Actions overview

On many page types in Business Central, the action bar at the top of the page displays actions. Dialogs and part pages have specialized action layouts. Some page types don't support page actions. This article explains how to organize actions so that users can quickly find the tasks they need.

The actions can be displayed in different menus on the action bar.

You can choose from the following action menus to place the actions in the specified area.

The following actions are related to the role center page.

Learn more about actions on the role center page in Designing role centers.

Types of actions

The actions available on a page depend on the page type and the processes it supports. To create the right set of actions, understand your customer's business processes.

Each process in an organization has several actions associated with it. Create actions that cover the tasks and processes users perform.

For example, the Sales Orders list page includes sales-order processing actions. Use profile customization and personalization to hide or promote some actions in the action bar. Provide the actions the customer needs, even if some users choose to hide them.

Pages can have the following actions as described in each of the following sections.

Actions menu

On pages that support it, the Actions menu contains tasks relevant to the current page. Use the processing action area for processing tasks, such as posting a sales order. Use the creation action area for creating records or documents. Learn more in Adding actions to a page.

Some creation actions on the Customer page are:

• Sales Quote
• Sales Order
• Sales Invoice
• Sales Credit Memo

You can add actions to the Actions menu, group them into submenus, or promote them in the action bar. Learn more in Page object and Page extension object.

Actions for creating documents

Creation actions are grouped for creating new records or documents, such as a sales invoice. Their menu label and placement depend on the client layout. Use the creation action area to define these actions.

For example, an order processor can create a new invoice directly from the Customers page. This setup provides quick access to a common daily task.

Navigation to related information

The related-information menu contains navigation actions that open specific pages in Business Central. Use the navigation action area to add these page links. They provide quick access to related information.

Actions for running reports

The Reports menu lists reports relevant to a page. The menu is hidden when it has no visible actions. Promote frequently used reports in the action bar to make them easier to find. Use the reporting action area to define report actions.

Promoted actions

Promoted actions are defined in the processing, creation, navigation, or reporting areas and referenced by promoted action groups. You can keep an action in its original menu or show it only in its promoted location. Use promoted actions on Card, Document, List, ListPlus, and Worksheet pages to provide quick access to common tasks. Place them in the appropriate action-bar groups.

Run Power Automate flows from page actions

APPLIES TO: Business Central 2022 release wave 2 and later

With Business Central 2022 release wave 2, it's possible to define page actions that trigger a Power Automate instant flow by using custom actions. Custom actions are defined next to other actions, but use the customaction keyword instead. The syntax is as follows:

customaction(MyFlowAction)
{
    CustomActionType = Flow;
    FlowId = '<FlowId>';
    FlowEnvironmentId = '<FlowEnvironmentId>';

}

For an action that runs an existing instant flow, set the CustomActionType property to Flow. Set the FlowId property to the flow's ID. Set the FlowEnvironmentId property to identify its Power Automate environment. Replace the placeholders in the following example with your flow's values.

Learn more about Power Automate flows in Power Automate integration overview.

Grouping actions in submenus

Within an action area, use a group() control to organize actions into submenus. The following fragment preserves two nested groups and three report actions. The first and third actions run the same report to illustrate the menu structure. Add the fragment to a page's definition.

actions
{
    area(Reporting)
    {
        action("Report 1")
        {
            ApplicationArea = All;
            Caption = 'Report 1';
            RunObject = report "Standard Sales - Invoice";
            ToolTip = 'Run the sales invoice report.';
        }

        group(Group1)
        {
            Caption = 'Group1';
            action(Action2)
            {
                ApplicationArea = All;
                Caption = 'Report 2';
                RunObject = report "Customer/Item Sales";
                ToolTip = 'Run the customer item sales report.';
            }
            group(Group2)
            {
                Caption = 'Group2';
                action(Action3)
                {
                    ApplicationArea = All;
                    Caption = 'Report 3';
                    RunObject = report "Standard Sales - Invoice";
                    ToolTip = 'Run the sales invoice report.';
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Actions at runtime

An action can run code that posts a document or modifies table records. After the action, the client refreshes the current source record when applicable:

• If no records remain, the page initializes a record from the filters.
• If the current record remains within the filters, OnAfterGetRecord can run for that record.
• If the current record moves outside the filters, the page uses OnNextRecord to move to another record. If the move succeeds, OnAfterGetRecord runs for that record.

OnAfterGetRecord can also run before the action.

The logic runs in the transaction that the action triggered. This behavior can cause the application code to lock the whole table when users thought they were only modifying one record.

Use SetSelectionFilter to pass selected records to processing code. Locking still depends on the operations and triggers that code executes. The following OnAction fragment requires a custom processing codeunit with ID 50000 that accepts the page's record type.

if confirm('Are you sure you want to call this codeunit?', true) then begin
    CurrPage.SetSelectionFilter(Rec);
    codeunit.Run(50000, Rec);
end;

Related information

AL development environment
Developing extensions in AL
Pages overview
Promoted actions