Skip to end of metadata
Go to start of metadata

You are viewing an old version of this page. View the current version.

Compare with Current View Page History

« Previous Version 18 Next »

This page is for application designers who want to define a process using a workflow diagram, and then connect elements of the diagram to PhixFlow dashboards and actions in an application. This page describes properties

Overview

An actionflow diagram is made up of a series of nodes. Each node represents a specific action. By configuring different actions and wiring them together you can create complex functionality. This section describes the properties of the different action nodes. This page has the properties for the following nodes:

  • Save
  • Gateway
  • Open Screen
  • Open URL
  • Lookups
    • Request Query Lookup
    • Driving Query Lookup

For details of the calculate node, see Calculate Action Nodes

Adding Action Nodes

Connection Points

Everything in an actionflow is connected using connection points. They are blue when connected and grey when not connected. Find all the possible connection points below.

Icon

Connection PointRelevant toDescription

Interface Driving Connection Point

Input Interface

Output Interface

  • Defines the data attributes the actionflow is expecting as an input. This data is then used in the Actionflow using  Driving connections and remains constant.
  • Defines the data attributes the actionflow is expected to output. This data can then be mapped back onto components on the screen the action is being used.
  • Each instance of the actionflow will map in its own set of data onto the expected data inputs/outputs of the connection point.

Interface Request Connection Point

Input Interface

Output Interface

  • Defines the data (and events) the actionflow is expecting as an requested input. This data is then used in the actionflow using  Lookup connections and remains constant.
  • Each instance of the actionflow will map in its own set of data onto the expected data inputs.
Driving Output Connection Point

Input Data Components

 Calculate

Error rendering macro 'excerpt-include' : No link could be created for '_action_view_driving'.

 Gateway

 Actionflow

  • A data source which drives the actionflow. Data is pushed through the actionflow using  Driving connection's.
  • Data flows from the  Driving output connection point to the  Driving input connection point.
  • Has attributes which can be mapped to any  Driving input connection point only.

Driving Input Connection Point

Output Data Components

 Calculate

Error rendering macro 'excerpt-include' : No link could be created for '_action_view_driving'.

 Gateway

 Save Records

 Open Screen

 Open URL

 Run Analysis

 Gateway

  • A data receiver. Data is received from  Driving connection's.
  • Has attributes which can be mapped to any  Driving output connection point only.
Request Output Connection Point

Input Data Components

Error rendering macro 'excerpt-include' : No link could be created for '_action_view_request'.

  • Provides lookup data to the actionflow using  Lookup connection's.
  • Any node with a  Lookup input connection point can perform a lookup to a node with a  Lookup output connection point.
  • Has request attributes and data attributes
    • Request attributes are used in filtering. They are mapped to request attributes on the node performing the lookup. Request attributes are referenced in the nodes filter using
      req.[attributename]
      Data is flowing from the  Lookup input connection point to the  Lookup output connection point.
    • Data attributes are mapped to data attributes on the node performing the lookup. These attributes are the actual data that is being returned from the lookup.
      Data is flowing from the  Lookup output connection point to  Lookup input connection point
Request Input Connection Point

 Calculate

 Gateway

  • Performs a lookup to  Lookup output connection point's.
  • Has request attributes and data attributes
    • Request attributes are used in filtering. They are mapped to request attributes on the node being looked up to. Attributes that need to be sent to the node in order to filter the data must be added as request attributes.
      Data is flowing from the  Lookup input connection point to the  Lookup output connection point.
    • Data attributes are mapped to data attributes on the node being looked up to. These attributes are the actual data that is being received from the lookup.
      Data is flowing from the  Lookup output connection point to  Lookup input connection point

Action Nodes

The toolbar includes the following actions that you can drag onto the canvas.

 

Actions can be added to actionflows in 3 ways:

  1. Drag actions from the create section in the toolbar


  2. From existing action nodes
    Users can create new actions from connections from existing actions.


  3. Dragging the following items from the repository using
    •  List Screens
      Will create an  Open Screen node.

    •  List Tables
      Will ask the user if they would like to create a  Save Records node, 
      Error rendering macro 'excerpt-include' : No link could be created for '_action_view_driving'.
       node or 
      Error rendering macro 'excerpt-include' : No link could be created for '_action_view_request'.
       node.




    •  List Actionflows
      Will create an  Actionflow node. Doesn't do this yet



IconDescriptionConnection PointsHow to wire this action
Create

 Actionflow

Add another complete actionflow as a node within this actionflow.  This is useful to reuse existing actionflows, or to refactor a complex workflow by moving part of the logic to its own node.

 Driving input connection point

 Driving output connection point

 Lookup input connection point

The input and output connection points of the actionflow node must be wired into the rest of the actionflow.

Need to test to add detail

screen Screen

Add an action to open a specified dashboard (screen). Only use this action as the final node in an actionflow or branch of it. 

 Driving input connection point

Open screen nodes can be created with or without a screen attached. This is useful if the screen has not been created yet. Open screen nodes which do not have a screen attached appear with a warning symbol to remind users that this still needs to be configured.

 

Each open screen node has 1 primary input connection point by default called 'in'. Connecting to this connection point simply opens the screen and cannot pass any data to it. Do we still need this?

