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Signals

Signals are linkages among apps for workflows or sharing data. For workflow signals, you can select from available apps to handle an item of data. For data signals, enabled apps in the same supertab are automatically linked to share data, or you can link supertabs and top-level tabs to share data signals.

Data signals​

Signals indicate context-sharing, where different apps automatically share linked data. For example, if the linked apps show customer data, and you select a different customer in one app, the linked apps update to show data for that customer. Apps that support data signals automatically share signals with other apps in the same supertab. You can also explicitly link multiple top-level tabs using color channels; top-level tabs might contain a single app or they might be supertabs containing multiple apps. The color appears on the tab header so you can quickly see which top-level tabs are linked. For example, all top-level tabs with a red bar in the header share signals with one another, while those with blue share different signals.

  • To color-code, right-click each top-level tab and choose the same color. You can have different groups of color-coded tabs at the same time.

  • To remove a top-level tab from a color-coded group, right-click it and choose the white box with the slash through it.

Data signals

Workflow signals​

Workflow signals enable you select data from one app and do something with it via another app. For example, you could select a contact in a directory app and then choose a chat app to send a message to that person. Depending on the type of data and the operation, you might need to choose any of the following:

  • The type of operation; for example, call, chat, or email a contact
  • The app to perform the operation; for example, which chat app should send a chat message?
  • The instance of the app to use, if you have it running in more than one tab

For example, after clicking a contact named "Owen Grandy" you might see a dialog box like the following to choose how to handle it:

Workflow signal dialog

Depending on the operation used, the number of applications available to the user as well as currently open applications, the dialog box might be simpler; for example, it might provide only an option to choose an app.

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