Counter



Configuration interface for creating counters: (1) list of existing counters, (2) area for editing the selected counter, (3) metadata of the counter.

The values of the counters can be changed with the action Change counter and read out via variables and thus used in conditions, for example.

Creating a counter

Open the "Data > Counter" module and click the "New" button in the header of the list (see point 1 in  figure). Then the appropriate settings for the counter can be made. With a click on the Save button the counter is created.

Configuration options

Name
Name of the counter
Current value
The current value of the counter is displayed here. After clicking on the pencil symbol, the value can be adjusted and accepted by clicking on the check mark.
Reset automatically
If this option has been activated, the following options can be used to specify under which conditions the counter is to be reset:
Initial value
Value to which the counter is to be reset
Condition
Condition under which the counter is to be reset. The following options are available for selection:
- Counter greater than or equal
- Counter less than or equal
- daily
- weekly
- monthly
- yearly
According to the selection made here, the following fields become visible:
Value
Value with which the counter is to be compared. Only available if counter greater than or equal or counter less than or equal has been selected as condition.
at
Time at which the reset should take place. Only available if daily, weekly, monthly or annually is selected as condition.
On days
Day of the week on which the reset should take place. Only available if weekly is selected as condition.
Day of the month
Day in month on which the counter is to be reset. Only available if monthly or yearly is selected as condition.
Month
Month in which the counter is to be reset. Only available if annual is selected as condition.

The following information is also displayed under the settings in Counter meta data:

UUID
System internal UUID of the counter
Angelegt am
Time when the counter was created
Geändert am
Time when changes were last made to the meter

Variables

The values of counters can be read out via variables, for example in the workflow or as values of form elements. The syntax is as follows: 

[%$COUNTER_CLIENT.<name of the counter>%]

Access of counter value via servlet

Servlet URL and parameters

The value of the counters can be determined within forms via a servlet call. It is possible to select the counter by its name or UUID. The corresponding URLs for calling the values could look like the following, for example:

https://<server address>/formcycle/form/clientcounter/?frid=<Valid frid>&name=<name of the counter>
and
https://<server address>/formcycle/form/clientcounter/?frid=<Valid frid>&uuid=<UUID of the counter>

In both cases a valid form request id (frid) is required, which can be found in the form via JavaScript under XFC_METADATA.currentSessionFRID. In the same way, the URL of the servlet can be read via JavaScript under XFC_METADATA.urls.counter_client. This is important because the URL differs when called from frontend and master servers.

Return values

The result is returned as JSON. Besides the actual value, other information is also returned. The response has the following structure:

success
Boolean value that indicates whether the meter value could be read successfully.
msg
Server message related to the request, which can be used for debugging. A successful access returns e.g. Counter found.
result
Response to the request. If the request was not successful, only an empty JSON object literal is returned. On the other hand, if the request was successful, the following sub-items are included in the JSON object literal:
lastChange
Formatted output of date and time of the last change of the counter value
lastChangeTimestamp
Epoch of the last change of the counter value
name
Name of the counter
uuid
UUID of the counter
value
Current counter value

Example of an AJAX request in a form

An example AJAX request that writes the current counter value of the sample counter to the tf1 field might look like the following:

$.ajax({
    method: "GET",
    url: XFC_METADATA.urls.counter_client,
    data: {
        name: "Examplecounter",
        frid: XFC_METADATA.currentSessionFRID,
    }
}).then(function(data) {
   if (data.success) {
        $('[data-name="tf1"]').val(data.result.value);
    } else {
        console.warn("Access to counter 'Examplecounter' failed:", data.msg);
    }
}).catch(function(jqXHR, errorTextStatus, errorThrown) {
    console.warn("Access to counter 'Examplecounter' failed:", errorThrown, "(" + errorTextStatus + ")");
});

Inserting a template for an AJAX request in the form

Selection of the template for the counter query in the JavaScript area of the form designer.

A template similar to the above example function can be inserted directly in the JavaScript area of the Form Designer using Autocomplete. To do this, enter Counter query (or at least Counter) one after the other in the JavaScript area and select and confirm the Counter query option suggested by Autocomplete with a click or with the Arrow keys and the Enter key.

After the template is inserted, the required functionality must be added and the name of the counter must be changed.