Once a screen has been attached to the open dashboard node an input connection point for each form on the screen is created. Each input connection point automatically has any data fields on the form (dynamic text or form fields) added as attributes. These attributes can be mapped to and supplied with data.

Each input connection point has the following properties:

  • Type
    This is always driving
  • Open Mode
    update: opens form fields with the latest data (not clear, refresh)
    insert: opens the screen with form fields empty (clear, not refresh)
    change: opens form fields with data (not clear, not refresh)
  • Role
    Primary: Simply opens the dashboard regardless of data
    Component: Opens the dashboard and can provide forms with data
  • Attributes
    A list of attributes available on the input connection point. These directly link to the fields available on the form. Only component connection points have attributes.

To set the actionflow to close the active dashboard on completion, on the top right of the canvas, tick Close Parent Dashboard.

Error rendering macro 'excerpt-include' : No link could be created for '_action_view_driving'.


Add a node for a data view. The actionflow uses views to grab additional data to use when processing stream-items.

 Driving input connection point

 Driving output connection point


Connect a view node to the action node that needs to look-up data via the  Lookup input connection point. A look-up connection has 2 parameters:

  • data attribute: the attribute in the view from which you want to look-up data. For example, the view may have the attribute staff_number that you require.
  • request attribute: the data returned by the look-up. This maps to an input on the destination point.
Error rendering macro 'excerpt-include' : No link could be created for '_action_view_request'.
Add a node for a data view. The actionflow uses views to look-up to additional data to use when processing stream-items. Lookup output connection point

 Calculate

Add an action to manipulate the data that is passed to the calculate action. In the calculate action, write an expression using one or more of the 115+ functions available in PhixFlow.

 Driving input connection point

 Driving output connection point

 Lookup input connection point


 Delete Records

Add an action to deletes the specified stream-items passed to the node.

 Driving input connection point
 Gateway

Add a node to specify decision logic. Gateways control the route that stream-items take as they flow through the actionflow.

 Driving input connection point

 Driving output connection point

 Lookup input connection point


 Save

Add a node to saves the specified stream-items to their stream.

 Driving input connection point
 Open URLAdd an action to open a specified URL. Driving input connection point
Taptbc

 Driving input connection point

 Driving output connection point


Task tbc

 Driving input connection point

 Driving output connection point


List
 ActionflowList actionflows available to your application.

screen ScreenList dashboards available to your application.


 List TablesList tables available to your application.




Properties

Parent Details

If this item is within or belongs to another, it's parent name is shown here. See the Common Properties page, Parent Details section for more details.

Basic Settings

Todo-Fiona - How do you specify the different types of gateway

FieldDescription
NameEnter the name for the action node.
Show in the Explorer

An application can have many actionflows, and an individual actionflow can have many actions. This can lead to many items being listed in the repository. Use this option to omit the action from the repository.

 Tick to display this action node in the repository.

 Untick to omit this action node from the repository.

Stream Item Action

Todo-Fiona- find out if this can be renamed to something else unless it really relates to existing stream item actions.

Available for save actions. Select the specific change to make to the stream-items:

  • Either: Todo-Fiona
  • Insert: create a new stream-item in the stream.
  • Update: change part of the stream-item in the stream.
  • Delete: delete the stream-item from the stream. Todo-Fiona- check about delete node, Adam think sit may be going away.


Terminology changes in progress

As part of the redesign of PhixFlow, we are changing the following terms:

dashboard → screen   
stream → table
stream attributes → attributes
stream item → record
stream set → recordset
stream view → view
stream item action → record-action 
stream action → table-action
driver class → database driver

Stream NameSelect the stream Todo-Fiona why isn't this identified by the parent of the attribute/stream-item?
Exclusive

Available for gateway actions. 

 Tick Todo-Fiona

 Untick Todo-Fiona

Input Connection Points

This section has a toolbar with standard buttonsThe grid contains a list of the wires that pass data into the action. 

To edit an existing connection, double-click its name in the list.

To add a new 

create a new attribute: click  Add New and set its properties. Todo-Fiona- why would this be useful

Drag add an existing attribute to this list Todo-Fiona- is this possible??

To remove attributes, select one and click  Delete

Calculate Action Expressions

Calculate actions process data using expressions; see pages in the topic Expressions and Scripts.

This section has a toolbar with standard buttonsThe grid contains a list of the expressions that the calculate action will perform. To add a new expression:

  • Click  Add New to open a new expression and set the properties.

To remove attributes, select one and click  Permanently Delete. Todo-Fiona- check icon and label.

Output Connection Points

Todo-Fiona

 Security Tab

Access Permissions

See the Common Properties page, Access Permissions section.

Access Permissions section is available for gateway actions.

Description

We recommend that you always enter a description to explain the purpose of this item.

 Audit Tab

Audit Summary

See the Common Properties page, Audit Summary section.

Pop-up Toolbar

Todo-Fiona

  • Under what circumstances does the pop-up toolbar appear
  • screenshot
OptionDescription






Pop-up Menu

OptionDescription
Permanantly Delete with a Cross not a bin
Show Action Instance Details → Show properties




  • No labels