App Properties
You can configure some supported fields with app properties when configuring triggers and activities. Connection-related app properties cannot be used for configuration anywhere within an app. Their only purpose is to allow you to change a connection value if need be during runtime. Configuration fields in your flow that require their values to be changed when the app goes from a testing stage to production are best configured using app properties instead of hard coding their values. App properties for triggers and activities reside within the app. App properties for connections are not modifiable from the App Properties dialog in the app.
The URL field in an activity is a good example of a field for which you would want different values – maybe an internal URL when testing the app and an external URL when the app goes into production. You may want the URL for an activity used in the activity to change when the app goes from a test environment to production. In such a case, it is best to configure the URL field in the activity with an app property instead of hardcoding the URL. This way, you can change the URL by changing the value of the app property used to configure the URL field.
) to see the value temporarily in order to verify that it has been entered correctly.
App properties are saved within the app, so when you export or import an app, app properties configured in the app also get exported or imported with the app. Properties of data type password do not retain their values when an app is exported. So, you must reconfigure the password after importing the app.
This section contains the following topics:
- Creating App Properties
You can create an app property as a standalone property or as a part of a group. Use a group to organize app properties under a parent. A parent acts as an umbrella to hold related app properties and is basically a label with a meaningful name. A parent does not have a data type associated with it. For instance, if you want to group all app properties associated with a particular activity, you can create a group with a parent that has the activity name and create all that activity-related app properties under that parent. - Deleting a Group or Property
You must delete an existing property from the tree view in the App Properties dialog. The list view does not allow you to add or delete properties. Deleting a child property does not delete its parent, but deleting a parent will delete all properties under it. - Using App Properties in a Flow
Configuring a field with an app property is recommended for fields that require their values to be overridden when the app goes into production. Hence, the decision as to which fields in an activity should support app properties (which fields can be configured using an app property) must be decided at the time when the extension for the category is being developed. The fields that can be configured using an app property display a slider button against their names in the UI. - Using App Properties in Connections
Connection-related app properties cannot be used for configuration anywhere within an app. Their only purpose is to allow you to change a connection value if need be during runtime. Hence, you cannot use connection-related app properties to map an input field as these properties are not visible in the mapper. You can only view them in the App Properties dialog, but cannot edit, update, or delete them. Before you your app, their values can only be edited in the connection details dialog, the dialog where you provided the credentials for the connection. You can open this dialog by editing the connection from the Connections page in the UI. Connection-related properties are useful when you want to change the value for one of the connection fields, for example a URL, when an app goes from the testing stage to production. - Editing an App Property
You can change the default value or data type of an app property at any time. - When Importing an App
An app being imported could have its own app properties. The app properties get imported along with the app. If an app property in the app being imported has a name that is identical to a property in the host app, you will see a warning message saying so with a choice to either overwrite the existing host property (by clicking Continue) with the property definition from the imported app or cancel the import process altogether. - Exporting App Properties to a File
You can export the app properties to a JSON file or a .properties file. The exported JSON file can be used to override app property values. When using the exported properties file, the values in the properties file get validated by the app during runtime. If a property value in the file is invalid, you get an error saying so and the app proceeds to use the default value for that property instead.