Applications have to wait for a user to do something before it can complete its task. For example: anytime you click the Save button, you are telling the application to save whatever is on the screen. The application saving the data is an example of an Action.

Below is a list of Actions available in SaaSphalt:

Assign Value to Action Result: This action assigns a value to a variable in the context of the event. For example, a button labeled “1” would use the Assign Value to Action Result to enter the number 1 into a variable (say variable x) when clicked. You could then use another action to display the entered variable. For example, clicking 1 would trigger the action and the Show Message action of “‘You entered ‘ x” would then appear as “You entered 1”.

Assign Value to Shared Result: This is similar to the Assign Value to Action Result, except that the variable is not limited to the single event. So, if you clicked 1 (as the above example) and saved it so that variable x = 1, that variable will be able to be accessed by other events.

Character Function: This action is a tool that can be used to manipulate characters (letters, numbers, and symbols). This function can add or remove characters, bring them together, or determine if a format is correct. For example: The character function can be used for assessing dates and times. If the user were to enter 7/4/16 the character function action could convert it to 7-4-16, read it as not a valid input (if you wanted it in mm/dd/yyyy format), etc… One event (such as Change) can be affected by multiple character functions. For example: If the user were to enter “john” into the name field, the character function might detect whether the first letter in the input is lower-case and then set the lower-case “j” to an upper-case “J”, changing it to “John”. You could also have another function that finds any cases of the word “John” and converts that to a nickname. “John” might then become “Jack”.

Date Function: This action allows you to do many different kinds of math based on a date. For example: if you wanted to find out how many days there are between the current date and a selected date, you could set up a date function to do it. Selecting the date will then save the information to a variable (likely an Action Result or Shared Result - see above) where it can then be used for another action.

Math Function: This is pretty self explanatory, but this action lets you do a mathematical calculation. For example: Multiplying your cost by your markup to give you a rate is a math function (entering each input would be an example of an Assign Value to a Shared Result action).

Delete Records From Table: This action will delete one or more records from a table based on a condition that you set. Because deleting records from a table is a permanent move, SaaSphalt requires what programmers knows as a Where Condition to ensure that you are deleting safely. For example: if you wanted to delete all customers whose bids you did not win from your Customers table, you could set your Where Condition to delete only those records whose field indicates “lost”. This will then delete only those jobs that were lost, while retaining all those that were won or were still in the proposal stage

Insert Records Into Table: This action is basically the opposite of the above. Normally in SaaSphalt your data will be saved into a table using the Save All action (see below). However, you might also want the data saved into a separate table, the Insert Records Into Table action can do this automatically. For example: Inputting the customer information into your Customer table will be done by the user clicking Save after entering it in at the New Customer screen. Using the Insert Records Into Table action, you could then send parts of that information (that you choose) into a new record in the Activities table.

Loop Through Table: This action allows you to search through a table to find all the records that match a certain threshold set by you. For example: You want to find all the customers whose payment due dates are over by 10 days. You would set up a Loop Through Table action to find those dates in the Due Date field are over by 10 or more days. You can then sort those records by another field (likely in Due Date ascending to see the oldest dates first). And then send those fields to an Action Result (likely to be displayed on the screen).

Retrieve Values From Table: This action allows you to retrieve a field value from a record in a table. For example: you can set a Retrieve Values From Table action to get the Email address and phone number from a name selected from a drop-down list containing all the contacts from the Contacts table. You could then store those values into an Action Result for display purposes.

Update Fields in Table: This action allows you to change the information in fields in a given table right from the SaaSphalt screen. For example: when scheduling work orders from the Waiting List in the Calendar screen, you can select a job by clicking on the box next to each job. Each time you click a box it changes a hidden field to either “selected” or “deselected”. The Update Fields in Table action can update as many or as few fields as you assign. Continuing the example above: clicking the check box in the row above the names (next to Customer) allows you to check all the jobs shown at once. This, like the singular check boxes, allows you to change the field. But, unlike the singular boxes, this changes the field for each record listed.

Loop Through Grid: This action is similar to Update Fields in Table action, and often the two work hand in hand. The Loop Through Grid action searches through all the items on the grid and returns results based on the parameters that you’ve set up. Continuing the example above: The Loop Through Grid action can look for only the records whose fields are set to “selected”. Another action will usually affect only those whose records were (or weren’t) returned.

Refresh Grid: This action does exactly what you think it would. This is usually used after another action occurs. When the actions are done changing the grid, the grid usually needs to be refreshed to show the changes. That’s what the Refresh Grid action does.

Generate Report: This action will take a previously designed report and fill it with the data based on the criteria that you set. The report you generate is then saved on a server and the location and name is saved into an Action Result that you can then use later on if you want to send it as a file attachment.

Clear Screen For New Entry: This action usually involves a screen where a user would input information. The action will reset all input fields to their default settings (blank text field, un-checked check box, etc…). This is usually done after a Save All action and is typically a part of a Save & New button click event. Other events might cause you to want to reset data, or you might simply want a “Clear All” button.

Enable/Disable Controls: This action will not allow a user access to certain things until they’ve completed another task. For example: When entering a new customer, you must enter either a company name or a first and last name into the text field before you are allowed to save.

