The capabilities described on this page are included in Appian's standard capability tier. Usage limits may apply. |
For your portal users to complete their workflows and tasks with ease, they'll likely need to enter or view data within your portal. Writing and querying data in a portal allows you and your users to easily get and share information.
For example, users may need to view data, like:
Or they may need to add or update data through actions, such as:
While you're reaching a broader audience with more information, you still need your data to stay safe. The isolated architecture of Appian Portals gives you peace of mind while allowing portal users to query and write data from Appian.
The best way to work with data in portals is using record types. However, you can also write and query data using CDTs, as long as you create a custom integration using a web API and integration object. And, if you have a publicly-available external database, you can directly write to or query from the database. See Working with Data in Appian to help you understand when to use a record type and when to use a CDT.
This page walks through how to work with data using all of the methods available from a portal.
Record types makes it easy to work with your data in portals, without creating a custom integration. Use them to:
Tip: You can also use a!startProcess() in a portal interface to perform anything else possible with a process model, like creating a user or sending an email. You can use these same steps to create a portal that starts any other Appian process.
Let's look at some ways to use records in a portal.
The following steps walk you through building a read-only grid that uses a record type as its source, and then publish it in a portal.
Note: When you select a record type as the source for a read-only grid, the populated grid may include record components that aren't compatible with portals, like record links. You will need to remove these incompatible components before publishing the portal. See Using records-powered grids in a portal for more information.
This example uses data from the Appian Retail application, available for free in Appian Community Edition. To follow along with this example, go to Appian Community to request the latest Appian Community Edition site.
If you do not see the Appian Retail application available in your existing Appian Community Edition site, request a new Appian Community Edition site to get the latest application contents available.
This example uses data from the following record types in the Appian Retail application:
We'll start this example by creating a portal and an interface. The portal object makes it super simple to create your interface from the object itself.
To create a portal object and interface:
Next, we'll configure the interface to display the product information in a grid, including its category and subcategory. This is simple to do using a record type as the source of a read-only grid.
To populate the grid with record data:
The grid populates with the Product records, including the Category and Subcategory related records. You can add, remove, and reorganize the columns in the Columns section.
Tip: Some of the columns may seem empty, but that is likely due to the fields not being populated for every record.
You now have a shiny, new grid with the product information already populated. Before we publish the portal, let's remove the record link from the Name column, since that component is not compatible with portals.
To remove the record links:
In the expression editor, replace the expression with the following, and click OK.
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fv!row['recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{afc5b005-2317-4c13-a132-62714c994bc9}name']
Before you can view the record data in a published portal, you need to give the portal the appropriate permissions to view the data. This is done using a service account, which acts on behalf of your portal users.
To provide the portal the appropriate permissions:
In this last step, we'll publish the portal so we can see the record data in our grid.
To publish and view the portal:
The best way to create, update, and delete data from a portal is to use a!startProcess() in the saveInto parameter of a portal interface. Then write that data directly to a record using the Write Records or Delete Records smart services.
You can use these instructions for more than just writing data. Simply call any process model using a!startProcess()
.
This simplified example uses a form to add a new product to the Product record type.
This example uses data from the Appian Retail application, available for free in Appian Community Edition. To follow along with this example, go to Appian Community to request the latest Appian Community Edition site.
If you do not see the Appian Retail application available in your existing Appian Community Edition site, request a new Appian Community Edition site to get the latest application contents available.
This example uses data from the following record types in the Appian Retail application:
In this step, we'll create a process model to add new products. We'll then create a constant to point to the process model so we can reference it in an interface later.
We'll just go through the basics of setting up a process model in this example. For more information on setting up process models with additional capabilities, see the Process Modeling Tutorial.
To create the process model:
Property | Value |
---|---|
Name | Enter productRecords . |
Type | Select Product (Record Type). |
Parameter | Select the Allow the value for the variable to be provided when starting a process checkbox. |
In the Data tab of the Write Records smart service node, on the Inputs tab, set the Value of Records to =pv!productRecords
and click OK.
