several ways to load an application. You can: 

  • click the PhixFlow logo to open the  Application menu; see The Application Menu, below
  • in the repository, right-click on the application name and select  Load Application
  • in a browser, enter the application URL; see Starting PhixFlow on the Client. When PhixFlow is started in this way, you can still navigate to other applications that you have permission to access.

Sections on this page

Creating a New Application

To create a new application:

  • either in the repository, right-click Applications and click  Add

  • or, open the  Application menu; see The Application Menu, below.
    Click the last card, which is the New Application card:

When you create a new application in the repository, PhixFlow automatically creates a menu item for it. You can find the menu in the repository → Menus branch → application_name_Menu. When you add the first option to the menu, it is automatically displayed on the right of the menu bar at the top of the PhixFlow window; see Menu.

For information about sharing components or data between applications, see Package.

Application Properties

For information about the properties toolbar, and about the sections Parent Details, Analysis Models, Description and Audit Summary, see Common Properties.  For a full list of all the PhixFlow property tabs and windows, see Property Tabs.

Basic Settings

Field

Description

Name

The name of the application.

Version

The version number of the application.

Do not show in the Application menu

Controls whether or not this application appears in the  Application menu.

 Untick to include this application.

 Tick to exclude this application. This is useful for test applications that you do not want to appear on the menu.

Default Date Format

Select the default format for Date attributes and components.

Select a format from the drop-down list or click the icons to:

 List Formats: shows the formats available for this application in the repository.

 Add: create a new format.

Default Date/Time Format

Select the default format for DateTime attributes and components.

Default Number Format

Select the default format for numbers.

Default Component Palette

Select the palette that you want to use when you drag stream attributes onto a layout or area. PhixFlow uses this palette when its container application is running.


If the container application for is not running, PhixFlow uses:

  • either the default palette set for the area.

  • or the default palette for the destination application when you are dragging stream attributes into a layout for a different (destination) application that is running.

If you do not set a default palette, PhixFlow uses the system default palette.

Application Icon

Select an uploaded  image to use in the application menu card for this application. We recommend an image size of approximately:

  • height: up to 100 pixels
  • width: 100 to 150 pixels.



See Image for how to upload an image to PhixFlow.

Application Logo

Select an uploaded image to provide customised branding for the application. When a user clicks this image, it will open the application menu. We recommend an image size of approximately:

  • height: up to 40 pixels
  • width: up to 300 pixels.

Style Settings

In this section, set the default appearance of grid views for the application. You can set:

  • Grid Header Style

  • Grid Header Button Style

  • Grid Header Icon Style

  • Grid Header Drop-down Button Style

  • Grid header Drop-down Pane Style

  • Grid Paging Style

  • Grid Row Style

  • Grid Column Header Style

  • Row Selection Style

The styles you select override any styles set in System Configuration. You can override these defaults for individual grids using the style settings in the Stream View properties.

To specify a style, select it from the drop-down list or click the icons to:

  •  List Styles: shows the styles available for this application in the repository.

  •  Add: create a new style.

Menus

This section has a toolbar with standard buttons. The grid lists the menus that have stream actions that can be applied for this application. If there are several menus, listed PhixFlow uses the selected (ticked) menu as the menu bar for the application.

You can specify that PhixFlow uses a different menu for desktop and mobile devices. In the grid, right-click a menu to display the context menu and select:

  •  Desktop Menu

  •  Mobile Menu

PhixFlow displays the mobile or desktop icon next to the application's name. Using that context menu the user can also load the application with selected menu. All options available in the context menu are:

You can also use the context menu to:

  •  Add add another menu to the list

  •  Permanently Delete delete the menu from this application.

Access Permissions

For details about how to control access to an application, see Common Properties → Access Permissions.

Packages

This section has a toolbar with standard buttonsThe grid contains a list of packages that contain this application. To add an application to the list:

  1. Click  Add to list all the packages in the repository.
  2. Drag packages into this list. 

To remove a package from the list, use the toolbar button   Permanently Delete.

Application Menu and Context Menus

The Application Menu 

When you run PhixFlow in   Design Mode without loading an application, you will see the PhixFlow logo and text in the top left of the window. You can click this area to open the   Application menu. The menu lists the applications available in the current PhixFlow instance.

When you run PhixFlow in either  App Mode or   Design Mode, if your PhixFlow URL does not specify an application, the   Application menu opens automatically when you log into PhixFlow.  

To open the  Application menu at any time:

  • either click on the logo/name in the top left of the PhixFlow screen. By default this is the PhixFlow logo and name  .
  • or, if your application has been configured to have no menu bar, click the logo in the bottom right of the PhixFlow screen. By default this is the PhixFlow logo .

Your administrator can configure the graphic that appears in the menu bar in the application properties → Basic Settings → Application Logo option, below.

The  Application menu lists the available applications as cards, for example:

The  Application menu displays the applications:

  • that have been configured to appear on menu
  • and that you have permission to use.

The repository → Applications branch displays the applications that you have permission to use.

Application Card Context Menu

Each application card also has a context menu. To open the application card context menu:

  • either right-click anywhere in the card
  • or hover your mouse pointer over the card to display its 3-dot context menu icon in the top right. Then click the 3-dot icon   icon.

Repository Application Context Menu

Applications also have different context menu available from the repository. To display the repository application context menu, right-click the name of an application.

Context Menu Options

Available in context menu accessed fromOptionDescription

application card and
repository application name


Load Application
Load the selected application so that it is running in  App Mode.
application cardLoad application in a New TabOpen a new browser tab with the selected application loaded.
application cardLoad Application in a New WindowOpen a new browser window with the selected application loaded.
repository application nameFilter by NameIn the repository browser, use the application name to display only the repository tree for the selected application. The application is not loaded.
repository application nameEdit
In   Design Mode, open the properties for the selected application.
repository application name
 Permanently Delete
Delete the selected application from the repository. This cannot be undone.

Please let us know if we could improve this page feedback@phixflow.com