Tip: Interface patterns give you an opportunity to explore different interface designs. Be sure to check out How to Adapt a Pattern for Your Application.
There are three options for milestone patterns which all display some form of a progress indicator to guide users through a series of steps. This page explains how you can use this pattern in your interface, and walks through the design structure in detail.
In each of the patterns, the indicators change color to show that the user has completed those steps in the task. These patterns can be used to break up longer forms into more manageable sections and combine smaller forms into a more streamlined process. All five patterns have similar functionality and design, but provide different levels of detail and context for the steps. They all are located under the PATTERNS tab under PALETTE in your interface. Test out all three to see which option works best for you.
The main interface components in this pattern are columns layouts, card layouts, side by side layouts, and styled texts and icons.
This pattern also relies on a few functions to create the interactive milestones; including a forEach function, an if function, a dynamic link, and a choose function.
You can examine the entire expression or jump down to the subsections below with referenced line numbers to see a detailed breakdown of the main components and functions.
The milestone bar pattern introduces a 254-line expression to the interface.
At the beginning of the expression, two local variables are set up: local!milestoneBarSteps, which provides the titles for the four steps in the milestone and local!currentMilestoneBarStep, which stores the current step that the user is on. This pattern has the user starting on the second step in the milestone bar. This is done to show that the user can return to a previous step using the Back button.
1
2
3
4
5
{
a!localVariables(
/* List of steps in the milestone bar */
local!milestoneBarSteps: {"Review Cart", "Provide Shipping", "Provide Billing", "Confirm Order"},
local!currentMilestoneBarStep: 2,
This section creates each step in the milestone bar using a!forEach(), if(), styled texts and styled icons, and a dynamic link. Each step in the milestone bar is constructed with a column layout that contains a card with the title and icon for the step within a side by side layout. The expression that constructs each step is iterated through using a!forEach() [lines 9-162].
The style of the card layout, the boldness of the text, and the icon change as you move through the steps:
"STRONG", the card style is "ACCENT", and the icon is a pointing hand."ACCENT", and the icon is a check mark.Two nested if() functions are used in conjunction with local!currentMilestoneBarStep to determine whether each step is a previous, future, or current step and display the behavior accordingly. This is done by using a dynamic link within the card layout of the Current step to save the step's number into local!currentMilestoneBarStep.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
{
a!columnsLayout(
columns: {
a!forEach(
items: local!milestoneBarSteps,
expression: if(
/* Completed step */
fv!index < local!currentMilestoneBarStep,
a!columnLayout(
contents: {
a!cardLayout(
contents: {
a!sideBySideLayout(
items: {
a!sideBySideItem(
item: a!richTextDisplayField(
labelPosition: "COLLAPSED",
value: {
a!richTextItem(
text: {
a!richTextIcon(
icon: "check",
altText: "Completed step"
)
},
size: "MEDIUM",
style: "STRONG"
)
},
align: "CENTER"
),
width: "MINIMIZE"
),
a!sideBySideItem(
item: a!richTextDisplayField(
labelPosition: "COLLAPSED",
value: {
a!richTextItem(
text: upper(fv!item),
size: "MEDIUM"
)
},
align: "LEFT"
)
)
}
)
},
/* Link to go to selected step */
link: a!dynamicLink(
value: fv!index,
saveInto: local!currentMilestoneBarStep
),
style: "ACCENT",
showBorder: false,
accessibilityText: "Completed step. Press space to view step."
