Action steps come in many shapes and forms. However, viewing and editing these steps is quite simple as they are usually viewed and edited in very similar ways.

Viewing an action step

Viewing an action step is quite simple: simply find the desired action step in the design pane at the bottom of the screen and left-click the desired action step:

Note: that it is not necessary to be in Design Mode to view an action step.

Design Mode is only necessary to edit an action step.

Editing an action step

Links to other properties

One of the most common ways to edit an action step is to link the action step to a separate data step. In general, the action step instruction is performing an action on these data steps.

To start linking the action step, simply click on the blue "Link" button and a pop-up window will appear. A screenshot of an example action step containing a "Copy cell values" instruction is given below.

The pop-up window will default to displaying all data step properties in the current process, as shown below. The window will also default to displaying data step properties that share the expected file type (in this example, it will only show Excel files)

If, however, you wish to link to a data step property located in another process, simply click on the drop-down list at the top and find your desired process:

Furthermore, if you wish to link to a file with a different file type or would like to use a "search" feature to find your file, simply expand the "Criteria" section:

This will provide some ability to search for your file, based on file type, name etc.. Once you have entered the desired filters, click on "Run search" at the top right of the window and the files that fit the criteria will be displayed.

Once the desired data step property has been selected, simply click on "Choose the selected item" button at the bottom right to complete the linking. If the linking has been done successfully, the file will now appear:

Note: in certain action step instructions, the step can be linked to other data step property types (other than just files, such as "Text Box" or "Number"). In these steps, the linking process is slightly different, as it will display all data step properties. You will also need to select the step in which the property is located (on the left hand side):

Drop-down lists

Some action step instructions also require the designer to input details through a drop-down list. The most common feature that uses drop-down list is when choosing the worksheet and data range for a linked Excel workbook:

This is quite intuitive as you can simply click on your desired option. Usually one option has to be selected out of the given options in the list.

Text-boxes

Text-boxes are used when the designer of a process is required to enter a specific value as part of the configuration of an action step instruction. For example in the screenshot above, the designer can type in the name of the worksheet in the blank text-box next to "Sheet Name" or the "literal" string that the designer wishes the cell value to be updated to.

Check-boxes

Check-boxes in an action step instruction configuration are typically used for a designer to indicate a yes/no flag for a specific input.

Check-boxes appear as a square. (Note the difference between a check-box and a radio button (described in a later section), which appears as a circle)

For example in the screen shot above, there is a check-box for "Ignore invalid cell range" at the bottom. If the check-box is left unticked, then this means the designer intends the instruction to not ignore invalid cell range. 

In contrast, a ticked check-box will indicate to SolveXia that the process is to ignore invalid cell range.

"Make same as source"

In certain action step instructions that involve a a source file and a target file, it is possible to utilise the "Make same as source" shortcut to speed up the configuration and the process building.

You can use this if the configuration for the target data range is the same (or similar) to the configuration for the source data range. For example, if trying to hard-code values in an Excel spreadsheet, you can simply use the "Copy cell values" instruction with the same source and target range.

In cases like this, you can simply configure the source data range first (without having configured the target range yet):

If you then click on "make same as source", then the target range will automatically be filled in to be exactly the same as that for the source range:

Number selectors

Other times, there may be a need to select a number from a number selector. For instance, when choosing which Worksheet "index" to use when configuring a data source range, you can simply click on the arrow keys to iterate up or down for the number:

Radio buttons

Radio buttons are options in instruction configurations that allow the designer to select one of a range of options. For example, in the screenshot below, the designer can either select a "number", "string", "date", "currency" or "Boolean" as the data type for the value typed in the box on top.

Note that radio buttons appear as a circle and should be distinguished from "check-boxes" (described in an earlier section) which appear as a square box.

Link to managed tables

In a similar way to links to Excel files, some instructions also require linking to a managed table.

To do this, simply click on "Link" where required:

The following pop-up window will appear that will allow you to find and select the appropriate managed table:

Note: you can also search for the desired managed table by using the search feature. This can be done by expanding the "Criteria" section and entering the search filters and then clicking on "Run search":