Active link guides
Type of guide | Possible uses |
|---|---|
Interactive guides | Walk users through filling out a form or direct users through each step of a procedure, much like a wizard. (These are also known as "navigational guides.") |
Computational guides | Used for manipulating data as a background process without any user interaction. (These are also known as "procedural guides.") A good example of a procedural guide is one that uses workflow to step through the rows that appear in a table field. For more information, see Creating-an-active-link-guide-that-loops-through-a-table-field. |
Entry point guides | Allows users access to sophisticated tasks through the Application List field on your home page form. For example, an entry point guide allows users to access reports or Modify or Display windows. |
The following actions control the execution of guides:
- Call Guide active link action—Executes or invokes a guide. For example, you can create a button on a form that uses the Call Guide active link to invoke a guide.
You can use the Call Guide active link action to execute a guide from any client-side workflow, even from inside another guide. If a guide calls another guide on the same form, the result is a stack of guides. Control is not returned to the calling guide until the called guide exits or the nested guide executes a wait action. For more information, see Defining-Call-Guide-active-link-and-filter-actions. - Go to Guide Label active link action—Breaks a guide's normal sequence. When the Go to Guide Label active link is executed inside a guide, the action that follows the label is executed next.
You can use this action to create data validation in a guide to make sure that users entered the correct information in a form. For example, if a user enters a number that is not recognized in the underlying form, the guide opens a warning dialog box for the user. When the user clicks OK in the dialog box, the guide continues for the user to enter the correct integer. When the user finishes working through all the steps in the guide, the guide closes.
You can also create a guide that invokes other guides if the user has entered wrong information. When the user has completed all the necessary information, the second guide closes and enters the correct information back into the first guide.
For more information, see Defining-Go-to-Guide-Label-active-link-or-filter-actions. - Exit Guide active link action—Exits a guide. The Exit Guide action is helpful if users enter incorrect information into a guide or if conditions for the guide to run are not met. Under these conditions, you might decide to exit the guide or all guides.
Typically, you do not need to use the Exit Guide action to quit the guide. A guide that has completed its actions successfully exits without using the Exit Guide action.
For more information, see Defining-Exit-Guide-active-link-or-filter-actions.
How actives links interact with guides
Most of the active link Execute On conditions do not interact with a running guide. If the Execute On condition occurs while a guide is running, active links are executed normally, independent of the guide. For example, if a guide executes a Run Macro action that sends a request, the Execute On Submit condition is processed before the next guide action. However, active links that are available to the form and independent of the guide can interact with active links contained in a guide. See the following table for a summary of how active links interact in guides.
You can use the $GUIDE$ keyword in qualifications to determine whether an active link is executing as part of normal workflow or in the context of a guide. When $GUIDE$ = $NULL$, the guide is not running. Otherwise, the name of the current guide is the value of the $GUIDE$ keyword. For information about qualifications, keywords, and active links, see Operators-wildcards-keywords-and-NULL-values.
If an action generates an error during the processing of an active link, no further actions occur.
The following table lists how active links interact with guides.
Execute On Condition | Interaction |
|---|---|
Submit After Submit Search Modify After Modify Display | These conditions can be triggered only when a guide is executing a Wait action or as the result of a Run Macro action that the guide executes. The conditions are executed in sequence. |
Window Open | Active links with this condition are executed during guide execution. Thus, if a guide action causes a window to open, any active links tied to the Window Open condition are executed before the next guide action is executed. If a guide is executed by an active link tied to a Window Open condition, then the guide is initialized but not started, because the user interface is not yet visible. Next, any other active links with the Window Open condition are executed, which is followed by any Set Default processing (described in the next row). When the user interface is set up, the guide executes. |
Set Default | This is the most subtle of all conditions. There are several cases to consider: Case 1: Active links tied to a Set Default condition are executed when a guide is waiting and the user selects the Set to Defaults menu item. Case 2: A guide is executed by an active link tied to a Window Open condition. In this case, the guide is initialized but not started, because the user interface is not yet visible. After the guide has initialized, the active links tied to the Set Default condition execute. After the field list and display symbols are set up, the guide is executed. Case 3: When the "on new" or "on search" behaviors are set to "set fields to default values," any active links tied to the Set Default condition are executed when a guide is waiting or as the result of a Run Macro action executed by the guide (after a send or a search). |
Un-Display Window Close | If you close the form on which a guide is running, the guide is terminated. Active links tied to the Window Close condition are executed before the guide terminates. Usually this occurs while a guide is waiting, but it can happen when a guide executes a Run Macro action. |
Button/Menu Item | Active links that have this condition execute when a guide waits. If you click a button while a guide is in a wait, the guide displays the "user is off the guide" dialog and executes the active links tied to the button. |
Row Double Click or Return Menu/Row Choice | These conditions can be triggered only when a guide is executing a wait action. If the field focus is changed by an action associated with the On Return trigger, then the Wait condition on the guide ends. |
Gain Focus | When a guide executes a Change Field Set Focus action, any active links associated with the field's Gain Focus condition execute before the next guide action is executed. When a guide is in a wait condition, the user cannot change field focus unless the running guide is terminated. |
Lose Focus | When a guide executes Change Field Set Focus action, any active links associated with the current field's Lose Focus condition execute immediately. The newly focused field's Gain Focus condition is then processed. After all Lose Focus and Gain Focus active link processing is completed, the next guide action is executed. When a guide is in a wait condition, the user cannot change field focus unless the running guide is first terminated. |
Copy To New | No interaction. |
Interval | If an Interval condition executes during an active link guide, the guide waits until all the workflow related to the interval condition is complete before the remainder of the guide finished. |
Event | Active links with this condition are executed during execution of an event. Thus, if a guide action sends an event, any active links tied to the Event condition are executed on the target window before the next guide action is executed. |