Build an action app

Create an action app from a template, design its form, set its actions, SLA and continuation, preview it and publish a version.

An action app is the form behind a task: the request fields an automation fills in, the response fields a reviewer fills in, and the actions they can pick. Building and publishing apps needs action_center.edit; seeing them needs action_center.view. Create an app# In Action Hub, select Apps. The list shows each app with its key, Latest version, Status (Draft, Published or Archived) and when it was Updated. Select New app. Pick a Template: Approval: review a request and approve or reject it, with an optional comment. Data validation: check values an automation extracted against the source document and correct them. Classification: read an item and choose its category and severity. Enter a Name and, optionally, Instructions for reviewers. Select Create app. The editor opens. The app's key is set from the name when the app is created and cannot be changed; automations use it to raise tasks. Your edits are saved as a draft automatically (Saved at time); Save draft saves at once. Design the form# The Design tab has the field palette on the left, the form in the middle and the properties of the selected field (or App settings when none is selected) on the right. Select a palette entry to add a field: Text, Long text, Number, Date, Dropdown, Checkbox, Radio buttons, File reference, Section heading, Read-only display, Table of rows or Document viewer. Select a field to edit it. Arrow keys move it, Shift+arrow keys resize it and Delete removes it. Undo and Redo (Ctrl+Z, Ctrl+Shift+Z) work outside text boxes. Each card shows who fills the field: Automation or Reviewer. The Fields tab lists the same fields as a form. For each one set the Key (the name automations read and write), Label, Type, Direction (Filled by automation, Filled by reviewer or Both), Width, Visible when (show the field only when another field equals a value) and Required. Dropdowns and radio buttons take their Options, one per line. Keys are a contractAutomations read and write fields by key. Renaming the key of a field that is already in a published version breaks the automations that use it; publish a new version and update them together. Set the actions# On the Actions tab, each action has an Action id (the outcome the automation receives), a Label, a Style (Primary, Secondary or Danger), Requires a valid form and Ask to confirm. A Danger action always asks to confirm. Select Add action for more; the arrows set the order of the buttons. Keep Requires a valid form off for actions such as Reject that a reviewer should be able to take without filling in every required field. App settings# With no field selected, the right-hand panel of the Design tab shows App settings (the Settings tab holds most of the same options): Name and Instructions (shown on every task). Row title field: the request field the inbox shows as the task title, or Task title. Task type and Default priority (Settings tab). Forbid self-approval: the person who raised the task, or started the job or flow that raised it, cannot decide it. Continuation: see below. Service level: see below. Start an automation when a task is completed# Under Continuation, choose an Automation and Run as (the user whose access the job runs with). When a task from this app is completed, Action Hub starts that automation as a new job. Its inputs are the reviewer's response plus an actionTask object with the task id, app key, version, outcome and who completed it. The robot that raised the task does not wait. See Ask a person from an automation. Set the service level# Under Service level, Due in sets each new task's due date (an ISO 8601 duration such as P1D or PT8H) unless the automation gives one. At risk before (for example PT4H) marks the task At risk that long before it is due. Preview the form# The Preview tab renders the form as a reviewer sees it. Edit the Sample input JSON, switch between Task pane, Full width and Phone (360 px), fill in the response and select an action to see what it Would submit. Get the schemas and code# On the Design tab, select Inputs & outputs. The drawer shows the Input schema (what an automation sends), the Output schema (what a completed task returns), and ready-to-paste Workflow (XAML) and Python snippets, each with Copy. The JSON tab shows the whole app definition. Export JSON downloads it and Import JSON replaces the draft's fields and actions with a file's, which is how you copy an app between tenants. Publish a version# Select Publish. In the dialog, select Publish v1 (the number is the next version). Unsaved changes are saved first. Automations can raise tasks only from a published version. Published versions never change: an open task keeps the version it was raised with, and an automation bound to v1 keeps working after you publish v2. The Settings tab lists the Published versions. To move an automation to a new version, change the version it asks for. If the editor shows problems block publishing, fix each listed problem (the path points at the field or action) and publish again. Next steps# Ask a person from an automation Work on tasks

Create an app

Design the form

Set the actions

App settings

Start an automation when a task is completed

Set the service level

Preview the form

Get the schemas and code

Publish a version

Next steps