Actions

Actions refer to specific controls or operations that respond to an event or input. They range from simple operations like clicking a submit button or navigating to a previous screen to more complex tasks like data interaction.

  • Actions can be configured locally within a jig or globally to be re-used in multiple jigs.

  • Actions can be configured at the root level of a jig, inside a component or in the index file.

Types of actions

Actions allow you to do many things in an app; below are the types of actions that can be configured when creating a solution.

For the complete list and code examples of available actions, see actions.

Where to add actions

In a Jig

You can configure actions in various places in the jig file, depending on what you need. To create an action as a button that appears at the bottom of the screen, place the actions: property at the root level in the YAML, and as the last set of properties in the YAML. The actions: property has a title: property used for the text on the button.

action-button
# Edit customer button to navigate to the newCustomer jig
actions:
  - children:
      - type: action.go-to
        options:
          title: Edit Customer
          linkTo: updateCustomer
          parameters:
            custId: [email protected]

In a list

A combination of different actions can be configured throughout a list jig, as shown in the example below. Use parameters or expressions such as [email protected] to get the context specific detail you need. Actions can also be added to the swipeable elements of a list for example, swipe left to delete a list item.

actions-list
title: List Customers
description: Show a list of all customers in a SQL database.
type: jig.list
icon: contact

header:
  type: component.jig-header
  options:
    height: medium
    children:
      type: component.image
      options:
        source:
          uri: https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1553413077-190dd305871c?ixlib=rb-4.0.3&ixid=MnwxMjA3fDB8MHxwaG90by1wYWdlfHx8fGVufDB8fHx8&auto=format&fit=crop&w=1035&q=80

# onFocus is triggered whenever the jig is displayed. The sync-entities action calls the Jigx SQL function and populates the local SQLite tables on the device with the data returned from Azure SQL.
onFocus:
  type: action.sync-entities
  options:
    provider: DATA_PROVIDER_SQL
    entities:
      - entity: customers
        function: get-customers

datasources:
  mydata:
    type: datasource.sqlite
    options:
      provider: DATA_PROVIDER_LOCAL

      entities:
        - entity: customers

      query: |
        SELECT
          id,
          '$.first_name',
          '$.last_name',
          '$.email',
          '$.phone_number',
          '$.address_line1',
          '$.address_line2',
          '$.city',
          '$.state',
          '$.zip_code',
          '$.country'
        FROM
          [customers]
        ORDER BY '$.first_name'

data: [email protected]
item:
  type: component.list-item
  options:
    title: [email protected]_name & ' ' & @ctx.current.item.last_name
    subtitle: [email protected]
    description: |
      [email protected]_line1 & ' ' & 
        @ctx.current.item.city & ' ' & 
        @ctx.current.item.state  & ' ' & 
        @ctx.current.item.zip_code
    label:
      title: [email protected]
    leftElement:
      element: avatar
      text: =$substring(@ctx.current.item.first_name,0,1) & $substring(@ctx.current.item.last_name,0,1)
    divider: solid
    # A go-to action is triggered when pressing on a list item.
    onPress:
      type: action.go-to
      options:
        # The name of the jig to navigate to when the item is pressed.
        linkTo: viewCustomer
        parameters:
          # The id column of the current item being pressed on is passed as a parameter called customerId to the viewCustomer jig.
          customerId: [email protected]

# Add customer button to navigate to the newCustomer jig
actions:
  - children:
      - type: action.go-to
        options:
          title: Add Customer
          linkTo: newCustomer
          parameters:
            custId: =$uuid_v4()

In the index file

For best performance when working with data, is to get the data when the solution loads in the Jigx App. This is achieved by using the onLoad action in the index file which will ensure the data is available from the beginning and throughout the rest of the app.

index.jigx
widgets:
  - size: 1x1
    jigId: home-hub
# Configure the Onload to sync the salesforce data to the device when the app 
# is opened.
onLoad:
  type: action.action-list
  options:
    actions:
      - type: action.sync-entities
        options:
          provider: DATA_PROVIDER_SALESFORCE
          entities:
            - entity: Account
            - entity: Opportunity
            - entity: OpportunityStage
            - entity: User
            - entity: UserRole
            - entity: Territory2

Executing multiple actions

To execute a series of actions use the action-list, this allows you to configure multiple actions as a group. The isSequential property on the action-list is important as it determines when the actions are executed.

