Example: An Invoice Manager

Lets go through an example of setting up a type. For this example we'll set up something to record invoices. We'll do this using the Quick Entry, for simplicity.

Note : Make sure you enter the field names exactly as shown so it will be easy to follow along! 

At the top level of the model, enter the following, and hit Enter or click the Add button at the end of each line. You can press Alt+Q (or Ctrl+Q depending on browser used) to get back to the Quick Entry after you enter each line.

  • Customers >>
  • Invoices >>

This will create two types, Customers and Invoices, both of which will hold a list of records. The shortcut code, >> , added at the end of the names tell the system to make it a list. It just saves us a few extra steps in editing and setting up the fields.

Because these are form types, an expansion icon will appear next to each type for you to drilldown to the field list.

Next, click the expansion icon next to Customers, and enter the following into the Quick Entry. These will be the fields that we'll store in the Customers record and their default data type will be Text (Few Words).

  • Company Name
  • Address Line 1
  • Address Line 2
  • City
  • State
  • Zip Code
  • Country
  • Office Telephone Number

When you're done with these, go back to the top level of the model. By clicking the application name, Invoice Manager in this example, it will return to the model's top level.

Next, expand Invoices and we'll enter the following fields for the Invoices record. This time, we'll select appropriate data type for the specified names.

 Field Name    Data Type
 Client    Text (Few Words)
 Invoice Number    Counter
 Invoice Details    Text (Paragraphs)
 Date Sent    Date/Time (General)
 Due Date    Date/Time (Due Date)
 Sales Tax    Number (Money)
 SubTotal    Number (Money)
 Amount Paid    Number (Money)
 Original Invoice File    File 

Once you're done entering those, click on the Client field. This is currently set to be a Text field, meaning you can just enter any text you like into it. However, this isn't really ideal. It would be better if we could select a client from the client record we just defined.

Click the Edit icon to modify the Client field. Then look for the box labeled Link (Dropdown).

This entry box lets you select another place in the data model that the field will point to. In this case, we want to select Customers so that we can link the Client to our list of Customers.


Now we're done with a basic data model, we can go ahead and publish the application. To publish, click either the Publish button or the Quick Publish button. The time it takes to compile the application depends on the complexity of the data model. In our Invoice Manager sample, it will only take few seconds to compile. A blue information bar containing the application link will be displayed once the compiling is finished. See examples below.

After clicking the Quick Publish button, this window will pop up.

After clicking the Publish button, this window will pop up.

The blue information bar with the link to the Invoice Manager application.

Note : Depending on your browser setting, clicking on the link will open the application either in a new browser tab or window. Also, you'll see a Starting up, please wait..., this lets you know that it's updating the application and it will appear soon afterward. 

In the Invoice Manager application, you should see five tabs at the top of the screen: Dashboard, Customers, Invoices, Users and Configuration. The Dashboard, Users and Configuration tabs are created automatically by the system. 

The screen will look something like this:

Let's add some data to the Invoice Manager. Select the Customers tab and click Create New button ( + ) to add a new customer. You'll notice that WorkflowFirst creates the entry form for you, with all of the layout, navigation and controls for editing.

Fill in some details and click the OK button. 

Now we'll create an invoice. Select the Invoices tab and click the Create New icon ( + ) to add a new invoice. The Client field should be a dropdown field that lets you select the customer. When you click the dropdown you should see the customer you had entered earlier on the list.


Because we made the Due Date field a Date/Time (Due Date) type, the system automatically created a tickler file report that shows all invoices by their due date – very useful to keep track of outstanding invoices. You can access this report by clicking Reports and select Invoices Due Date Tickler from the menu located on the right hand side of the field name (in this instance "Invoices). Below is an example of a tickler report.

There's a lot more we can add, but that just goes to demonstrate just how quickly you can create useful applications using WorkflowFirst.


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Up Since 2/29/2024 12:02:23 AM