Action Javascript for the UX
Description
Action Javascript adds functionality to your app by defining behaviors using property sheets. The code required to perform the actions is generated for you. These articles cover a wide variety of actions available in the UX Component.
UX Actions
- Action
- Description
- Absolute Layout Container - Create PDF
Create a PDF file from the contents of an Absolute Layout container.
- Add Alternative Login to Current User
Add account credentials for an alternative login provider such as Google.
- Advanced Export to Excel, Word, HTML, or Ascii using a Report Definition
Export data to Excel, Word, HTML or Ascii using a Report Definition
- Ajax Callback
Define a user-defined ajax callback. The callback can be handled by an Xbasic function that is defined in the component, by a separate .a5w page, or by another page (.e.g., .php, .asp, etc.)
- Ajax Callback - Cross Domain
Define a user-defined cross-domain ajax callback.
- Chart Control Actions
Perform some action on a Chart control (e.g. refresh the chart, export to PDF, etc.).
- City, State Lookup from Zip Code
For a given zip code, lookup the city and state on the USPS web site and fill in the city and state in the current record.
- Clear a Search a Grid Component that is Embedded into a UX component
For use in conjunction with the 'Search a Grid Component that is Embedded into a UX' action. Clears the search form in the UX and removes the filter from the embedded Grid.
- Client-side Data Cache Actions
Perform some action on an item in the Client-side Data Cache (e.g. read the data, refresh the data, etc.).
- Delete Alternative Login for Current User
Delete account credentials for an alternative login provider such as Google.
- Delete Record
Deletes a record from the Primary Table in a Data Bound UX component.
- Dial Telephone Open SMS client
Dial a telephone number or open the SMS client application to send a SMS message.
- Display a 'Wait...' message
Display a 'wait...' message when an javascript event happens. The message can include customized text, different display times, as well as custom animations and images.
- Editor Actions
Perform some action on an Editor in an Editor set.
- Enable or Disable a Button
Set a button's state to either enabled, or disabled.
- Fade Out Message
The Fade Out Message action displays a message on the screen for a short period of time. The message fades away after a specified duration.
- File Download
Download a file from the server to the user's machine.
- File Upload
Upload a file to the server and store a reference to the file in a Grid field, or embed the file in a Drid field.
- File Upload - Amazon S3 Storage or Alpha Anywhere Server
Upload one or more files to Amazon S3 or to the Alpha Anywhere server.
- File Upload - User Defined
Upload one or more files to the server. A server-side event then gets called to allow you to process the uploaded files.
- Filter Records in a List Control
Create a highly customized 'Search Part' to filter the records shown in a List control.
- Form View Control Actions
Perform some action on a Form View control.
- Geocode an address
Makes an Ajax callback to a web service to geocode an address. Fill in the latitude and longitude fields in the current record with the information.
- Geolocation Functions
Get geolocation information from the browser and store information in the current Grid/UX component object (e.g. if you are in a Grid, the data is stored in the {grid.object}.geoLocation object). (Requires an HTML5 browser).
- Get Primary Key values for Records in Query
Execute a query and then retrieve the primary key values for the parent table of a Data Bound UX component. (IMPORTANT: This action is intended for an event on a UX component).
- Google Map Method (UX Component)
Call a method to perform some action on a Google Map. Actions that you can perform include: Clearing markers, opening or closing an info box, adding a marker to the map, centering the map on an address, setting the map zoom factor.
- Hide/Close a window
Close a pop-up Window.
- Hide/Close Container Window
Hide (i.e. closes) a Container Window.
- Hide/Close PanelOverlay Window
Hides (i.e. closes) a PanelOverlay window. You can optionally animate the window as hidden.
- Image Capture for List-Detail View - Camera/Photo Library
This action is used exclusively for image fields in a List Detail View. Capture an image using the camera, or from the photo library. On devices that don't support a camera, select an image from the filesystem.
- Image Capture - Camera/Photo Library
Capture an image using the camera, or from the photo library. On devices that don't support a camera, select an image from the filesystem. Action calls a function with the Image URI when the image has been obtained.
