Anywhere Mobility Studio Documentation

How a control is represented in the client

Controls in the mobile page

After a user chooses a process, the first activity of the process appears on the mobile client. The activity sends as an XML file to the portal. This XML file contains information about the activity and controls to display on the client.

This information includes, among other things, the value to display in a textbox. This value can come from fixed text, a parameter value, or a field from the control's table. When the control's source type is a parameter, an expression can show an initial value in the associated textbox.

Control expressions

An expression retrieves and returns a value. The retrieval method can vary, it can be fixed text, the value stored in a parameter, the value from a field in the control's table, or the return value from a custom function.

Combine several expressions to generate a value.

Non-editable controls

Non-editable controls can be any type except FileUpload or Signature.

The most common are Checkbox, Textbox, and Label. The difference between a non-editable textbox and a label is that labels display only fixed text, while non-editable textboxes gather values used in the process without requiring user input. Use an expression to generate a value for the textbox. Use a parameter as the control's source type to store that value. Other controls may require a data type, for example, a checkbox can only store a boolean.

The Image and Label controls are the only controls that are always non-editable.

Editable controls

The controls FileUpload, Textbox, Signature, and Checkbox can be editable. To be editable, they must have a parameter as their source.

Any editable control appears as non-editable (or not at all) when the control is not active.