Go To Screen: This action does exactly what it says. It takes the user to any screen in any app, so long as that user has permission to see that screen or app.

Prepare for Accounting: This action, when used in an action sequence, adds line items and updates the invoice, estimate, or whatever transaction you are adding it to, in order to reflect the changes. For example: Clicking Accept Selected Jobs in the Edit Proposal screen will not only send the accepted jobs to the Waiting List, but will also send the information (cost, Job Formulas, etc…) to the Invoice that it is attached to.

Save All: This is the default save action for the button that you are used to seeing on SaaSphalt. It will save every field on a given screen, as opposed to needing multiple save actions for each field. As you can probably guess, this comes in really handy when entering customer information and scheduling activities (as each of those steps would require their own save function).

Set Active Record ID for Screen: This is a huge time saving action that is used in conjunction with almost all Go To Screen actions in SaaSphalt. The Set Active Record ID for Screen action takes the record ID that you are currently working on and sets it as the active record ID for any screen you might go to. For example: From the Edit Customer screen, you add new Photos, Measurements, Activities, etc… Each time you go to another screen (such as the Measurements screen) the record ID for the customer you were just editing is automatically put into the Customer drop-down box (saving you the trouble of having to find the customer).

Set Focus to Control: This action is exactly what it sounds like. It sets the focus to a specific control after an action takes place. This is primarily used after loading into a screen, though most of SaaSphalt’s screens do not set a focus by default.

Set View Filter: This action determines what you can view based on the view filters that you created. For example: The in the Activity List screen there is a drop-down menu with choices named My - All, My - Due Now, My - Due Tomorrow, Shared - All, Shared - Due Now. Each of these options is a view filter. Each selection displays its own set of activities based on the Set View Filter choices made. Using the above example: Selecting My - Due Tomorrow will show all Activities that are due tomorrow that are assigned to the current user.

Show Message: This action causes SaaSphalt to open a pop-up window that will display the message. One of the more common examples is the “Are you sure you want to…” message that pops up whenever you try to exit an area without saving or do something that is irreversible, like deleting.

Show/Hide Controls: Sometimes disabling a control isn’t good enough. Using the Show/Hide Controls action, you can control whether or not a user can even access the controls based on a certain parameter. For example: In the New Customer screen if the check box next to Billing Address same as Job Site is checked, the Billing Address fields are hidden. Un-checking the box shows the Billing Address field.

Update Controls on Screen: This action allows you to change any of the controls directly from the screen. For example: You could change the New Customer screen to change its display based on the name seen in the Name field, so that it no longer said NewCustomer but rather said something along the lines of “Editing “ (where is whatever you’ve typed in).

Refresh Calendar: This action does exactly what it sounds like. After making changes to the calendar, it automatically refreshes it to show the changes that took place. The Click event for the Schedule Selected button on the Calendar screen uses both the Refresh Calendar and Refresh Grid to show the new additions to the calendar and to show that the items have been removed from the Waiting List.

Loop Through Calendar: This action works similarly to the Loop Through Grid action, but instead goes through all the events on the calendar and displays them according to the criteria you choose.

Refresh Chart: This works exactly like the Refresh Calendar and Refresh Grid actions, but this time it shows any changes you make to any charts that you might have.

Call Another Action Set: This action lets you use another Action Set’s action list. For example: Clicking the Back button is an action set designed to return you to the previous screen. You might decide you also want to change the Save button’s click action list to take you to the previous screen as well (in case you aren’t happy with the screen it normally takes you to). To do this, you would simply set the Call Another Action Set to the Back button’s click action set, and your save will also go back.

Call Web Service: This action lets you use an external web service that is found on another website to perform a specific task on your screen. For example: SaaSphalt uses this action in its mapping function to call the satellite view for measuring.

Check Permission: This action asks SaaSphalt whether or not a user has the proper permission for accessing certain features or apps (or even entire apps themselves). SaaSphalt uses this action in many of its functions.

Conditional Statement: While this is not an action itself, it is a way of controlling which actions are done depending on which condition is met. For those of you with programming experience, this is also known as an If-Else statement. Basically if a certain condition is met, a specific action will be taken. If the condition is not met, another action is taken (if one… or else…).

Create Short Method URL: This action can be used to provide you with an action result containing a Method-branded short URL of a unique link, which you can share with customers, partners, vendors, or other Method users. This action will behave differently, depending on how you set-up the parameters.

Credit Card Processing: This action interacts with your Payment Gateway(s) to charge an amount to an electronic check or credit card and stores whether or not the payment was a success or failure in the “Approved” field. It will also send back any messages based on the results.

Send Email: This action allows you to send Emails to a recipient directly from your SaaSphalt screen, without having to open up an Email client. An example of this can be seen after clicking Print in the Proposal screen. This will open up the Email Proposal screen. The Send button’s click event uses the Send Email action.

Stop Processing More Actions: This action can be inserted into an action sequence to stop the sequence from continuing past that point. This can be useful in the Conditional/If-Else Statements as a way to prompt the user for more input. For example: In the Email Proposal screen mentioned above, if you attempt to send the Email without first entering an Email address or subject or without selecting an Email template, then a Show Message action will display an error message and stop the sending process.