AR_ADD_PRODUCT_PROCESS_MODEL
.In this step, we'll create an interface so portal users can add new products.
Since the record picker component is incompatible with portals, this example includes adding a dropdown list using a related record type to help illustrate how to do this manually. See the Querying records in a read-only grid example for more information on how to query related record types in a portal.
In the onSuccess parameter of a!startProcess()
, we are using the ProcessInfo data type to save just the record values, instead of all of the process information.
To create an interface that starts a process:
Copy and paste the following expression:
Note: These record type references are specific to the Appian Retail application. If you're following along in the Appian Retail application, you can copy and paste this expression without updating the record type references.
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a!localVariables(
local!result,
local!productRecordData: 'recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product'(
'recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{afc5b005-2317-4c13-a132-62714c994bc9}name': null,
'recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{06fac494-e9bc-4abe-a3a3-6cdfa6d8db49}productNumber': null,
'recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{debc9655-4313-49e4-b906-8ba472326d97}safetyStockLevel': null,
'recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{6e28c019-12ab-4859-a8b3-8d52764e4944}reorderPoint': null,
'recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{3779db6a-45a8-49b4-8dd9-23087c00dde7}standardCost': null,
'recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{6380baa1-23f9-409a-9b48-10e37d587fa3}listPrice': null,
'recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{7f3e3cd2-6023-4190-9607-17d62448c592}daysToManufacture': null,
'recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.relationships.{d3a62d4a-3268-48dc-9563-3b99c33715d1}productSubcategory.fields.{b0f94c2f-cba6-4565-ae39-fa81da69b1d5}productSubcategoryId': null
),
/* Query to return each product subcategory to use in the dropdown component */
local!subcategory: a!queryRecordType(
recordType: 'recordType!{ef54f217-d426-4f2b-9955-3859c9919525}Product Subcategory',
fields: {
'recordType!{ef54f217-d426-4f2b-9955-3859c9919525}Product Subcategory.fields.{6f4fce8f-2487-4997-a365-985b895f90d8}name',
'recordType!{ef54f217-d426-4f2b-9955-3859c9919525}Product Subcategory.fields.{b0f94c2f-cba6-4565-ae39-fa81da69b1d5}productSubcategoryId'
},
pagingInfo: a!pagingInfo(startIndex: 1, batchSize: 50)
).data,
local!submitted: false,
if(
local!submitted = false,
a!formLayout(
label: "Add a Product",
contents: {
a!cardLayout(
contents: {
a!columnsLayout(
columns: {
a!columnLayout(
contents: {
a!textField(
label: "Name",
labelPosition: "ABOVE",
value: local!productRecordData['recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{afc5b005-2317-4c13-a132-62714c994bc9}name'],
saveInto: local!productRecordData['recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{afc5b005-2317-4c13-a132-62714c994bc9}name'],
refreshAfter: "UNFOCUS",
required: true
),
a!textField(
label: "Product Number",
labelPosition: "ABOVE",
value: local!productRecordData['recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{06fac494-e9bc-4abe-a3a3-6cdfa6d8db49}productNumber'],
saveInto: local!productRecordData['recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{06fac494-e9bc-4abe-a3a3-6cdfa6d8db49}productNumber'],
refreshAfter: "UNFOCUS",
required: true
),
a!textField(
label: "Standard Cost",
labelPosition: "ABOVE",
value: a!currency(
value: local!productRecordData['recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{3779db6a-45a8-49b4-8dd9-23087c00dde7}standardCost'],
isoCode: "USD"
),
saveInto: local!productRecordData['recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{3779db6a-45a8-49b4-8dd9-23087c00dde7}standardCost'],
refreshAfter: "UNFOCUS",
required: true
),
a!textField(
label: "List Price",
labelPosition: "ABOVE",
value: a!currency(
value: local!productRecordData['recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{6380baa1-23f9-409a-9b48-10e37d587fa3}listPrice'],
isoCode: "USD"
),
saveInto: local!productRecordData['recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{6380baa1-23f9-409a-9b48-10e37d587fa3}listPrice'],
