Hidden Component

Estimated Reading Time:  4 minutes

Overview

The Hidden component component acts as a holding place for any data type or data structure in your application. This data can include numbers, objects, arrays, or arrays of objects. This flexibility makes the Hidden component perfect for storing data.

Hidden components are only visible in the Module Editor. Being invisible to your end-user End-Users are the individuals accessing an application through Express View. In most cases, end-users are the customers using the product.s makes Hidden components great for storing and passing in information behind the scenes.

A few scenarios lend themselves particularly well to using Hidden components. You can use them to support interactions with logic and data-type components: Calculators, Decisions, Initializers, and Data Workflows. For example, saving the id or exportId values of a ViewGrid row to a Hidden component. After saving, you can reference that row using a logic component. After saving this value, you can reference the module ID in a Plug-In component's Get Submissions call. To avoid hard-coding the module ID in a Plug-In, you can reference the Hidden component instead. Hidden components offer a simplified approach to setting the default value. Other components (for example, Text Field components) need an Initializer component to work.

It's important to note that you should always use Hidden components when storing non-primitive data types, like arrays and objects. Using other components to store non-primitives, like an array in a Text Field component, can lead to unpredictable and non-deterministic behavior.

You'll find the component under the Secondary Fields group to the left of the Module Editor.

What You'll Learn

After completing this article, you’ll know when to use a Hidden component, how to configure its settings, and how to use it in an Unqork application.

About the Configuration Window

General

Setting

Description

Property ID

A Property ID is the unique field ID used by Unqork to track and link components in your module.

The Property ID is how the software identifies your component. Using Property IDs lets you link components, creating logic-based configurations and API APIs (application programming interfaces) are a set of protocols and definitions developers use to build and integrate application software. APIs act as the connective tissue between products and services. calls.

Property IDs must use camel case A naming convention for computer programming. Use camelCase for Property IDs, for example: newUser, lastName, & rdoButton. (stylized as camelCase) without spaces or punctuation.

(ON)/ (OFF)

The component is active and visible in Express View Express View is how your end-user views you application. Express View also lets you preview your applications to test your configuration and view the styling. After configuring a module, click Preview in the Module Editor to interact with the module in Express View. While active, other components and processes can reference your component.

Setting the toggle to Toggle Off icon (OFF) makes your component inactive. Other components and processes cannot reference your component while it's inactive.

By default, the Active toggle is set to Toggle On Icon (ON).

Notes

Select this tab to display the component's Notes area. You can use notes to keep your teammates informed.

The Notes editor offers a semi-WYSIWYG (What You See is What You Get) content editor. Built to look like a word processor, this editor lets you create, edit, and format your notes. Notes save when saving the component.

Display Icon Display

Select this tab to manage your component's display settings.

Data Icon Data

Select this tab to manage your component's data settings.

Validation Icon Validation

Select this tab to manage your component's validation settings.

Permissions Icon Permissions

Select this tab to see the RBAC RBAC (Role-Based Access Control) is a method to control system access for authorized users. The role in RBAC refers to the levels of access employees have to a network. (role-based access control) settings of the component.

Field Tag Icon Field Tags

Assign components one-word labels to help organize, identify, and group the components in your application.

Consider an example from the API Specification Snippet: Field Tags are applied to Hidden components in the panelRequest and panelResponse Panels. The Field Tags identify the data type of parameters included in the API APIs (application programming interfaces) are a set of protocols and definitions developers use to build and integrate application software. APIs act as the connective tissue between products and services. request and response. The API Docs Dashboard tool populates with information about each parameter’s data type, identified by the Field Tag.

Field Tags act as a type of Property ID A Property ID is the unique field ID used by Unqork to track and link components in your module. group and let you group components for configuration purposes. Field Tags let you target two or more components using a simple logic component.

For example, add the Field Tag tagForDecision to multiple components in your module. Open the Inputs table of a Decisions component and reference the tagForDecision Field Tag as the input of the Decisions component. The output of the Decisions component then affects all components with the tagForDecision Field Tag.

Save your Field Tags by pressing Enter (Return) or adding a comma after each entry.

Shortcuts Icon Shortcuts

Select this tab to open the list of supported keyboard shortcuts you can use in the component settings modal. Keyboard shortcuts include:

  • Cmd + S (Mac) / Ctrl + S (PC): Save and close the component settings modal.

  • Cmd + G (Mac) / Ctrl + G (PC): Opens a search window to find specific fields and settings in the component settings modal.

