Modify a Customer Record in an MDK App

Regardless of whether your application is online or offline, you can allow users to modify data in the application.

For online applications, the changes are saved to the backend immediately.

For offline applications, the changes are stored locally until they are synced using an Upload action.

In this step, you will create the Edit Customer Detail page as a Form Cell Page. This type of page allows for form input style changes. The page will provide only a subset of items available on the Customer Detail page. You will add the fields that will be editable by the end-user.

1. Right-click the Pages folder | MDK: New Page | Form Cell Page | Next.

   

   A Form Cell Page is suitable for pages that generate new objects or modify existing objects. It includes a form cell container by default. You can add multiple containers or action controls to this page. Under each container section, you can add various container items.

   You can find more details about Form Cell page.

2. Enter the Page Name Customers_Edit and click Next and the Finish on the Confirmation step.

   

3. In the Properties pane set the Caption to Update Customer.

   

4. Now, you will add the fields (like first name, last name, phone & email address) that will be editable by the end-user.

   In the Layout Editor, expand the Control | Container Item section.

   Drag and drop a Simple Property onto the Page area.

   

5. Drag and drop three additional Simple Property controls onto the page so you have four total controls.

   

6. Select the first Simple Property control and provide the below information:

   Property	Value
   Name	FCFirstName
   Caption	First Name
   Value	click the link icon and bind it to FirstName property of the Customer entity

   

   Make sure, Format should be set as Binding.

   

7. Select the second Simple Property control and provide the below information:

   Property	Value
   Name	FCLastName
   Caption	Last Name
   Value	click the link icon and bind it to LastName property of the Customer entity

   

8. Select the third Simple Property control and provide the below information:

   Property	Value
   Name	FCPhone
   Caption	Phone
   Value	click the link icon and bind it to PhoneNumber property of the Customer entity

   

9. Select the last Simple Property control and provide the below information:

   Property	Value
   Name	FCEmail
   Caption	Email
   Value	click the link icon and bind it to EmailAddress property of the Customer entity

   

You will create a CloseModalPage_Cancel.action that closes the current page and cancels or interrupts any execution in process. This will be used with the cancel button on the Edit Customer page.

You can close pages with the option to terminate ongoing events or wait until they are complete. Visit documentationfor more details about Close Page Action.

1. Right-click the Actions folder | MDK: New Action | choose MDK UI Actions in Category | click Close Page Action | Next.

   

2. Provide the below information:

   Property	Value
   Action Name	CloseModalPage_Cancel
   DismissModal	Select Canceled from the dropdown
   CancelPendingActions	Select true from the dropdown

   

3. Click Next and then Finish on the confirmation step.

Now, you will add a button on the Edit Customer page and set it’s onPress to CloseModalPage_Cancel.action created in step 2.

1. In Customers_Edit.page, drag and drop an Action Bar Item control to the upper left corner of the action bar.

   Action Bar Item is a button that users can use to fire actions when pressed. You can add an Action Bar Item only to the Action Bar (at the top of the page).

   

2. In the Properties pane, click the link icon to open the object browser for the System Item property.

   Double-click the Cancel type and click OK.

   

   System Item are predefined system-supplied icon or text. Overwrites Text and Icon if specified.

3. Now, you will set the onPress event to CloseModalPage_Cancel.action.

   In Events tab, click the link icon for the OnPress property to open the object browser.

   Double-click the CloseModalPage_Cancel.action and click OK to set it as the OnPress Action.

   

Now, create a navigation action that will open the Customers_Edit.page when executed.

1. Right-click the Actions folder | MDK: New Action | choose MDK UI Actions in Category | click Navigation Action | Next.

   

2. Provide the below information:

   Property	Value
   Action Name	NavToCustomers_Edit
   PageToOpen	Select Customers_Edit.page from the dropdown
   ModalPage	Select true from the dropdown

   

3. Click Next and then Finish on the confirmation step.

You will add a button to the Customers_Detail.page called Edit. You will link this button to the navigation action you just created. This event will open the Customers_Edit.page when the Edit button is pressed by the end-user.

1. In Customers_Detail.page, drag and drop an Action Bar Item to the upper right of the action bar.

   

2. Click the link icon to open the object browser for the System Item property.

   Double-click the Edit type and click OK.

   

3. In the Properties pane, click the Events tab, click the link icon for the OnPress property to open the object browser.