refreshAfter: "UNFOCUS",
required: true
),
/* Because the record picker component is incompatible with portals,
we manually set up a dropdown component using the local!subcategory query*/
a!dropdownField(
label: "Subcategory",
labelPosition: "ABOVE",
placeholder: "--- Select a Subcategory ---",
choiceLabels: local!subcategory['recordType!{ef54f217-d426-4f2b-9955-3859c9919525}Product Subcategory.fields.{6f4fce8f-2487-4997-a365-985b895f90d8}name'],
choiceValues: local!subcategory['recordType!{ef54f217-d426-4f2b-9955-3859c9919525}Product Subcategory.fields.{b0f94c2f-cba6-4565-ae39-fa81da69b1d5}productSubcategoryId'],
value: local!productRecordData['recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{1deb35f9-8529-4f2f-b336-6774c614531d}productSubcategoryId'],
saveInto: local!productRecordData['recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{1deb35f9-8529-4f2f-b336-6774c614531d}productSubcategoryId'],
searchDisplay: "AUTO"
)
}
),
a!columnLayout(
contents: {
a!integerField(
label: "Safety Stock Level",
labelPosition: "ABOVE",
value: local!productRecordData['recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{debc9655-4313-49e4-b906-8ba472326d97}safetyStockLevel'],
saveInto: local!productRecordData['recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{debc9655-4313-49e4-b906-8ba472326d97}safetyStockLevel'],
refreshAfter: "UNFOCUS",
required: true
),
a!integerField(
label: "Reorder Point",
labelPosition: "ABOVE",
value: local!productRecordData['recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{6e28c019-12ab-4859-a8b3-8d52764e4944}reorderPoint'],
saveInto: local!productRecordData['recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{6e28c019-12ab-4859-a8b3-8d52764e4944}reorderPoint'],
refreshAfter: "UNFOCUS",
required: true
),
a!integerField(
label: "Days to Manufacture",
labelPosition: "ABOVE",
value: local!productRecordData['recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{7f3e3cd2-6023-4190-9607-17d62448c592}daysToManufacture'],
saveInto: local!productRecordData['recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{7f3e3cd2-6023-4190-9607-17d62448c592}daysToManufacture'],
refreshAfter: "UNFOCUS",
required: true
),
a!dateField(
label: "Sell Start Date",
labelPosition: "ABOVE",
value: local!productRecordData['recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{726cc562-42a3-47b7-b8c7-ddcdc3e26540}sellStartDate'],
saveInto: local!productRecordData['recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{726cc562-42a3-47b7-b8c7-ddcdc3e26540}sellStartDate'],
required: true
)
}
)
}
)
},
height: "AUTO",
style: "TRANSPARENT",
marginBelow: "STANDARD"
)
},
buttons: a!buttonLayout(
primaryButtons: {
a!buttonWidget(
label: "Add Product",
saveInto: a!startProcess(
processModel: cons!AR_ADD_PRODUCT_PROCESS_MODEL,
processParameters: {
/* This is the name of the process variable from the process model*/
productRecords: local!productRecordData
},
onSuccess: {
/* Sets local!submitted to true so that a confirmation message can display, instead of the form*/
a!save(local!submitted, true),
a!save(
local!result,
/* Index into the productRecords process variable to save just the record values,
instead of all of the process information*/
fv!processInfo.pv.productRecords
),
a!save(
/* This resets the form values to null to reset the form*/
local!productRecordData,
'recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product'(
'recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{afc5b005-2317-4c13-a132-62714c994bc9}name': null,
'recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{06fac494-e9bc-4abe-a3a3-6cdfa6d8db49}productNumber': null,
'recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{debc9655-4313-49e4-b906-8ba472326d97}safetyStockLevel': null,
'recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{6e28c019-12ab-4859-a8b3-8d52764e4944}reorderPoint': null,
'recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{3779db6a-45a8-49b4-8dd9-23087c00dde7}standardCost': null,
'recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{6380baa1-23f9-409a-9b48-10e37d587fa3}listPrice': null,
'recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.fields.{7f3e3cd2-6023-4190-9607-17d62448c592}daysToManufacture': null,
'recordType!{dee327a7-3854-45e5-a952-d3d7d3edcc82}Product.relationships.{d3a62d4a-3268-48dc-9563-3b99c33715d1}productSubcategory.fields.{b0f94c2f-cba6-4565-ae39-fa81da69b1d5}productSubcategoryId': null
)
)
}
),
submit: true,
style: "PRIMARY",
loadingIndicator: true
)
},
secondaryButtons: {
a!buttonWidget(
label: "Cancel",
value: true,
saveInto: {},
submit: true,
style: "NORMAL",
validate: false
)
}
)
),
/* Success message that displays when local!submitted=true*/
{
a!richTextDisplayField(
labelPosition: "COLLAPSED",
value: a!richTextItem(
text: "Product added.",
size: "MEDIUM_PLUS",
style: "STRONG"
),
align: "CENTER"
),
a!richTextDisplayField(
labelPosition: "COLLAPSED",
value: a!richTextItem(
text: "Thank you for submitting a new product."
),
align: "CENTER"
),
/* This link reopens the form. Replace the link with a link to your portal */
a!linkField(
labelPosition: "COLLAPSED",
align: "CENTER",
links: {
a!safeLink(
label: "Add another product.",
uri: "REPLACE THIS WITH A LINK TO YOUR PORTAL",
openLinkIn: "SAME_TAB"
)
}
)
}
)
)
Before you can view the record data in a published portal, you need to give the portal the appropriate permissions to view the data. This is done using a service account, which acts on behalf of your portal users.
To provide the portal the appropriate permissions:
In order to make sure the process executes correctly in a portal, you need to publish the portal in order to test that the portal starts the process and writes the data correctly.
To test the process in a published portal:
For Status, choose All Process Instances and verify an instance is listed with a completed status.
If there are scenarios where you cannot use record types, you can query and write data using custom data types (CDTs) and data stores.
To work with CDTs in a portal, you can call an integration object in the portal interface to request to write to or query data from Appian. The integration talks directly to a web API in Appian, which completes the request and sends a response back to the integration in the portal.
The integration and web API form a bridge that connects your portal to Appian and allows data to pass through. The integration is on one side—in your portal—and the web API is on the other side—in Appian.
The diagram below shows how the portal and Appian work together to allow for the flow of data, without the use of records.
You can query data in your portal using a CDT by creating a custom integration using a web API, integration object, and connected system.
This section outlines how to query data in a portal using a CDT and data store.
You'll first need to create a web API that queries your data store. This is pretty simple since you can use an API template that automatically populates some common fields and selections to start you out.
To create a web API:
For general help creating a web API, check out Creating web APIs. For help creating a web API that queries data, go through the web API Tutorial, which walks you through creating a web API that queries a record type.
In order to connect to the web API, you'll need an API key that is associated to a service account. Administrators can create these in the Admin Console. When creating the API key, copy the API key and keep it in a secure place. You can't access it again.
In order to query data, the service account needs to have Viewer permissions to the web API and data store.
To give your service account the appropriate access:
You can use the same service account that you set up with your API key as the portal service account that you add in the portal object. Just be sure to use the same service account to grant the required permissions to other design objects used in your portal.
When deploying a portal object to a different environment, make sure that there is a service account of the same username in the target environment and make sure it is in the same groups.
Now you need to add your API key and credentials to a connected system to use with the integration.
To create a connected system for authentication:
Appian-API-Key
.Once you've created your API and authentication objects, create an integration object that is set up to query data using the connected system that you just created.
Make sure that you have the GET content type and Convert JSON to Appian value response body parsing selected. This casts the JSON query results returned by your web API back to a dictionary.
