Used Fields are Fields which have already been used in the current Workflow, and exist on multiple Pages simultaneously. Unlike Fields that have been copy-pasted, Used Fields are truly multiple views of the same Field; any change made (in the
Designer, or to the data entered in the Field during a record) to any instance of the Field is mirrored in all other instances. This allows data to be carried through a Workflow for access on many Pages (such as with a
Hidden), re-use special Controls (such as the
Button - Tabs) across multiple Pages, or to give a simple way to allow for particular data to be captured in a number of different places without having to collect the value into a single location later.
Used Fields can be used on multiple Pages, but only store one value. For example:
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A
List Box has been added to the Welcome Page of the Workflow, asking the agent to select a product.
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The caller chooses Product A.
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The agent continues through the Workflow, and upon reaching the Summary Page the caller is given the option to change their mind.
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The List Box has been added as a Used Field onto the Summary Page. The List Box will already be showing the value that was selected on the Welcome Page, and if the caller changes their mind and a different product is selected, the List Box on the Welcome Page will also reflect the new option selected.
In this example, the same Field is used in both instances. Without using a Used Field, to get similar behaviour would require a pair of independent Fields, a
Workflow Variable to transfer the data through the Workflow, and a
Calculate on each Page to transfer the data in and out of the Fields.
To start with, you should have already created a Field that you want to reuse somewhere else in the Workflow, and be on the Page that you want to add the Used Field to. Using the arrow at the right-hand side of the Controls tray, select the Used Fields category:
Once Used Fields has been selected, you then need to select the Page that the desired Used Field will be sourced from in the new drop-down list that appears above the search box:
A list of available Fields on the chosen Page will be displayed, and they can be added to the Page in the same manner as any other Controls. The only difference is that it's also possible to click the "Add All" button at the bottom of the list to quickly add all available listed Used Fields in the same order and arrangement as they are on the source Page.
The created Used Field will appear as usual when looking at the canvas in the Designer, but when its Field Properties are viewed the
Field Info tab will include additional details:
Any Pages containing the same Used Field will be displayed here, and clicking on the Page's name will jump to that Page and highlight the Used Field.
When selecting the Page to source Used Fields from, the current Page will never be shown. This is because having two instances of the same Used Field on the same Page isn't allowed. For the same reason, once a Used Field has been added to a Page, it won't be available to be added to the Page again unless it is removed from the Page in the interim.