Screen Structure

Owned by Fiona Sargeant (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Dec 30, 2022 by Anthony George

Overview

A screen is made up of components (the smallest building block) and layouts (a group of components) arranged into layers. Components are areas, static text labels and fields, which display data from a table. Multi-component layouts can be simple, such a a label and a field, or more complex parts of a screen with responsive design, these are called tiles. Layouts can also be full screens.

Screen Layers

A typical screen has a layered structure, in which one layer is the parents for another layer. This structure, combined with appropriate styling, creates a responsive design that adapts to both desktop and mobile devices. The nested structure for screens is illustrated below. Click on the image to make it larger: 

Components

Components are the most basic building blocks that are combined to design a screen.

Components are available from any palette. For example, one of the Theme 2.1 palettes has the Basic Layouts. For every component you add, you need to give it a name and specify the formatting using the Component properties. It's a good idea to include a meaningful description too.

The basic components are:

Containers

Data Fields

Text Fields

Data Components

Containers are designed to hold other components

Data fields are designed to display data from an attribute.

Text fields are designed to be labels.

Data components may not be available on the palette. Instead, your application has default components that it uses when you drag a table or attribute onto the screen canvas. PhixFlow prompts you to choose a:

  • area
  • form
  • card container
  • true/false field
  • date field
  • date-time field
  • number field
  • string field
  • URL display
  • drop-down
  • fixed drop-down
  • dynamic text: text varies depends on backing data.
  • static text: you specify the text you want to appear
  • grid
  • pie chart
  • line graph
  • horizontal bar graph
  • vertical bar graph
  • card

Layouts

Layouts are groups of preconfigured components. You can create these yourself by combining components or you can use the layouts from a palette (recommended). For example, a simple layout for a tile is illustrated below:

  • Tile is an area container with styling to control its size and the layout of its child components.
    • Header is an area which contains
      • an icon 
      • a static text text field for the header.
    • Body, in the illustration, the body area is empty. This is where you can add data components, such as a grid displaying table data, or form fields. The body area has styling to control its size and the layout of its child components. It also has spacing around its edge.
    • Footer, area which contains a set of buttons. 
      The application user will use the buttons to make changes to data will appear in the body.

Finding Layouts and Components

It can be very useful to find a layout, component or container. There are two ways to do this:

Using Layers

The Layers pane is expandable from the left of the screen canvas. Select an item:

  • on the canvas to highlight it in the Layers pane
  • in the Layouts pane to highlight it on the canvas.

If the layer section is not visible click  Show/Hide Layer Panel. 

Using Find in Repository

Right-click any item on an unlocked screen and select  Find in Repository Alternatively, to search the repository, expand the Components section and navigate to the component. The position of the components on a screen is reflected in their order and nesting in the repository list. 


To check whether a component is shared with multiple applications, open its properties and check the Parent Details section, which names the application or package to which the component belongs. For example a component that is shared between several applications has a package as its parent; see Package.

Moving Components

When you move a component or layout, you drag it onto another component. 

  • drag and drop places a component next to the component on which you drop. This creates a sibling relationship. 
  • shift+drag and drop places a component into the component on which you drop. This creates a parent-child relationship.

If you drag a component that is a parent, all its children move with it.

  See Moving Components on a Screen.