View Node

Owned by Sarah Gibson (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Sept 29, 2022 by Anthony George
3 min read

This page is for application designers who need to configure functionality for components or events. It explains the properties for the view node, which is part of an actionflow.

Overview

When you are designing screens, you use a view to select and filter data for display. In an actionflow, the originating screen or component may not include all of the data that the actionflow requires. In this case, use a   View node to select and filter additional data to use in the actionflow.

How the actionflow processes the view data depends on whether the view is wired via a driving or lookup connection.

  • For a driving connection, records are returned individually to the view node and flow one by one through the remainder of the actionflow.

  • For a lookup connection, the records are returned as an array within one recordset. Lookup views require both:
    • Data Attributes: the attributes being passed into the view node. 
    • Request Attributes: the attributes from which you need to lookup data.

When you create a view node, PhixFlow prompts you to select the table on which this view is based. PhixFlow opens the Attributes window and the view node properties.

Drag attributes from the Attributes window and onto the Data Attributes or Request Attributes sections. You can add attributes from the base table and from related tables..

 Properties Tab

Property Pane Toolbar

For information about the toolbar options, see the Common Properties page, Toolbars and Controls section.

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

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

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

 Tick to display this node in the repository.

 Untick to omit this node from the repository.

Subtype

Read-only. PhixFlow displays the type, selected when the the view node was created. Types are

  • Streaming - a driving view
  • Requested - a lookup view

This miight be changing as the query may be option

Default Sort Order

Select a sort order, or click  Add New  to create a new one; see Sort Order.

The sort order determines the order the data is retrieved. 

Default Filter

Select a filter, or click  Add New to create a new one; see Sort Order.

A filter determines what data is retrieved. To reference attributes present in the Filter Attributes, use _filter.[AttributeName].

Include History Records

 Tick to include superseded records in the view data.

Data Range

Select the data range that the view node will use:

  • All: use all the data 
  • Latest: use only the latest data.

Input Connection Points

This section has a toolbar with standard buttons. View nodes can have:
  • one  Driving input connection point
  • one  Lookup input connection point

The grid contains a list of all input connection points and their type.

  • To add a new input connection point, in the section toolbar click  Add New to open a new input connection point and set its properties; see Input Connection Points.
  • To edit an existing input connection point, double-click it in the list to open its properties.
  • To remove an input connection point, select one and in the section toolbar click  Delete.

Data Attributes

This section has a toolbar with standard buttons. The grid contains a list of the attributes in the view. Click  to show the list of attributes for the primary table. Drag the attributes you want to add to the view into this list.

In the list:

  • to edit the attribute's properties, double-click an attribute; see View Attribute
  • to delete an attribute, right-click and select  Delete  
FieldDescription
NameEnter the name for the action node.
AttributeWhy does this let you go to another properties that are basically the same??
Type

Select the type of data this attribute contains; see Understanding Data Types.

  • String
  • Bigstring
  • Integer
  • Float
  • Decimal
  • Date
  • Datetime
  • Graphic
  • TrueFalse
Order

The order of the attribute. Attribute expressions are evaluated in this order. 

This is important when you need to use the results of a calculation in another attribute:

  • either in its expression
  • or in a $ variable.

In the attribute list, the attribute that calculates the result must come before the attribute that requires the result.

Request Attributes

Available for view nodes connected via a lookup input connection point.

This section has a toolbar with standard buttons. The grid contains a list of the attributes from which this view node will look for data. In the list:

  • To create a new attribute: click  Add New and set the Name and Type; see Attribute.
  • To change its properties, double-click an attribute in the list; see View Attribute
  • To delete an attribute, right-click and select  Delete.

Map the request attribute to an attribute in a table.

Description

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

 Access and Audit Tab

 Security Tab

Access Permissions

See the Common Properties page, Access Permissions section.

 Audit Tab

Audit Summary

See the Common Properties page, Audit Summary section.

Sections on this page

Learn More

For links to all pages in this topic, see Understanding Actionflows. 


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