The resources panel

The functionality of the resources panel aims to simplify the process of identifying available resources and binding them to the control properties and rules in your app.

The feature generates expressions depending on the properties context that activates the panel, and consequently lists only the bindable resources relevant to that specific control.

Accessing the resources panel

You can access the resources panel for any control, integration, or rule property by clicking the tune icon , also known as the Open resources menu.

This opens the first menu of the panel, which displays different options and resources based on the property of the control that activated the panel:

Available options and resources

With the resource panel, you can access the following options and resources:

Open expression editor - to manually create or edit the VB expression
Query builder - to manually query entities (for Data source or List source properties, provided you have an entity referenced in your app.)
Pages - to reference other available pages within the app
Controls - to bind the properties of the available controls
Icons - to reference an available icon
App variables - to bind the available variables
Media - to bind the properties of the available images
Processes - to bind the arguments of the available processes
Entities - to bind the available entities
Storage Buckets - to bind the available storage buckets
Queues - to bind the arguments of the available queues
Clear - to remove the current expression

Accessing a resource properties

Expanding a resource lists the corresponding elements on the current app page. For example, expand the Controls resource to see all the controls on the page.

To locate a specific property or element, or to filter the list to elements with certain properties, use the search bar. For instance, to view all controls that have a Data Source property, write datasource in the search bar.

Expanding a specific element displays the available properties, which you can use for binding.

For example, in the following image, to bind the Layout control, you can only use the properties displayed in the panel:

Be aware of the data type of the property or element you want to bind, to avoid errors. For example, you cannot bind a text variable to a property that requires integers. However, binding the elements via the resources panel implictly converts primitive data types, as follows:

Converting primitive data types

The data type required by the target property, the one from where you access the resource panel	The data type of the selected property, the one you select from the resource panel	The conversion expression
String	Boolean, Integer, Decimal, Double, DateOnly	SelectedPropertyValue.ToString
Integer	String	CInt(SelectedPropertyValue)
Boolean	Integer, Decimal, Double, String	CBool(SelectedPropertyValue)
Decimal	Double, Integer	CDec(SelectedPropertyValue)
AppsDataSource	Array, List, DataTable	SelectedPropertyValue.ToListSource()
AppsFile	String	New AppsFile(SelectedPropertyValue)

For example, this is how the resource panel converts strings to booleans.

Similarly, this is how the resource panel converts integers to strings:

Using the resource panel

The resource panel helps you in a quicker and safer identification of the resource and their properties. To further edit the expression, use the editor to access VB methods or functions.

During rule configuration, the resource panel recognizes the context and suggests relevant resources. For instance, when setting up the Add to Queue rule, the panel displays all queues your app references. When you select a specific queue, the rule configuration continues to display the arguments for the chosen queue.