Reusable UI Templates

Reusable UI Templates let you create UI components once and use them across multiple User Tasks and processes. This approach eliminates repetitive styling work, reduces manual component updates, and provides centralized template management.

What are Reusable UI Templates?

Reusable UI Templates are self-contained UI component hierarchies that you design once and instantiate multiple times throughout your application. They solve common UI development challenges:

Repetitive styling: No more redoing component styles and properties for similar UI patterns
Manual updates: Reduce the need to manually change components across multiple locations
Template management: Centralized configuration and management of UI templates

Reusable UI Templates focus on visual components and layout. They cannot include reusable business rules or complex business logic.

Key benefits

Consistency

Ensure uniform UI patterns across your entire application

Efficiency

Design once and use many times - no more recreating similar patterns

Maintainability

Update templates in one place to affect all instances automatically

Omnichannel support

Templates work across different platforms and channels

Template structure

A reusable template consists of:

Root component: A single container (Card, Container, or Custom Component)
UI hierarchy: Child components arranged in a hierarchical structure
UI actions: Interactive elements that can trigger process actions
Data model: Input and output parameters for template configuration
Configuration: Name, description, and resource metadata

Before you begin

Make sure you have:

Access to FlowX Designer
Appropriate permissions to create and manage reusable resources
A clear understanding of the UI pattern you want to standardize

Create a reusable template

Access template management

In FlowX Designer, go to your project
Navigate to Reusable Resources > Templates
Click + New Reusable Template

Configure basic settings

Enter a descriptive name for your template (required)
- Example: “Personal Details Card” for user information display
Add an optional description explaining the template’s purpose
Choose your root component type:
- Card: Best for content needing visual separation and styling
- Container: Ideal for layout and grouping without visual styling
- Custom Component: Use for specialized components with custom behavior
Configure the data model with input and output parameters

Design the UI hierarchy

Use the template UI designer to build your component structure:

Root Component (Card/Container/Custom)
├── UI Components (Text, Input, Button, etc.)
├── Layout Components (Containers, Flex containers)
└── Interactive Components (Forms, Actions)

The template UI designer focuses on screen parts without navigation concepts or process-related navigation.

Configure UI actions (optional)

Define interactive elements within your template:

Define UI actions within the reusable template
Assign node actions when instantiated in User Tasks
Use for standard actions like “Save”, “Submit”, or “Cancel”

Test your template

Use Preview Mode to see how your template renders
Verify component hierarchy and basic functionality
Test with different themes and configurations
Save your template when testing is successful

Use templates in User Tasks

After creating a reusable template, you can add it to your User Task interfaces.

Add a template to a User Task

Open the UI Designer for a User Task
In the component panel, locate Reusable Templates
Drag and drop your desired template into the UI hierarchy
Configure instance-specific properties as needed

Template integration

When you add a reusable template to a User Task, the system creates a new UI template with the REUSABLE_TEMPLATE component identifier:

Template integration example

{
  "id": 123456789,
  "flowxUuid": "uuid-string",
  "componentIdentifier": "REUSABLE_TEMPLATE",
  "type": "FLOWX",
  "reusableUiTemplateContext": "instance-context-uuid",
  "reusableUiTemplateFlowxUuid": "template-uuid",
  "navigationAreaId": 96777851,
  "nodeDefinitionId": 1443167
}

Runtime behavior

At runtime, the process engine expands reusable templates by:

Replacing the REUSABLE_TEMPLATE placeholder with the actual component hierarchy
Maintaining proper parent-child relationships
Ensuring unique identifiers for each instance
Preserving configured UI actions and data bindings

Manage templates

View template usage

To see where a template is used:

Go to Reusable Resources > Templates
Select your template
Click the Usages tab
Review all processes and User Tasks using the template

Update templates

When you modify a reusable template:

Changes automatically propagate to all instances
Existing process instances may need to restart for updates
Instance-specific configurations are preserved
The system validates changes to prevent breaking existing implementations

Template updates affect all instances immediately. Test changes thoroughly before saving to avoid disrupting active processes.

Template dependencies

Reusable templates can reference these project resources:

Enumerations

Media items

Substitution tags

Themes

UI actions in templates

Current capabilities

UI actions in reusable templates support basic interactive functionality. The system handles:

Action context management: Unique identification for template instances
Form submission: Automatic identification of form elements within template context
Data mapping: Proper mapping of data keys to process variables
Validation preservation: Template validation rules are maintained across instances

Planned scenarios

How it works:

Define a UI action within the reusable template
Assign the node action when instantiated in a User Task
Use for standard actions needing different backend connections

Best for: “Save”, “Submit”, or “Cancel” actions that need process-specific handling

Current limitations

Data model: Input/output parameters are not yet fully available
Complex validation: Advanced data validation scenarios are limited
Cross-template actions: Actions cannot span multiple template instances
Template nesting: Cannot use reusable templates inside other reusable templates

Best practices

Design principles

Single responsibility

Flexible configuration

Clear naming

Minimal dependencies

Organization strategies

Group related templates: Organize templates by business domain or UI pattern type
Use consistent naming: Establish naming conventions that make templates easy to find
Document thoroughly: Include clear descriptions and usage guidelines for each template
Version carefully: Use project versioning to manage template changes safely

Performance considerations

Keep hierarchies flat: Avoid deeply nested component structures that might impact rendering performance
Optimize resources: Use efficient media and enumeration references
Design efficient actions: Create UI actions that perform well across different contexts
Use efficient data binding: Choose data binding patterns that minimize processing overhead

Troubleshooting

Common issues

Template not displaying

UI actions not working

Data binding issues

Debugging tools

The FlowX platform provides several debugging capabilities:

Template Inspector: Examine template structure and properties in detail
Action Debugger: Trace UI action execution and identify issues
Data Viewer: Monitor data flow and binding between templates and processes
Error Console: View template-related errors and warnings with detailed messages

Important distinctions