For general help creating an integration, follow the steps in Create an Integration.
In your portal interface, call your integration. Cast the dictionary results returned by your integration into the CDT that you're using for your data. This will let you easily reference your queried data throughout your portal without extra formatting.
Tip: Instead of casting your integration results from a dictionary to a CDT directly within your interface, you have the option to create individual or reusable expression rules to cast your integration results. You would then call the integration from your interface and wrap it in the expression rule.
Using local variables within an interface, you can cast your integration results from a dictionary to whichever CDT you're using to work with your data.
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a!localVariables(
local!data: cast(
type!myCDT,
rule!myQueryIntegration().result.body
),
a!gridField(
data: local!data
)
)
For further examples, check out calling an integration to query data.
After creating a portal object, adding the interface, and publishing the portal, be sure to fully test the published portal.
When you deploy your portal object to a different environment, include an import customization file (ICF) in the app or deployment package. In the ICF, provide the API key from your target environment as well as any other connected system credentials and information. For more information, see Deploying a portal.
You can write data from your portal using a CDT by creating a custom integration using a web API, integration object, and connected system.
This section outlines how to write data from a portal using a CDT and data store.
You'll first need to create a web API that writes data directly to your data store. This is pretty simple since you can use an API template that automatically populates some common fields and selections to start you out.
To create a web API:
If you need help creating a web API that writes data, go through the Web API Tutorial Level II, which walks you through creating a web API that writes data to a record type.
In order to connect to the web API, you'll need an API key that is associated to a service account. Administrators can create these in the Admin Console. When creating the API key, copy the API key and keep it in a secure place. You can't access it again.
In order to write data, the service account needs to have Viewer permissions to the web API and data store.
To give your service account the appropriate access:
You can use the same service account that you set up with your API key as the portal service account that you add in the portal object. Just be sure to use the same service account to grant the required permissions to other design objects used in your portal, like records, processes, and document folders.
When deploying a portal object to a different environment, make sure that there is a service account of the same username in the target environment and make sure it is in the same groups.
Now you need to add your API key to a connected system for the integration.
To create a connected system for authentication:
Appian-API-Key
.Once you've created your API and authentication objects, create an integration that is set up to modify data using the connected system that you just created.
To configure your integration:
For more help, see Create an Integration.
Next, call your integration from your portal interface. For examples on how and where to call your integration in the portal, check out Calling an Integration to Modify Data.
After creating a portal object, adding the interface, and publishing the portal, be sure to fully test the published portal.
When you deploy your portal object to a different environment, include an import customization file (ICF) with the application or in a deployment package. In the ICF, provide the API key from the target environment as well as any other connected system credentials and information. For more information, see Deploying a portal.
The best way to work with data in portals is using record types. However, you also have the option of directly connecting to a publicly-available external database.
There are a couple of reasons why you might want to take this approach:
In order to connect a portal in this way, the database you're connecting to must meet the following criteria:
This section explains how to directly connect to an external database to query or write data in your portal.
To set up your external data source to query or write data:
To write and query data in the external database, you need to give the portal the appropriate permissions to the data store. This is done using a service account, which acts on behalf of your portal users.
In order to write and query data, the service account needs have Viewer permissions to the data store.
To give your service account the appropriate access:
You can only link one service account in the portal object. If you're using a service account to give access to records, processes, or documents, use the same service account for the data store.
In your portal interface, use a!writeToDataStoreEntity(), a!writeToMultipleDataStoreEntities(), a!deleteDataStoreEntity(), and/or a!queryEntity() just as you normally would in Appian.
If you are querying data, we recommend that you cast the dictionary returned from your query to a CDT.
Be aware that any calls to your external database go directly to the database and don't pass through Appian.
When you deploy your portal object to a different environment, include an import customization file (ICF) in the app or deployment package. In the ICF, provide your data source connected system credentials.
For more information on deploying portals, see Deploying a portal.
For more information on deploying data source connected systems, see Deploying data source connected systems.
Working with Data in a Portal