Actions are one of the main user-driven forms of interaction with your Appian applications. They are a few types of actions in Appian:
Each action serves different purposes and use cases. Refer to the following sections for some guidelines on the proper use of actions. You should also look at the Appian Style Guide for Interface Designers as it provides some advice when working with related actions.
Record list actions are links to process models that a user can start directly from a record list. They’re often used to create new records in a record type.
For example, in a Case record type, you could have a record list action that adds new support cases.
Record list actions will always display on the record list, but you can also display them in a records-powered grid or in an interface using the record action component.
Related actions are links to process models that a user can start directly from a record using information about that record. They are often used to update or delete an existing record.
For example, in a Case record type, you could have a related action to update a case, or contact the related customer associated with a case.
Related actions display in the Related Actions record view available on each record. You can also display them as related action shortcuts so they display on any record view of your choosing. Similar to record list actions, you can also display them in a records-powered grid or in an interface using the record action component.
Application actions start process models that are not associated with any record types. Users can start application actions from Tempo, or as a page in a site.
Since it's a best practice to use record types to work with your data, we recommend using record actions over application actions. Not only are they easy to build, especially if you generate record actions, they are easier to reuse throughout your applications.
If you need to start a process and you don’t require any user interaction (ie, you don’t need a start form), consider the following alternative ways to start a process model: