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Expression Button

Stores the result of an expression.

  • When you want to set a variable when the user clicks a button.
  • When you want to set a variable when a panel is rendered, for example inside a wizard. To do that you can place the button inside a panel and set its visibility to false and auto execute to true.
  • To have a "calculated variable" setting auto execute and timer.
note

When you would like to react on the change of another field you can use the event listeners of the field which changes instead.

Example

Basic example

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Properties

General

AttributeTypeDescriptionCategory
Model Id RequiredString

This is a unique id for the component.

Every field on a form model needs a unique ID, which is automatically generated but can be changed if needed (e.g. to reference in expressions or for debugging purposes).

If the field type supports rendering a label, and most types do, it can be configured here. This label is a displayed on the form to the end user and typically indicates what value is expected in the field.

The documentation property holds free-form text that can be used to give more details about this script button, like its purpose, usage in other models, etc.

Label Expression usage possibleTranslatable to different languagesText

The label attribute adds a label to the component.

Label position Selection:
  • Left
  • Top

The position of the label, you can choose between left or top.

Label tooltip Expression usage possibleTranslatable to different languagesText

When it is defined, a question mark icon will appear in the component label. When the user hovers over it it will show this text in a tooltip.

Documentation Multiline Text

A free-form text to explain the use cases for this form field.

Value Expression usage possibleText

The binding for the form field. Use an appropriate expression to bind the component to its value and specify where the value is written/read. For example, use '{{myVariableName}}' to store the value of the field in a variable named 'myVariableName'. Use prefixes to define the scope of the value, for example, 'root.' for referencing the root case/process to store the value in. Please refer to the section 'Frontend expressions' in the Flowable guide for more information.

The purpose of a form is to either display some value or to have users provide values for the various fields of a form.

In both situations, this value needs to be bound to an identifier using the {{myValue}} notation, and the value provided by the user will be stored in a variable with that identifier.

If there already was a value bound to the identifier before, for example because another form had a field bound to the same identifier, it will be displayed.

Button text Expression usage possibleTranslatable to different languagesText

Text that appears inside the button.

Tab Index Integer

Determine their relative ordering for sequential focus navigation. Tab index will be ignored if the component is inside a subform.

Expression RequiredExpression usage possibleText

The expression which will be executed to save the result into button value.

The script associated with the script button.

These scripts are very powerful, but take into account the logic contained within needs to be tested and maintained, like any other software artifact.

Refresh time Text

Timer, set in milliseconds, to automatically execute the script.

Auto execute Expression usage possibleBoolean

Auto execute button when rendered.

Execute always Boolean

Auto execute button when rendered even if disabled.

Button

AttributeTypeDescriptionCategory
Button alignment Expression usage possibleSelection:
  • Left
  • Right

Where the button will be aligned.

Configuration properties for how the script button is rendered on the form.

Tooltip Expression usage possibleTranslatable to different languagesText

When the user hovers the button it will show this text in a tooltip.

Primary Expression usage possibleBoolean

Mark the button as primary.

Icon URL Expression usage possibleText

The URL of the icon to show.

Configuration properties for how the icon for the script button is rendered on the form.

Font Awesome icon name Expression usage possibleText

The icon name to be used for the button icon from Font Awesome.

Icon alignment Selection:
  • Left
  • Right

The alignment of the icon.

Validation

AttributeTypeDescriptionCategory
Validation Panel Display Selection:
  • Show
  • Only message
  • Hide

Display at validation panel and validation tooltip.

Providing proper data in form fields is important, especially when in process, case, decision or any other models the values provided in the form fields are used in subsequent steps.

To make sure that the data is correct, validation is crucial. For this reason, a form can only be submitted when all fields are valid and thus all validation properties configured on the left apply.

Check the tooltips on the properties for more information.

Custom validations List

List of additional validations to apply.

The script button can have custom validation rules beyond the standard set of validations. Such a rule is written as a frontend expression in the form of {{myExpression}}. If this expression evaluates to false, the submission of the form won't be possible.

Rendering

AttributeTypeDescriptionCategory
Description Expression usage possibleTranslatable to different languagesText

The description attribute adds a description to the component.

Some field types have an extra line of text displayed to give the user more details about the field.

Ignored Expression usage possibleBoolean

If true the component will be hidden and the value will not be part of any payload.

Fields can also be shown or hidden based on the visible condition. This can be a frontend expression in the form of {{myExpression}} which can reference other form field values by their IDs.

Fields can also be enabled or disabled, and similarly this can be made dynamic based on a frontend expression.

Some field types can be ignored (the property is shown here if that's the case), which means that its value won't be taken into account.

Visible Expression usage possibleBoolean

Boolean value or expression specifies whether the component is visible or hidden. This expression might include another value in the same form, for instance use a checkbox bound to {{showAdditionalFields}} and use the very same expression as the visible attribute to show or hide the component according the checked state of the checkbox. If you want to only show the component, if the form is not used as the init-form, you can use the expression '{{root.id}}' which evaluates to true only, if there is a current case id which is not the case in an initialization form.

Enabled Expression usage possibleBoolean

Boolean value or expression specifies whether component is enabled or disabled.

Style class Text

Stylesheet class name. Add any style classes to be applied to the component for the desired styling and rendering.

The script button can get customized CSS classes to customize the default styling. Note that the CSS files needed for the customizations must be available on the runtime system.

Advanced

AttributeTypeDescriptionCategory
Events List

The script button emits low-level events on which can be reacted with a frontend expression to implement various use cases that are not possible with regular modeling.

If the expression produces a value, it can be stored in a new variable using the Result variable property.

List Attribute Details

Custom validations

AttributeTypeDescription
Expression RequiredExpression usage possibleText

Validation passes when this expression is true.

Error message RequiredTranslatable to different languagesText

Message to display when the validation fails.

Events

AttributeTypeDescription
Event label RequiredText

This is a unique id for the component.

Event type Selection:
  • On value change

The type of event emitted by the form field.

Expression Expression usage possibleText

Validation passes when this expression is true.

Result variable Text

Capture the result of the expression in a result variable.

Events

EventWhenAdditionalCancellable
Button.clickAny button is clickedDefinition + StateYes

See section Events for more information.