   Double-click the NavToCustomers_Edit.action and click OK to set it as the OnPress Action.

   

The next step is to store newly updated record locally for an offline application or send the updated record directly back to the backed for online applications. You will now create an action to map the changes received from the Customers_Edit.page to the corresponding field in the OData service. You will also show a failure message if the update action fails to save the changes.

First, define a failure message.

1. Right-click the Actions folder | MDK: New Action | choose MDK Message Actions in Category | click Message Action | Next.

   

2. Provide the below information:

   Property	Value
   Action Name	UpdateCustomerEntityFailureMessage
   Type	Select Message from the dropdown
   Message	Failed to Save Customer Updates
   Title	Update Customer
   OKCaption	OK
   OnOK	--None--
   CancelCaption	leave it blank
   OnCancel	--None--

   

3. Click Next and then Finish on the confirmation step.

4. Next, you will define Close Page-Complete Action which allows the end-user to close the page and allow any execution to continue.

   You can close pages with the option to terminate ongoing events or wait until they are complete.

   Right-click the Actions folder | MDK: New Action | choose MDK UI Actions in Category | click Close Page Action | Next.

   

5. Provide the below information:

   Property	Value
   Action Name	CloseModalPage_Complete
   DismissModal	Select Completed from the dropdown
   CancelPendingActions	Select false from the dropdown

   

6. Click Next and then Finish on the confirmation step.

7. Next, you will create the OData Update action to update entity action that will map the changes to the correct entities in the OData service and save the changes.

   You can find more details about Update Entity Action.

   Right-click the Actions folder | MDK: New Action | choose MDK Data Actions in Category | click OData Action | Next.

   

8. Provide the below information:

   Property	Value
   Action Name	Customers_UpdateEntity
   Type	Select UpdateEntity from the dropdown
   Service	Select Sample.service from the dropdown
   EntitySet	Select Customers from the dropdown
   ReadLink	click link icon and Double-click readLink

   

   The readLink is a direct reference to an individual entity set entry.

9. Click Next.

10. In Property and Update Links step, uncheck City.

11. Since in Customers_Detail.page, you defined four properties (First Name, Last Name, Phone & Email) to be edited, now, in this step, you will bind them to respective UI Controls.

    Check the EmailAddress property and click the link icon to open the object browser.

    Change the drop down in the object browser to Controls & ClientData, click the Current Page radio button.

    In the search box start typing the control name FCEmail. The list will filter down to show the matching values. Double-click the Value (Value) entry under the FCEmail field and click OK to set binding.

    

12. Repeat the above step for remaining properties: FirstName, LastName and PhoneNumber.

    

    Click Next and Finish on the confirmation screen. The action editor will open with the Customers_UpdateEntity.action loaded.

13. Next, define Success and Failure actions for Customers_UpdateEntity.action.

    In the action editor for the new action, expand the Common Action Properties and provide the below information:

    Property	Value
    Success Action	Click the link icon and bind it to CloseModalPage_Complete.action
    Failure Action	Click the link icon and bind it to UpdateCustomerEntityFailureMessage.action

    When Customers_UpdateEntity.action gets executed successfully then CloseModalPage_Complete.action will be triggered or if Customers_UpdateEntity.action fails then UpdateCustomerEntityFailureMessage.action will be triggered.

    

14. Next, you will set the OnPress event of the Save button.

    Now, that the Update action is created, you will need to call the Update action when the end-user presses the Save button. You will add a Save button on the Customers_Edit.page and link it to the Customers_UpdateEntity.action.

    In Customers_Edit.page, drag and drop an Action Bar Item to the upper right corner of the action bar.

    

    Click the link icon to open the object browser for the System Item property.

    Double-click the Save type and click OK.

    

15. In the Properties pane | Events tab, click the link icon for the OnPress property to open the object browser, bind it to Customers_UpdateEntity.action.

    

Deploy the updated application to your MDK client.

1. Right-click Application.app and select MDK: Deploy.

   

2. Select deploy target as Mobile Services.

   

   You should see Deploy succeeded message.

   

Make sure you are choosing the right device platform tab above.

Now, refresh the URL to check if record has been updated in the backend. As Sync is pressed, UploadOffline.action gets triggered to upload local changes from device to the backend and on success of this call, DownloadOffline.action is being called.