Note: Nintex Apps data centers are located in West US and Australia (AUS). In-region processing of Nintex Apps data is only available in these regions.

Action Flows

Action flows are sets of actions within Nintex Apps used to interact with data, the user interface, connections, and page logic. Flows can activated from a variety of triggers—row actions, buttons, model actions, etc.—where these actions are configured.

Some common action flow examples include:

  • Create a single button in a popup that both saves model data and closes the popup.
  • Create a row action that opens a popup, applies specified model conditions, and updates fields—all with one click.
  • Create a button that toggles a component on or off, or opens and closes a sliding pane.
  • Build an action script that creates a document in the cloud, sends an email, and u pdates a connected record.

Important:  Context is critical with actions: they may only work with a specific record or set of records— and not work with others.

The Action flows screen

The Action flows tab, when selected, brings up a new screen in the Page Designer—replacing the page canvas with an action flow canvas and two different panels. All action flows in the page are centralized here.

The left-most panel lists the page’s action flows. You can view, create, and organize flows in this panel. The Component Bound section within this panel displays flows that are specific to certain components and are not reusable.

The canvas displays the action flow visually. At the top of the canvas, a list of triggers indicates the elements or events that initiate an action flow. Triggers, such as a button click, display icons that, when clicked, navigate to the corresponding element in the Page Designer.

The Properties panel on the right side displays configurable settings for the selected element in the canvas. The properties available in this panel vary depending on whether a trigger or an action is selected. When no specific action is selected, the panel shows basic settings for the flow, including the flow’s Name and Description fields, as well as any available Inputs.

When an action is selected in the canvas, that action’s properties appear in the Properties panel.

To add a new action:

  1. Click the + (Plus) Add action button within the canvas area. The action selection modal appears, where actions are organized into core actions and connector actions.
  2. Click the desired action.
  3. Once an action is selected, click Create to add it to the flow. The newly created action appears in the canvas.

To remove an action:

  1. Click the desired action. The actions toolbar appears.
  2. Click the More options icon.
  3. Click the Remove.

Skipping actions

When troubleshooting a series of actions, it’s helpful to isolate individual actions to determine which one is causing problems. You can choose to skip an action to see how eliminating it affects the series, and resume that action later.

To skip an action:

  1. Click the desired action. The actions toolbar appears.
  2. Click the More options icon.
  3. Click the Skip.

To reenable a skipped action:

  1. Click the desired action. The actions toolbar appears.
  2. Click the More options icon.
  3. Click the Enable.

Inputs

Inputs allow each trigger for an action flow to have different values. Each time the action flow is called, the various inputs can be set.

To add inputs to an action sequence:

  1. Click the Inputs tab in the Properties panel.
  2. Click Add Input.
  3. Set the input's Name and Type.

To use the value of an input within the action flow—for example, to use a Value-type input within a Model Condition-type input—use the name of your input, namespaced within the $Input merge variable, in merge syntax.

For example:

{{$Input.TheInputToUse}}

Note: Ensure that $Input is capitalized.

Whenever the action flow is selected in a trigger area, the various inputs will appear.

Action trigger areas

Trigger areas can be set:

Note: Model actions are added directly to the model.

Add action flows

Add actions to pages and components by selecting an "actionable" element to open its properties and access the Actions or Interactions tab. (Most components have at least one element that can have actions added to it.)

  1. Click Add an action flow.
  2. Select an existing action flow or create a new one.
  3. If needed, set any required inputs.

Remove an action flow

To remove an action:

  1. Click More options.
  2. Click Remove. The trigger returns to an unbound state.

Interactions

Interactions trigger flows based on typical ways an end user may interact with a page element or component.

Interactions can be configured via the Interactions on various elements. Options vary, but may include:

  • Click
  • Right click
  • Hotkeys
  • Events

Hotkeys, sometimes called shortcut keys, are predefined combinations of keys that activate a series of actions. A sequence's initiating hotkeys can be configured in the Hotkeys tab.

Properties

  • Modifiers (optional): The key or keys to be pressed in combination with a standard key, to execute a specified action or set of actions. Though modifier keys are optional, it is best practice to pair a modifier with a standard key to avoid accidental activation of a sequence. Modifer keys include:
  • Alt
  • Control
  • Command
  • Shift
  • Key: The standard key that is paired with the modifier to start the action sequence. Standard keys include:
    • Letters A-Z
    • Any arrow key
    • Any function key (F1-F12)
    • Backspace/Delete
    • Delete Right
    • End
    • Home
    • Page Down/Up
    • Tab
  • Ignore hotkey if end user is typing in input element: If checked, the action sequence will not activate if the user's cursor is within an input field, such as a Table or search form. This ensures the action sequence is not triggered accidentally and prevents a hotkey from potentially overriding a system-level hotkey combination, like copy/paste or arrow keys.

Additional action triggers

Note: When you add row, global, or mass actions to a Table component, the resulting buttons possess the same Button and Button Group properties as those for Ink Button Set.

Row Actions

Row actions are record-level actions represented by row buttons that use a record on the component as the context. Use Row Actions to add actions that affect individual records, such as emailing a lead, or opening a Table drawer to see more details on an account.

Note: Use the Show/hide menu action to add a dropdown menu to the row action.

Row actions use standard display logic options to display or hide rows.

These conditions govern when an element or component will display.

  • Render if...: The conditions that must be met to enable the element's display.

    • ALL conditions are met
    • ANY conditions are met
    • Custom logic is met
      • Condition logic: The custom logic for grouping and applying one or more conditions.

  • If hidden, model field changes should be: ( only available on Field rendering tabs ) If the field is hidden by conditional rendering, this property determines whether any changes made to this field (via an action flow or JavaScript) are saved in the model, or canceled.

    Note:  Updating fields without direct user input can lead to poor user experience, especially when the user may be unaware that field changes are occuring.

    • Retained in model ( the default)
    • Cancelled

These conditions govern when a displayed element may or may not be enabled for use.

  • Enable if...: The model conditions that must be met to enable the field's editing.
    • ALL conditions are met
    • ANY conditions are met
    • Custom logic is met
      • Condition logic: The custom logic for grouping and applying one or more conditions.
  • Message to show when disabled: A brief explanation for why the field is disabled.

These conditions govern which style variant is applied and displayed on a component or element.

Note: 

You can create one, or more, style variant conditions and set each individually.

  1. Click Add a new condition to add a new style variant condition.
  2. C lick the new style variant condition and configure.

When Nintex Apps executes the display logic, the style variant conditions are evaluated in order.

  • Use this Style Variant if...: The model conditions that must be met to enable the styling.

    • ALL conditions are met
    • ANY conditions are met
    • Custom logic is met
      • Condition logic: The custom logic for grouping and applying one or more conditions.
    • Style variant: The style variant to be rendered if conditions are met.

Global actions

Global actions are component-level actions represented by buttons at the top of the component. These actions do not receive context (data from a specific row or area). , they are used to activate more generalized sets of actions (like opening a popup containing the Wizard component to walk the end user through creating a new record).

Button Set or Header components are often used in lieu of global actions. However, if you want to reinforce that a set of actions is specifically associated with the component's data, use a global action.

Mass actions

Mass actions display when an end user selects a row in a component and perform their action script upon those selected rows. Each selected row becomes context for the action. To allow users to select multiple records and then to perform actions on them—for example, updating or deleting multiple records—use a mass action.

Note: Located at the top of the component, mass action buttons only display when one or more rows are selected; the Mass Action then applies to all selected rows.