Using Apps With Data Service

Background Information

For more information on the functions and rules related to Entities, see the following guides:

• Function: Filter
• Function: Sort
• Function: Lookup
• Function: New
• Rule: Create/Update Entity Record

• Rule: Delete Entity Record

Note:

• After the data is loaded, the entities data is refreshed only when a rule is executed. Any updates made on Data Service via processes or other means are not picked up automatically. Make sure that you refresh the data explicitly in these scenarios.
• The in operator only supports primitive data types, such as string, number, boolean, null. The in operator is not supported in Data Service scenarios using choice-set. You can use the contains operator instead, but only for one input.

Overview

Before starting this example, make sure that you have the proper permissions from Data Service. For more information, check the Data Service - Managing Access page.

For the purpose of this example we will use an entity called Customer with the following fields:

• Address
• Address 2
• City
• Email
• Name
• Phone
• Plan
• State
• Postal Code

Filter Customer by State

Note:

Depending on your project's needs, you can choose to exclude certain conditions when using the Filter function. To exclude a condition, you can write an expression that resolves the filter field (first parameter of the condition array) to a null. For example, you can use the following:

Filter(Customer, [If(IsBlank(Dropdown.Value), null, City), "=", Dropdown.Value])

In this case, the filter on City is only applied when the Dropdown contains a value other than blank.

Use the Filter function to retrieve multiple entity records applicable to the given condition. To select a single record, use the Lookup function instead.

1. Open your already existing application or start a new one.
2. Create a new table.

3. Add an entity to your app by clicking the Add any icon from the top of the canvas and selecting Entity.

   
   

   

   
   
4. Bind the newly-added entity to the table by adding it in the Data Source field of the table.
5. Filter the information from the table by state. For this example, to filter the customer by the state of California, add the following expression in the Data Source property of the table: = Filter(Customer, [State, "=", "CA"]).

Sort Customers

1. Open your already existing application or start a new one.
2. Create a new table.

3. Add an entity to your app by clicking the Add any icon from the top of the canvas and selecting Entity.

   
   

   

   
   

4. Bind the newly-added entity to the table by adding it in the Data Source field of the table.

   
   

   

   
   
5. Sort information from the table by by name in an descending order. For this example, add the following expression in the Data Source property of the table: = Sort(Customer, Name, "Desc").

Edit a Table

In this example we will build a data table with three buttons:

• Create New
• Edit Selected
• Delete Selected

The Create New and Edit Selected buttons will lead to the same page.

1. Open your already existing application or start a new one.

2. Create a new table.

3. Create two new buttons at the top of the table: Edit Selected and Create New. Create a third button at the bottom of the table called Delete Selected.

4. Add an entity to your app by clicking the Add any icon from the top of the canvas and selecting Entity.

5. Bind the newly-added entity to the table by adding it in the Data Source field of the table.

6. Create a new page called Edit/Create Customer and add the following controls:

6.1 Add corresponding text fields for each of the entity fields and bind them.

6.2 Add a button under the text fields and name it Save.

6.3 Set up a variable named selectedCustomerId by using a Set Value rule in the value change event of the table. Bind the variable to Table.SelectedValue.Id to use it on another page.

6.4 Add an If-Then-Else rule to the Save button and configure it:

• Add the following expression in the If field: =selectedCustomerId = ="", as in the figure below.
  

• Add a Create/Update Entity Record rule in the Then field and configure it as in the figure below:

  

• Add a Create/Update Entity Record rule in the Else field and add the following expression in the Which entity record should be created/updated? field: =Lookup(Customer, [Id, "=", selectedCustomerId]), where Id is the id of the entity. Configure the rule as in the figure below.
  

7. Add a Delete Entity Record rule to the Delete Selected button from step 3 and add the following expression in the Which entity record should be deleted? field: Lookup(Customer, [Id, "=', Table.Id]).

8. Configure both Edit Selected and Create New buttons from step 3 to lead to the Edit/Create Customer page.