Actions

Audience: Low-code Engineers

Skill Prerequisites: Tokens

Actions are the building blocks of application logic in Plant an App. Each action does one job, such as running a SQL query, sending an email, creating a PDF or showing a message. You chain actions into a list, and they run in order when something happens: a form loads, a button is clicked, an API endpoint is called or an Automation job is triggered.

Where actions run

You add actions in several places, and each place decides when they run:

• Forms and Listings. Action lists run on events such as page load, form submit or a button click. These are the only places where UI actions, such as opening a popup or refreshing a listing, can change what the user sees. See Forms and Listings.
• API endpoints. Actions run when the endpoint is called and can build the response. See APIs.
• Workflows and Automation jobs. Actions run on a schedule, on a database or application event, or from another action. There's no browser and no web request, so actions that depend on one fail or behave differently. See Workflows and Automation.

Not every action is available everywhere. Each action's page says where it can be used.

How actions work together

• Tokens pass data between actions. Most actions write their results to output tokens, such as [OrderId] or [CustomersList]. Any action after it in the same run can use those tokens in its parameters. When the run ends, the tokens are gone, so save anything you need later.
• Actions run in order, and an error stops the list. When an action fails, the remaining actions don't run, unless the error is caught. Many actions have On Success and On Error lists of their own, and Execute Actions can group actions and catch their errors.
• Some actions end the list on purpose. Actions named "and Stop Execution" send their result to the browser and no later actions run. Their "and Continue Execution" twins let the rest of the list carry on.
• Every action has a Description, an Error Message and a Condition. The Condition decides whether the action runs at all. See Common Parameters.

Getting started

• Actions FAQ answers the questions that come up across many actions.
• Common Parameters covers the settings every action has.
• Running examples shows how to import the JSON examples on each action page into a module or workflow.

Action groups

These groups come with Plant an App. Actions for outside services and some document types come with add-ons, such as Stripe, Salesforce, PDF Generator or User Management.

Group	What the actions do
Code	Run your own JavaScript, Razor (C#) or PowerShell code, or a program on the server.
Connectors	Create, read, update, test and delete connectors and connector groups.
Context	Create and change tokens, change which user the actions refer to, and save the tokens as JSON.
Data	Run SQL queries, import lists into tables, call web services from the server and clear the server cache.
Datasource	Add, view, edit, delete and refresh entries from the buttons of a Listing.
Documents	Create CSV files from lists. PDF, Excel and Word actions come with add-ons.
Dynamic Fields	Add fields to a form at runtime.
Email	Send emails.
File Management	Copy, delete and save files, and delete folders.
Flow	Group, repeat, delay, run in the background, stop or fail a list of actions.
Form State	Save a form's data and load it again later. All the actions in this group are obsolete.
Guide	Move users through the steps of a user guide, and import guides from JSON.
Lists Objects	Build lists and objects from SQL or JSON, then sort, page, reshape and loop over them.
Logging	Write errors, debug messages and events to the logs, and record the context of an Automation job.
Message	Show messages and toast notifications to the user, send a DNN message, or send text as a file.
Output	Build the response an API endpoint sends back, as JSON, a file or raw content.
Parsing	Parse JSON and XML into tokens, run regular expressions, and convert or clean HTML and Markdown.
Redirect	Send the user to another page, any URL or a portal file.
Search	Run searches and keep the search index up to date.
Security	Encrypt and decrypt data, and manage roles.
UI Actions	Open and close popups, switch tabs, show, filter and refresh listings, and run code in the browser.
User Management	Let users reset a forgotten password from a form.

Revised 10/02/2026