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Define behavior

Imagine you'd like to show a different page when the user presses a key or clicks the mouse.

We do this by defining a behavior in our design. The behavior is defined by linking a specific end-user event (like a click of the mouse or the press of a key on the keyboard) to the running of a spreadsheet cell in response.

Defining a behavior consists of three steps:

  1. Choosing the component that the user interacts with, for example, a button.
  2. Choosing the thing the user will do, like onClick (we call it a UI event).
  3. Picking the action cell in the spreadsheet that will run in response to the user's UI event.

The concept of defining a behavior is shown in the diagram below.

Examples of behaviors

The following shows some examples of behaviors.

WHENDO THIS
User types lettersShow matching companies
User clicks a buttonAdd an item to the list of stock cards
User presses EnterPopulate the form fields
User clicks on an iconSort items in descending and ascending order
User hovers over an iconShow a popup

Show matching companies

This video demonstrates the following behavior:

When the user types letters, show matching companies.

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Add an item to the list of stock cards

This video demonstrates the following behavior:

When the user types a stock symbol and clicks a button, add the related stock card to a list on the screen.

Show a dialog, add a new entry, and populate form fields

This video demonstrates the following behaviors:

  • When the user clicks a button, show a dialog containing a form.
  • When the user fills in form fields and clicks a button, add a new entry to a list on the screen.
  • When the user types in a ZIP code and presses Enter, automatically populate the city and state fields in the form.

Go to a page, sort items

This video demonstrates the following behaviors:

  • When the user clicks an icon, go to a different page.
  • When the user clicks a column arrow, sort the column item in ascending and descending order

Show a popup on mouseover

This video demonstrates the following behavior:

When the user hovers the mouse over a stock card, a popup with the stock details appears on the screen.

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