- Image Delete
Delete an image from an image field.
- Image Upload
Upload an image file to the server.
- Inline-Javascript
Allows developer to enter javascript code. Unlike most other actions there are no properties to check for the Inline-Javascript action, just the code you want to fire.
- Link a Grid that has been embedded into a UX component
Unlike the 'Search a Grid Component that is Embedded into a UX' action which applies a filter to an embedded Grid, this action Links the embedded Grid.
- List Control Actions
Perform some action on a List control (e.g. refresh the List, etc) in a UX Component.
- Lock/unlock a container, DIV or entire page (by showing an overlay over it)
Lock a container, DIV or entire page by showing an overlay over it so that the user can't click on the controls under the overlay, or unlock the element.
- Login with Alternative Login Provider
Login using account credentials from an alternative login provider such as Google.
- Lookup and Fill-in Fields
Lookup values in a table and fill-in fields in the current row from fields in the Lookup Table.
- Menus
Display a dropdown menu.
- Merge data into client-side template
Merge Javascript into a client-side template and set the inner HTML to the result.
- Message box
Displays a Javascript alert box on the screen.
- New Record
Displays a new record.
- Open a AppLauncher component
Open a AppLauncher component in a pop-up window, or in a DIV on the current page.
- Open a Calendar component
Open a Calendar component in a pop-up window, or in a DIV on the current page.
- Open a Custom component
Open a Custom component in a pop-up window, or in a DIV on the current page.
- Open a Google Map component
Open a Google Map component in a pop-up window, or in a DIV on the current page.
- Open a Grid component
Opens a grid component in a pop-up window, or in a DIV on the current page. This requires first defining a grid component.
- Open a Help Window
Open a window to display a help topic from the Help Table.
- Open a ImageGallery component
Open a ImageGallery component in a pop-up window, or in a DIV on the current page.
- Open a Page Layout component
Open a Page Layout component in a pop-up window, or in a DIV on the current page.
- Open a Pop-up Ajax Window/Overlay
Open a generic, pop-up window (often called an overlay). The window can be modal, or modeless, and can be populated by making an Ajax callback.
- Open a Report, Label or Letter layout
Displays a report, label or letter layout as a PDF file using the Acrobat PDF reader. The report is displayed in either a pop-up window or in a DIV on the current page.
- Open a UX as an alternate editing view for current record
Open a UX component in a pop-up window, or in a DIV on the current page, to edit the record currently being edited in the Grid or UX component.
- Open a UX component
Opens an UX component in a pop-up window, or in a DIV on the current page. (Only new Ajax components can be opened. Old dialogs built in V10 and earlier are not supported.
- Open a UX component to Edit Current Record in Grid, or add a new Record
Open an UX component in a pop-up window, or in a DIV on the current page, to edit the current row in a Grid component or to enter a new record. (Only new Ajax Components can be opened. Old Dialogs in V10 and earlier are not supported.)
- Open a UX component to Edit Current Record in List Control in a UX, or add a new Record to a List Control in a UX
Open a UX component in a pop-up window, or in a DIV on the current page, to edit the current page, to edit the current row in a List control in a UX component or to enter a new record into a List. (Applies only to Lists based on SQL or DBF data sources).
- Open a Video Player component
Open a Video Player component in a pop-up window, or in a DIV on the current page.
- Open an .a5w page, static HTML page, URL, or PDF document, in a pop-up window or a DIV
Open an .a5w page, static HTML page, URL, or PDF document, in a pop-up window or a DIV
- Panel Actions
Perform some action on a Panel (e.g. setting focus to the next or previous Panel, or to a particular named panel).
- PDF from HTML
Get the HTML inside a container and convert to PDF.
- PhoneGap - File Download
Download one or more files and store the files in the filesystem on the mobile device. Uses the Cordova FileTransfer feature. (Only applies to UX components running in a Cordova shell.)
- PhoneGap - File System Actions
Performs actions with the mobile device file system such as creating, reading, deleting file, creating directories, etc. (Only applies to UX components running in a Cordova shell.)
