Lifecycle Methods

The HTML SDK provides five lifecycle methods that can be used in a variety of patterns to create tools.

Lifecycle methods

The lifecycle methods load in the following order:

SetConfiguration: Executed when the tool is clicked on. Used to obtain the tool's configuration as soon as the tool finishes loading the HTML.

SetConfiguration: function (currentToolConfiguration){...}

BeforeLoad: Executed before the data stores are loaded. Used to manually configure data stores.

window.Alteryx.Gui.BeforeLoad = function (manager, AlteryxDataItems, json) {...}

Parameters

manager: An object that implements the SetConfiguration and GetConfiguration functions, managing data items, their content from the configuration, and their persistance in the workflow. The manager also:

calls the window.Alteryx.Gui.Annotation function, which provides a workflow canvas annotation for your tool by returning a string.
interacts with the HTML GUI SDK widgets.
provides an easy API for accessing upstream field and tool information.

The manager’s full API is detailed in the API reference documentation.

AlteryxDataItems: An object with various data item type constructors on it, so you may new them up from it. For the full listing of supported data items, see Supported Data Items.

new AlteryxDataItems.SimpleInt('X')

json: An object containing the actual JSON that provides the tool’s current configuration data. The actual persisted XML configuration data is under the Configuration property. The short object description is:

{
	MacroMode: bool,
	IsFirstConfig: bool,
	IsNoConfig: bool,
	Configuration: object,
	MetaInfo: array of object,
	ToolId: int,
	ToolName: string
}

AfterLoad: Executed after the data stores have been loaded. Used to trigger application logic. Retrieves values from data items after the manager has loaded values from the incoming XML configuration.

window.Alteryx.Gui.AfterLoad = function (manager, AlteryxDataItems) {...}

Parameters

manager: An object that implements the SetConfiguration and GetConfiguration functions, managing data items, their content from the configuration, and their persistance in the workflow.

The manager also:

calls the window.Alteryx.Gui.Annotation function, which provides a workflow canvas annotation for your tool by returning a string.
interacts with the HTML GUI SDK widgets.
provides an easy API for accessing upstream field and tool information.

The manager’s full API is detailed in the API reference documentation.

AlteryxDataItems: An object with various data item type constructors on it, so you may new them up from it. For the full listing of supported data items, see Supported Data Items.

new AlteryxDataItems.SimpleInt('X')

BeforeGetConfiguration: Executed before the GetConfiguration event is fired. Allows for current configuration data to be changed before obtaining the tool configuration on deselection. Used to change the values or the structure of the persisted data.

window.Alteryx.Gui.BeforeGetConfiguration = function (json) {...}

Parameters

{
	MacroMode: bool,
	IsFirstConfig: bool,
	IsNoConfig: bool,
	Configuration: object,
	MetaInfo: array of object,
	ToolId: int,
	ToolName: string
}

GetConfiguration: Executes as the final action before a tool is deselected, obtains the tool configuration from the GUI.

GetConfiguration: function () {...}

UI creation patterns

There are several methods available to creating a tool. Evaluate what your users require of your tool before determining what method of creation you want to use.

If the tool is filling in an existing UI, it does not need to persist configuration between uses. If the tool has configuration settings that persist, but are not displayed to a user, the tool does not need to synchronize data between UI controls and the configuration persistence.

UI creation pattern	Tool automatically loads and persists your configuration	Tool automatically synchronizes data between UI controls and configuration persistence
Use only SetConfiguration and GetConfiguration	No	No
Use BeforeLoad and AfterLoad with Data Items	Yes	No
Using data items with widgets	Yes	Yes