To create or edit a screen, load your application then in the header bar, click  Screen. PhixFlow opens the screens window.

Opening an Existing Screen

1. To open an existing screen:
   • either, in the header bar, click  Screen and in the list, click on the screen name you want to open
   • or in the repository, expand your application's Screens section and double-click a screen name.
     Alternatively, right-click the name and select Display.
2. PhixFlow opens the screen in the canvas with the screen locked.
3. To unlock the screen for editing, right-click anywhere on the screen to open the popup menu and select  Unlock.
4. PhixFlow displays the toolbar for the screen so that you can begin to make changes.
5. Click  Palette to display the palette on the right. Drag components from the palette into the screen.

Unlocking and Locking a Screen for Editing

When you first open an existing screen in  Design Mode, it is locked so that you do not accidentally move any of the components. There is no canvas toolbar visible. To edit the screen, you must unlock it. Right-click on the canvas and select  Unlock. 

An unlocked screen has all the toolbar and pop-up menu options that you need to move components and edit their properties. If you click on a component, such as a button, PhixFlow opens its properties.

Creating a New Screen

1. To create a new screen:
   • either, in the header bar, click  Screen.
     PhixFlow displays the list of available screens with an  Add New button on the left.
   • or in the repository, expand your application's Screens section, which includes an  Add New button.
2. Click  Add New. PhixFlow opens a window with basic options for your screen. These options are saved in the screen properties.
   • Enter a Name for the screen.
   • By default, the screen opens maximised in the PhixFlow window.
     Untick Open Maximised if you want a popup window.
   • Select one of the screen layout options. To design your own, screen, select the empty layout.
3. PhixFlow creates a new screen with the selected layout.
   The screen is unlocked and the palette is open in the right panel.

More Screen Properties

There are additional screen properties that affect how the screen behaves. In the toolbar, click  to open the Screen properties in the right panel. Here are some example screen setups. 

For a popup screen, for example for data entry:

• in  → Basic Settings:
  • tick Always On Top
  • tick Allow Manual Resizing
• in  Style tab → Style Settings
  • set Position to Floating
  • PhixFlow has defaults for the size and position of a screen. To change these defaults, set:
    
    • the size of the window using Width and Height
    • the position of the window, using Top, Left, Right and Bottom.

For a maximised screen, for example to display data:

• in  → Basic Settings:
  • tick Open Maximised
  • untick Always On Top
• if you intend to make your own navigation or screen controls, untick Show Window Button Bar
• optionally, untick Allow user to resize.

Testing Screens

When you are creating and editing screens that make up an application, you are working in  Design Mode .

PhixFlow runs applications in  Application Mode, with only essential PhixFlow options displayed in the header bar. All other PhixFlow options are hidden. Instead the application user interacts with the screens and menus you have created.

To switch modes, click the icon in the right of the header bar.

When you have configured part of a screen, you may want to test how it behaves for an application user. For example, you may want to click a button and run its action, or have a URL component display its content. To do this:

• either, in  Design Mode, in the screen toolbar, click on  Lock.
• or, in the header bar on the right, click Application Mode to run your application as an application user.