Creating Event Actions

To be useful, each event handler must have at least one event action associated with it.

An event action is defined as a unit of work to be done when the event handler executes.

To create an event action:

  1. Open the Event Handlers form.
  2. Create a new event handler; or, in the grid view, select the event handler for which you want to create the action.
  3. Click Event Actions.
  4. If you are creating an action for an event handler that already has actions defined, in the grid, create a new row.
  5. In the Event Actions form, Action Type field, select the type of action to be performed.

    For a list of action types and what they do, see Action Type.

  6. Specify a description for the action. This description is helpful when you have multiple actions with the same name, because it allows you to find the appropriate action in a list.
  7. Click Edit Parameters.

    Based on the action type you selected, the system opens the appropriate event action parameter form, which you can use to construct the parameters for the action type. For more information, see Setting Event Action Parameters.

    Note: If you are familiar with the parameters, functions, and syntax for the action parameters, you can click Show Details to display tabs where you can manually enter the parameter information in the text field. However, unless you are very confident in your ability to write this data from scratch or you are pasting in data from a reliable source, and to help ensure that you use only valid parameters, functions, and syntax, we recommend that you use the event action parameter forms, which have been designed specifically for this purpose.

    For more information about the event action parameter forms, see the online Help for each form. For additional reference information about action types and parameters, see the information about Event Action Types in the Guide to the Application Event System.

  8. When you are finished setting up parameters in the appropriate event action parameter form, click OK.

    When you close an event action parameter form, the parameters you set up there are automatically returned to the Event Actions form, with the correct syntax. Even so, we recommend that you verify the syntax is error-free by clicking Check Syntax before you proceed.

  9. If the action involves a variable to be used in event messages and you want to restrict how the variable's value is treated, set those restrictions on the Variable Access tab.

    For more information about setting variable access, see the information about Setting Variable Access in the Guide to the Application Event System.

  10. Save your changes and close the form.