)
}
),
if(
/* Future step */
fv!index > local!currentMilestoneBarStep,
a!columnLayout(
contents: {
a!cardLayout(
contents: {
a!sideBySideLayout(
items: {
a!sideBySideItem(
item: a!richTextDisplayField(
labelPosition: "COLLAPSED",
value: {
a!richTextItem(
text: fv!index,
size: "MEDIUM",
style:"STRONG"
)
},
align: "CENTER"
),
width: "MINIMIZE"
),
a!sideBySideItem(
item: a!richTextDisplayField(
labelPosition: "COLLAPSED",
value: {
a!richTextItem(
text: upper(fv!item),
size: "MEDIUM"
)
},
align: "LEFT"
)
)
}
)
},
style: "#efefef",
height: "AUTO",
marginBelow: "NONE",
showBorder: false,
accessibilityText: "Future step"
)
}
),
/* Current step */
a!columnLayout(
contents: {
a!cardLayout(
contents: {
a!sideBySideLayout(
items: {
a!sideBySideItem(
item: a!richTextDisplayField(
labelPosition: "COLLAPSED",
value: {
a!richTextItem(
text: {
a!richTextIcon(
icon: "hand-o-right",
altText: "Current step",
size: "MEDIUM"
)
},
size: "MEDIUM",
style: "STRONG"
)
},
align: "CENTER"
),
width: "MINIMIZE"
),
a!sideBySideItem(
item: a!richTextDisplayField(
labelPosition: "COLLAPSED",
value: {
a!richTextItem(
text: upper(fv!item),
size: "MEDIUM",
style: "STRONG"
)
},
align: "LEFT"
)
)
}
)
},
style: "ACCENT",
showBorder: false,
accessibilityText: "Current step"
)
}
)
)
)
)
},
spacing: "DENSE",
stackWhen: {"PHONE","TABLET_PORTRAIT"}
),
This section uses choose() and rich text to configure what will display for each step when it is the current step. The choose function works with local!currentMilestoneBarStep to determine which step's message to show. Currently there is a placeholder message in styled text, however you can replace this with the component that you want to display for each milestone.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
choose(
local!currentMilestoneBarStep,
{
/* Replace this rich text with the component or rule that should populate this step */
a!richTextDisplayField(
labelPosition: "COLLAPSED",
value: {a!richTextItem(text: "The contents of the first step belong here", style: "EMPHASIS")},
align: "CENTER"
)
},
{
/* Replace this rich text with the component or rule that should populate this step */
a!richTextDisplayField(
labelPosition: "COLLAPSED",
value: {a!richTextItem(text: "The contents of the second step belong here", style: "EMPHASIS")},
align: "CENTER"
)
},
{
/* Replace this rich text with the component or rule that should populate this step */
a!richTextDisplayField(
labelPosition: "COLLAPSED",
value: {a!richTextItem(text: "The contents of the third step belong here", style: "EMPHASIS")},
align: "CENTER"
)
},
{
/* Replace this rich text with the component or rule that should populate this step */
a!richTextDisplayField(
labelPosition: "COLLAPSED",
value: {a!richTextItem(text: "The contents of the fourth step belong here", style: "EMPHASIS")},
align: "CENTER"
)
}
),
The last section contains columns with buttons that allow users to go back to the previous step, to cancel their progress, or move to the next step. Once the user has made it to the final milestone, the label on the Next button changes to Submit and acts as a submit button.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
a!columnsLayout(
columns: {
a!columnLayout(
contents: {
a!buttonArrayLayout(
buttons: {
a!buttonWidget(
label: "Back",
value: local!currentMilestoneBarStep - 1,
saveInto: local!currentMilestoneBarStep,
style: "NORMAL",
showWhen: local!currentMilestoneBarStep > 1
),
a!buttonWidget(
label: "Cancel",
style: if(
local!currentMilestoneBarStep = 1,
"OUTLINE",
"LINK"
)
)
},
align: "START"
)
}
),
a!columnLayout(
contents: {
a!buttonArrayLayout(
buttons: a!buttonWidget(
label: if(
local!currentMilestoneBarStep = length(local!milestoneBarSteps),
"Submit",
"Next"
),
saveInto: if(
local!currentMilestoneBarStep = length(local!milestoneBarSteps),
{},
a!save(
local!currentMilestoneBarStep,
local!currentMilestoneBarStep + 1
)
),
style: "SOLID"
)
)
}
)
}
)
}
)
}
In addition to the Milestone (Bar) pattern described above, the Milestone (Stamp), and Navigation (Vertical) patterns are also available in your interface. They're located in PALETTE, under the PATTERNS tab.