  • False executes the actions randomly

  • True executes the actions from the top down and waits for the action to complete before executing the next action in the list, making it important to list the actions in the correct order.

action-list
onFocus:
  type: action.action-list
  options:
    # actions set to execute one after the other starting at the first action
    # in the list.
    isSequential: true
    actions:
      # first action to execute.
      - type: action.set-state
        options:
          state: [email protected]
          value: focused
      # second action execute after the first action completes.
      - type: action.sync-entities
        options:
          provider: DATA_PROVIDER_DYNAMIC
          entities:
            - default/employees

Local actions

Local actions are configured inside the jig and only execute on that specific jig, for example creating a button with an action at the bottom of the jig or in a list jig when swiping left or right.

Global actions

Often, the actions called during onRefresh, onLoad, and onFocus are exactly the same; this means that YAML is duplicated, which leads to bloat and possible issues when making changes. Global actions allow you to define the action once and reuse it multiple times in different jigs.

  • You can configure the global action with inputs if an action requires context-specific values.

  • These global actions can be called from mutiple areas, not just lifecycle events like onFocus.

  • By using the action.execute-action provides greater control that enables this reuse when the same actions need to be performed in multiple places. For example, action.sync-entities might be called during app initialization, again when data changes, or when only a specific subset of data needs to be synced. By using execute-action, you can easily reuse the granular actions that handle the actual work, reducing duplication and improving maintainability.

Global actions
Global actions

Configure global actions

Global actions are added under the actions folder in Jigx Builder.

  1. Create a jigx file under the Action folder.

  2. Auto-completion pops up with the list of available actions.

  3. Select the required action and configure the properties' values.

  4. Using expressions will provide a list of available global options such as actions, expressions, and datasources.

action
action:
  type: action.execute-entity
  options:
    provider: DATA_PROVIDER_DYNAMIC
    entity: default/contacts
    method: update
    onSuccess:
      description: Contact Updated
      title: Contact Updated
    data:
      id: [email protected]
      name: [email protected]
      email: [email protected]
parameters:
  id:
    type: string
    required: true
  name:
    type: string
    required: true
  email:
    type: string
    required: true

Call the global action in a jig or index.jigx

  1. Open the jig where you want to call the global action.

  2. Use IntelliSense (ctrl+space) to list the available actions and select the Execute Action option action.execute-action.

  3. Configure the action property by selecting the global action file from the list of global action files.

  4. The when: proprerty can be used to determine when the global action must execute in a jig.

jig-call-action
actions:
  - children:
      # use the action.execute-action to reference the global action
      - type: action.execute-action
        options:
          title: Update Work details
          action: update-details
          parameters:
            id: [email protected]
            name: [email protected]
            email: [email protected]

Configure contextual values

When configuring a global action you cannot use [email protected] in the file as there is no context to the current item or it's value, instead configure parameters in the global actions file that can be referenced in the jig. The following parameter is configurable in global actions [email protected]. In turn configure the parameter value in the jig with [email protected] or [email protected].

action:
  type: action.execute-entity
  options:
    provider: DATA_PROVIDER_DYNAMIC
    entity: default/contacts
    method: update
    onSuccess:
      description: Contact Updated
      title: Contact Updated
    # set the global jig parameters
    data:
      id: [email protected]
      name: [email protected]
      email: [email protected]
parameters:
  id:
    type: string
    required: true
  name:
    type: string
    required: true
  email:
    type: string
    required: true

Considerations

  1. When creating sub-folders under the actions folder, ensure that the jigx file names in each folder are unique. Files with the same name will result in only the first action file being available in the IntelliSense list.

  2. Certain types of actions have been omitted as they rely on context from the jig they are defined in, and the context cannot be supplied using parameters, these are:

    • action.submit.form is not available in global actions because the configuration is specific for each form using the formId.

    • action.open-scanner action is not available in global actions.

  3. The when: proprerty can be used to determine when the global action executes in a jig.

  4. Actions can be combined with components in the UI, for example summary component.

  5. When using the actions.action-list as a global action you can call another global action in the global action list.

action:
  # execute multiple actions seqentially using the action-list
  type: action.action-list
  options:
    isSequential: true
    actions:
      - type: action.go-to
        options:
          linkTo: detail-list
      # reference another global action file by using execute action and 
      # ctrl+space to select available global action files.
      - type: action.execute-action
        options:
          action: sync-data

Working with parent & child actions

When configuring actions across parent and child jigs, the following behavior applies:

  • If both the parent and child jigs have an action configured, the child’s configuration takes precedence and overrides the parent’s.

  • If only the parent has an action, it automatically applies to the child.

  • If only the child has an action, it is used in the parent jig as well.

See Also

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