Parameter editors

Each activity parameter is edited in the Properties panel, to the right of the canvas. You don’t choose the editor: the Designer shows the most suitable one for the parameter’s type and use. Most of them are expression fields, but some open visual editors so you don’t have to write structures by hand.

The Properties panel

When you select an activity, the panel shows, from top to bottom:

• The header: the icon, the activity name, its category and its technical type (for example browser-open), and its description.
• The ? icon: opens that activity’s page in this documentation, in your language. It appears when the page exists.
• The parameter sections (for example Input and Options), one below the other, with no tabs. Each parameter shows its name in your language, its technical name in small print and, on the right, the type it expects. Required ones carry a red asterisk. Hovering over the name shows that parameter’s help.
• The Output section, with Save result in (see Variables) and, after a run, the Preview (last run) with the value it produced.

If a field has an error, it is marked in red and shows up in the Problems panel. When a timeout is left empty and the project defines one, the field shows the one that will be used, for example “Empty: 60 s (project setting)”. See Project settings.

Expression fields

Fields with ƒx accept a C# expression: fixed text in quotes ("Hello"), a number, a variable or a calculation. Autocomplete suggests variables, functions and members as you type, and the { } button opens the large Expression editor, with its catalog of variables and functions. See Expressions.

Option lists and yes/no

• A parameter with fixed values (for example the Log level or the Open Browser browser) is picked from a drop-down, with each option in your language. If you don’t pick one, the drop-down tells you which one is used by default. The ‹ expression › option lets you compute the value with an expression.
• A yes/no parameter is a toggle.

Collection editors

When a parameter accepts a list, a dictionary or a table that you write yourself, the panel shows a summary ({ 3 keys }, [ 2 items ]) and the Edit… button, which opens a visual editor:

Type	Editor
List	One item per row, each one an expression. You move them up, down or remove them with the row buttons, and + item adds another one.
Dictionary	Key → Value rows. In each row, the Aa / ƒx button switches between a fixed value (typed as is, without quotes) and an expression (a variable or a calculation).
DataTable	You define the columns (with editable names) and the rows, like in a spreadsheet. You add and remove rows and columns.

Expression mode

The dictionary and the table have two modes, Literal and Expression. In Expression mode, instead of filling the value cell by cell, you write one expression that returns the whole collection, for example another activity’s output (customers) or new Dictionary<string, object> { { "key", value } }. Useful when the value is dynamic.

The Add Data Row activity uses the dictionary editor for its values: column → value, independent of the column order. In Expression mode it also accepts a list with one value per column, in column order.

Condition editor

Activities that filter or search rows, such as Filter DataTable and Find Data Row, use the condition editor: you build one or more conditions visually, without writing the expression by hand.

Each condition is Column · Operator · Value, and they are combined with Match ALL (AND) or Match ANY (OR). Available operators: equals, not-equals, contains, starts-with, ends-with, greater-than, less-than, greater-or-equal, less-or-equal, is-empty and is-not-empty. + Add row adds another condition.

Other editors in the panel

Depending on the parameter, the panel can also show:

• Selector of a screen element, with its thumbnail and the buttons to capture, validate and edit it. See UI Discover.
• Playbook (in Invoke Playbook): a drop-down with the project’s playbooks. When you pick one, its inputs appear, to give them a value, and its outputs, to choose which variable stores each one.
• Process (in Invoke Process): when you are signed in to Zoan Cloud, a drop-down with the processes published in your environment and their inputs and outputs.
• Form (in the human task activities): a drop-down with the forms published in your environment and Edit inputs…, which opens one row per form input, with its type, whether it is required and a hint about the format it expects.
• Error type (in Throw): a quick list with Technical error, Business exception or Other type, each with an explanation of how retries and Zoan Cloud treat it.
• Code (for example, the JavaScript of Evaluate JS, page-evaluate): an editor with line numbers and syntax highlighting; Open code editor enlarges it.
• Variable name: for parameters that name a variable (the For Each iterator, the Try Catch error variable), instead of an expression. It suggests the existing variables.
• Extraction assistant… (in Extract Structured Data, page-extract-table): extracts a table from a web page with a live preview, without running anything.

Some internal parameters, which the activity manages on its own, are not shown.

Credentials

For passwords and tokens, use the credential("name") function in the field: the value is taken from Zoan Cloud at run time and is never written in the playbook. See Expressions.

Next steps

• Data types: lists, dictionaries, DataTable and DataRow.
• Expressions: Expression mode and field syntax.
• Add Data Row · Find Data Row: activities that use these editors.