The Button / Action Fields section of the toolbox holds the fields that make a form do something. Four of them run actions - the same set of actions in each case - and they differ in how the user gets to them and in what triggers them.


E-form Buttons - Shows the form's own buttons: Save, Cancel, Print and the rest. These are not configured on the field; they are configured for the form as a whole under E-Form Settings, in the E-Form Buttons topic. Drop this field wherever those buttons should appear. Without it, the form's buttons appear in their default position.


Button - A single button that runs one action. See Button.


Multi-Action - A field with no appearance that runs a list of actions in order. It can be triggered by a button, by another field changing, by a hot key, or on a timer. This is where anything more than a one-step response is built. See Multi-Action.


Button Bar - A row of buttons, each running its own list of actions. Can also work as a navigation bar, remembering which button is active. See Button Bar.


Toolbar - A menu bar with a brand area, options on the left and right, and drop-down menus. See Toolbar.


Timer - Runs actions after a delay, once or repeatedly. See Timer.


Choosing between them

Button or Multi-Action? A Button runs a single action. The moment the click needs to do two things - set a value and run a search, or validate and save - the work goes in a Multi-Action and the button simply triggers it. Building the sequence in a Multi-Action also means a second button, a hot key or a field change can reuse it without the steps being duplicated.


Button Bar or Toolbar? A Button Bar is a row of buttons and is the simpler choice. A Toolbar adds a brand area, options grouped to the left and right, and drop-down menus, which suits a form acting as a small application. Both can act as navigation, moving the user between pages or panels while remembering where they are.


Timer or Multi-Action? A Timer only decides when; the work itself is still a list of actions. Use one for something that should happen a moment after the form opens, or on a repeating cycle - refreshing a search, checking for new documents, moving a display along.


How actions are put together

Every action in every one of these fields is chosen from the same list, grouped by what it affects: field actions, basic form actions, search field actions, calendar and map actions, required documents, miscellaneous field actions and environment actions. A few entries are only available in certain places - Please Wait, Confirm / Stop Actions and Validate Fields only inside a Multi-Action, drop-down menus only on a Toolbar, and Run Action Set only where workflow is licensed. The calendar and map actions belong to the paid add-on that provides those fields.


Where a field runs several actions, they run in the order listed and can be dragged to reorder them. Each one also has its own Show When or Execute When condition, so a single button bar can offer different options to different people and a single Multi-Action can take different paths - see Field Conditions for how those are built.