What Are Dynamic Components?

A dynamic component is an extendable UI component, such as a form, table, or container, that uses display logic to determine what the component displays; for example, what fields are displayed in a table and how they are rendered. When you configure an App UI, in most cases you’ll be working with one or more dynamic components to achieve the effect you want.

Display logic is simply a set of conditions that you define. At runtime the conditions are evaluated based on the viewer’s current circumstances (for example, the user's role) to determine what is displayed in the component.

You have two main objectives when customizing a dynamic component: one, to configure the component's content the way you want it using layouts and templates, and two, to define the display logic that determines the layout and templates displayed in the component. In most cases you define the logic first, then configure the content that will be used in your logic.

There are three types of dynamic components that can be used in app extensions: tables, forms, and containers. What is displayed in a component and how you customize it depends on what type of component it is:

Dynamic Component	Description
Dynamic table, dynamic form	In dynamic tables and forms, you customize which fields are displayed and how they are rendered. In most cases, you can hide, show, or re-order these fields, and can even create new fields based on existing ones. You can also apply field templates to control how certain fields are rendered at runtime. Watch this video to better understand how dynamic UIs work: Video: Work With Dynamic UIs
Dynamic container	Dynamic containers are pre-defined areas in a page that can be used to display various types of content. Unlike a dynamic table or form, which can appear on multiple pages, a dynamic container is scoped to the page and can only ever appear on that page. Suppose you want to create a page that lets users toggle between two layouts, one showing a form for adding an employee and another showing a table of employees. To do this, you'd create a dynamic container with two sections: one for a dynamic form and another for a dynamic table. You'd then add a button that the user can click to toggle the sections displayed in the dynamic container.

Dynamic Component

Description

Dynamic table, dynamic form

In dynamic tables and forms, you customize which fields are displayed and how they are rendered. In most cases, you can hide, show, or re-order these fields, and can even create new fields based on existing ones. You can also apply field templates to control how certain fields are rendered at runtime.

Watch this video to better understand how dynamic UIs work: Video: Work With Dynamic UIs

Dynamic container

Dynamic containers are pre-defined areas in a page that can be used to display various types of content. Unlike a dynamic table or form, which can appear on multiple pages, a dynamic container is scoped to the page and can only ever appear on that page.

Suppose you want to create a page that lets users toggle between two layouts, one showing a form for adding an employee and another showing a table of employees. To do this, you'd create a dynamic container with two sections: one for a dynamic form and another for a dynamic table. You'd then add a button that the user can click to toggle the sections displayed in the dynamic container.

The Designer's rule set editor lets you create and edit the rules that determine what is displayed in a dynamic component. For example, you may want to display one set of options for a form when the end user has the "manager" user role, but another set of options when the user has a different role. You can create a different layout for each case, then set a rule to apply the correct layout based on the end user’s role.

You can even include other components in your page—for example, images or links—and then define their behavior by creating action chains.

See Add Dynamic Components to Pages for guidance on adding dynamic components to an App UI, or Customize Dynamic Tables and Forms if you're configuring dynamic components in an App UI that someone else has created.