- PhoneGap - File System Actions (File URI Based)
Performs actions with the mobile device file system such as creating, reading, deleting file, creating directories, deleting directories, etc. (Only applies to UX components running in a Cordova shell.)
- PhoneGap - File Upload
Upload one or more files to either the Alpha Anywhere server or to the Amazon S3 using the PhoneGap File Transfer feature. (Only applies to UX components running in a Cordova shell.)
- PhoneGap - Notifications
Display or initiate a native notification (for example, beep, native alert/prompt/confirmation, vibrate, etc.)
- PhoneGap - Send SMS message
Send a SMS message.
- PhoneGap - SQLite Actions
Performs actions with the SQLite database on the device. Also allows you to download a SQLite database from the server to the mobile device and create a SQLite database on the server and download it to the device.
- Populate Controls in a UX Component with data from Tables
Populate the controls in a UX component with the data from Tables. (IMPORTANT: This action is intended for an event on a UX component).
- Populate controls in an UNBOUND UX component with data from a table
Populates controls in a UX component with data from a table. Use this action (rather than the 'Populate Controls in a UX Component with data from Tables' action) if the UX component has not been bound to a database (see the 'Data Binding' pane in the builder).
- Refresh/synchronize embedded UX component
Updates the argument values in the child UX component and refreshes the data shown in List controls and other controls that are based on data Series. Also causes the embedded UX component's 'onSynchronizeDialog' (client-side) and 'onSynchronize' (server-side) events to fire.
- Run a report that is embedded in a UXcomponent using a custom filter for the report
Create a highly customized 'Search Part' for a Report. Allows you to submit a UX component that contains 'search' fields to compute a filter expression and then run the report using the computed filter expression.
- Run Action
The Run Action runs an action that was defined using Javascript.
- Search a Grid Component that is Embedded into a UX component
Create a highly customized 'Search Part' for a Grid. Allows you to submit a UX component that contains 'search' fields to compute a filter expression and then filter a Grid component that has been embedded into the UX component.
- Send email
This javascript action sends an email.
- Show PanelOverlay Window
Show a PanelOverlay window. You can optionally animate the window as it is shown.
- Stripe - Process Stripe Payment
Process payment using Stripe. See also the Stripe Genie....
- Toggle display of a container or DIV with animation
Adds toggle animation to a DIV or container. When the action is run the dive or container will be shown or hidden using a specified animation such as 'slide' or 'puff'. Different animations can be specified for the show and hide events.
- Update, Insert or Delete data. (for use with an UNBOUND component)
Updates, inserts or deletes a record in a table using data submitted from a control on a UX component. The UX component need not have been 'Data Bound' in order to use this action.
- Video Player Control Actions
Perform some type of action on a video player control.
- ViewBox Control Actions
Perform some action on a ViewBox control (e.g. refresh the ViewBox, etc.)
- Web-sockets Server Actions
Performs an action on the web-socket server, such as 'Send a message to the web-sockets server'. The message will be received by all UX and Grid components that are listening for web-socket messages and the 'webSocketOnMessage client-side event in all listening components will fire.
- Zip Code Lookup from Address
For a given address, lookup the Zip code on the USPS web site and fill in the current record.
About the Filter list in Action Javascript
The Define Javascript Action dialog has a filter control to allow you to easily filter the list of actions. This is useful because some developers now have a large number of Javascript Actions defined in their components.
Try/Catch Blocks
You can wrap individual actions or the entire event in a JavaScript try/catch block. A try/catch block is used to capture unexpected errors in JavaScript code. It is similar to Xbasic's ON ERROR GOTO construct.
To wrap an action in a try/catch block, right-click on the action and select the Wrap action in try/catch block command. This will open an editor where you can define the code to run in the catch block. If an action is configured to use a try/catch block, the menu item will be checked.
An event can include multiple actions. You can wrap the entire event in a try/catch block by checking the Wrap all actions in a try/catch block checkbox at the bottom of the dialog.