  • Tab: Tab to the next field or setting in the component settings modal. This keyboard shortcut tabs left to right and top to bottom.

  • Shift + Tab: Tab to the previous field or setting in the component settings modal. The keyboard shortcut tabs from right to left and bottom to top.

  • Enter (Return): When tabbing to a Tooltip Icon (tooltip), press Enter (Return) to display the field or setting tooltip. Press Enter (Return) again to hide the tooltip.

Additional keyboard shortcuts:

  • Drop-down menus: When you Tab to a settings drop-down, use the keyboard's Up-Arrow Icon (up)/ Down-Arrow icon (down) arrows to make a selection. Then, press Enter (Return) to confirm the selection.

Documentation IconDocumentation

Select this tab to access the component documentation in Unqork's In-Product Help.

Cancel

Click this button to undo any unsaved configuration changes and return to the canvas.

Save & Close

Click this button to save all settings as configured and return to the canvas.

Display Panel

A static image dispaying the Hidden component's Display settings.
(click to expand image)

Setting

Description

Canvas Label Text

A component’s Canvas Label Text indicates the purpose of the corresponding field or component. For non-input components, the Canvas Label Text isn't end-user facing, and only appears in the Module Editor.

User-friendly labels make your module more accessible. Keep labels short and descriptive (a word or two) using title case. For longer entries, use sentence case.

Data Panel

A static image dispaying the Hidden component's Data settings.
(click to expand image)

Setting

Description

Store Data in Database

The Store Data in Database setting affects how data persists through your application. When set to Toggle On Icon (ON), Unqork stores values entered into the field to the database (server-side submission). This occurs in three scenarios:

  • Navigating between Panels in a Navigation component. On navigation between pages (Panels), the component’s value saves to the database.

  • Triggering a module save event using a Button component with an Action Type of Save.

  • Navigating between screens of a workflow. On navigation between screens, the component’s value saves to the database.

NOTE  By default, workflows persist data from all fields in the client-side submission when navigating between screens. However, only values from fields with Store Data in Database enabled store in the server-side submission.

Set the toggle to Toggle Off icon (OFF) when you don’t want to store the values from this field in the database.

NOTE  When using a Plug-In to remote execute a module, ensure data moving between modules is persistent. You can optionally enable Store Data in Database for components in the source module. But any components in the API module whose values are included in an API response must have Store Data in Database enabled. When a component’s data is not persistent, the data isn't included in an API call's response. So, Plug-Ins or external services requesting data from the API module can't receive non-persistent data in the response. To learn more about Store Data in Database in the context of API modules, see the panelResponse Panel section of the API Specification Snippet article in our In-Product Help.

TIP  Store Data in Database also affects what data is tracked using Unqork’s built-in tracker. When the Enable Tracker and Track Value toggles are set to Toggle On Icon (ON) in Module Settings, only values from fields with Store Data in Database enabled are tracked.

Default Value

Enter a value to store in the Hidden component by default. Using a Default Value is a simple way to define and store data, which you can then reference in another component. For example, defining a specific module ID to reference in a Plug-In’s Get Submissions call. You can still pass values into the Hidden component to overwrite the Default Value.

NOTE  The Hidden component can only store Default Values as strings.

Validation Panel

A static image dispaying the Hidden component's Validation settings.
(click to expand image)

Input Required

Setting

Description

Required

When set to Toggle On Icon (ON), the end user must enter a value in the component's visible fields. Set the toggle to Toggle Off icon (OFF) when an entry is optional.

By default, the Required toggle is set to Toggle Off icon (OFF).

Adding a Hidden Component

Let's add a Hidden component as the output of a Data Workflow. These instructions assume that you have an open module saved with a title.

1. In the Module Editor, drag and drop a Radio Buttons icon Hidden component onto your canvas.
2. In the Property ID A Property ID is the unique field ID used by Unqork to track and link components in your module. and Canvas Label Text Label Text conveys what the input component is and what information it displays. Enter the purpose of the corresponding component or field. fields, enter dwfOutput.

3. Click Save & Close.
4. Save your module.

Now that you've configured your Hidden component, use it as an output for your Data Workflow. For more information, see the Data Workflow component article in our Documentation Hub.

Because the Hidden component is hidden from the end-user, it doesn't in Express View Express View is how your end-user views you application. Express View also lets you preview your applications to test your configuration and view the styling. After configuring a module, click Preview in the Module Editor to interact with the module in Express View. However, you can use the angular command in Express View to see the Hidden component data.

Resources