The Action Editor is used by authors to create business logic processes which can be run by application end-users. For example, some actions can create new records and automatically assign them to a user or e-mail the status of a project when the record is updated. The Action editor can be split into four main sections: The Action Canvas located in the center of the Action Editor, the Action Step palette located on the left side of the Action Editor, the Action Variable list located at the top right of the Action Editor, and the Action Variable Properties section located in the lower right of the Action Editor.

Application Actions are comprised of three key elements: Variables, Logic, and Operations. Even the simplest action includes at least one variable and an operation. For example, the default Update Action uses the Input variable to take the data a user enters in the form and saves into the database.

Action Canvas:

The action canvas represents the process flow of your action logic in a graphical arrangement. Every action starts from the Green input arrow located at the top of your action process and flows down to the Red output arrow located at the bottom of your process. You can add processes to the canvas by dragging and dropping Action Steps from the Action Steps Palette onto the form in the appropriate location. These steps will be completed from top to bottom in the order that they appear on the action canvas.Before adding steps to your Action Canvas it is often useful to think out the entire process that you want your action to perform. Having a full picture of what you want your action to do from start to finish makes it easier to set up and arrange the correct Action Steps on the canvas.

Action Variables:

Variables contain data within the context of an action. They can be used to specify the source of data field values, or the target for these values. Variables are also used to specify search criteria and to contain the resulting data set when a search is performed. You can use them to set values when creating new records, or updating existing records. Basically, any action step that involves the manipulation of data within a record uses a variable.

Action Steps:

Logic and Operations are different types of Action Steps. Logic steps apply conditional logic to determine the next step in a process flow. They give you the ability to specify a different course of action depending on the situation, branching the flow of the action into two separate paths. Operation steps are used to make something happen, such as sending an alert to a user, executing a search, or setting a value in a particular field.