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This page is for application designers who want to design re-usable layout components and add them to palettes.

Overview

The easiest way to design a screen for an application is to:

  • create a dashboard; see Dashboard
  • drag in pre-designed layout components from the palette. For information about the palettes that can be installed with PhixFlow, see pages in the Using Palettes and Themes topic.

Layout components in a palette have been designed to have consistent formats; see pages in the  Styles and Formats topic.

If you have a specific layout component that you want to reuse on multiple screens, you can make a template of the component, then add it to a new or existing palette.

For Layouts and Layout Templates the repository does not have a context menu option to add a new one. 

Making a Layout Template

  1. Design your layout component and set all the style options you require.
  2. In the dashboard, right-click the layout component and select  Find in Repository.
  3. In the repository, right-click the layout component name.
  4. From the context menu, select Copy as a Template.
  5. PhixFlow opens a new property tab. This is a copy of the original component, with the Template property ticked. It is saved in the Layout Template section of the repository. 
  6. Edit the name to reflect that this component is now a template.

We recommend that you add a layout template to a Palette:

  1. Open the repository and palette. Drag one of the tabs into the workspace to show the tabs side-by-side.
  2. Drag the layout template from the repository into the palette.

Reusing Components in Dashboards

To use a layout template, simply drag it into the dashboard:

  • either from the repository Layout Template 
  • or from the palette.

When you drag in the component, PhixFlow prompts you to add a name. PhixFlow saves the copy in your application as a layout component, using the new name. This means that changing a template

  • does not change the components that have already been copied from it. 
  • new copies will have the change.

To be able to change the appearance of existing copies of a layout template:

configure the formatting in a style,

Add the style to the layout templates Shared Styles; see Style and Shared Styles and Style Order.

Managing Layout Templates 

When you use a style or layout template in your dashboards, they become part of your application. To successfully move an application to a different PhixFlow instance, you must include the layout template and styles in the export. Consider adding your application, and any items it uses, such as templates and styles, to a package, to ensure they are all included in an export; see Package.

Use the Administration menu options Export Full Configuration or Open Export Pane to include the templates and styles in your package; see Export Pane  and Import Configuration.


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