The Milestone (Stamp) pattern displays a simple progress indicator to guide users through steps in a task.
The main components of this pattern are stamps, rich text display fields, and side by side layouts. They're configured to display the progress of a given task. The image below shows the pattern with callouts for the main components.
When you drag and drop the Milestone (Stamp) pattern onto your interface, 117 lines of expression will be added to the section where you dragged it.
The Milestone (Vertical) pattern displays a detailed progress indicator to guide users through steps in a task.
The main components of this pattern are stamps, rich text display fields, and column layouts. They're configured to display the progress of a given task. The image below shows the pattern with callouts for the main components.
Main components:
"POSITIVE" background color showing a completed step.When you drag and drop the Milestone (Vertical) pattern onto your interface, 121 lines of expression will be added to the section where you dragged it.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
{
a!localVariables(
local!verticalSteps: {
a!map(name: "Claim Filed", icon: "archive", date: today() - 5, isCompleted: true),
a!map(name: "Vehicle Inspected", icon: "search", date: today() - 4, isCompleted: true),
a!map(name: "Estimate Issued", icon: "file-text-o", date: null, isCompleted: false),
a!map(name: "Payment Sent", icon: "money", date: null, isCompleted: false),
a!map(name: "Claim Closed", icon: "stamp", date: null, isCompleted: false)
},
a!sectionLayout(
label: "Claim Progress",
labelSize: "MEDIUM",
labelColor: "STANDARD",
contents: {
a!forEach(
items: local!verticalSteps,
expression: {
a!columnsLayout(
columns: {
a!columnLayout(
contents: {
if(
fv!item.isCompleted,
a!stampField(
labelPosition: "COLLAPSED",
icon: "check",
backgroundColor: "POSITIVE",
contentColor: "STANDARD",
size: "TINY",
align: "CENTER",
marginBelow: "NONE",
accessibilityText: "Completed Step"
),
a!stampField(
labelPosition: "COLLAPSED",
icon: fv!item.icon,
backgroundColor: "#d9d9d9",
contentColor: "#666666",
size: "TINY",
align: "CENTER",
marginBelow: "NONE",
accessibilityText: "Future Step"
)
)
},
width: "EXTRA_NARROW"
),
a!columnLayout(
contents: {
a!richTextDisplayField(
labelPosition: "COLLAPSED",
value: {
a!richTextItem(
text: fv!item.name,
size: "STANDARD",
style: if(
fv!item.isCompleted,
"STRONG",
"PLAIN"
)
)
},
preventWrapping: true,
marginBelow: "NONE"
),
a!richTextDisplayField(
labelPosition: "COLLAPSED",
value: {
a!richTextItem(
text: text(fv!item.date, "MMMM D"),
size: "SMALL"
)
},
preventWrapping: true,
showWhen: fv!item.isCompleted,
marginBelow: "NONE"
)
}
)
},
alignVertical: "MIDDLE",
marginAbove: if(
fv!isFirst,
"STANDARD",
"NONE"
),
marginBelow: "NONE",
spacing: "NONE",
stackWhen: "NEVER"
),
a!columnsLayout(
columns: {
a!columnLayout(
contents: {
a!imageField(
labelPosition: "COLLAPSED",
images: {
a!documentImage(
document: a!EXAMPLE_VERTICAL_CONNECTOR_IMAGE()
)
},
size: "TINY",
align: "CENTER"
)
},
width: "EXTRA_NARROW"
),
a!columnLayout()
},
alignVertical: "MIDDLE",
showWhen: not(fv!isLast),
marginBelow: "NONE",
spacing: "NONE",
stackWhen: "NEVER"
)
}
)
}
)
)
}
Milestone Patterns
