Open Tabs Popup And Continue Execution

Audience: Low-code Engineers

Skill Prerequisites: Actions, Tokens

Opens a Tabs module from the same page in a popup, then carries on with the next actions. It's available in forms and listings when the Tabs module is installed. It isn't available in API endpoints.

The Tabs module is a container that shows other modules, such as forms and listings, in tabs or an accordion. To open it with this action, turn on Open as modal in the Tabs module's settings. The popup's width, height and title also come from those settings.

Action	What happens after the popup opens
Open Tabs Popup And Stop Execution	No further actions run.
Open Tabs Popup And Continue Execution	The popup opens right away and the next actions keep running.

Typical Use Cases

• Open a multi-step wizard in a popup, and still save or log something in the same click
• Open a popup and then switch it to a specific tab with Change Tab And Stop Execution
• Open a popup while a slower action, such as a SQL query, keeps running on the server

Don't use it to

• Open the popup as the last action. Use Open Tabs Popup And Stop Execution instead.
• Open a single form in a popup. Use Open Form Popup And Continue Execution instead.
• Show the results of the actions that come after it. They haven't finished when the popup opens.

Related Actions

Action Name	Description
Open Tabs Popup And Stop Execution	Opens the same popup and ends execution.
Close Tabs Popup And Continue Execution	Closes a Tabs popup and keeps running actions.
Change Tab And Continue Execution	Switches a Tabs module to another tab and keeps running actions.
Open Form Popup And Continue Execution	Opens a single form in a popup and keeps running actions.
Initialize Form And Continue Execution	Loads a form that's set to manual display.

Input Parameter Reference

Parameter	Description	Supports Tokens	Default	Required
Select Module	The Tabs module to open. Pick it from the list, or click EXPR and enter an expression that returns the module's ID, for example [TabsModuleId]. The module must be on the same page.	Yes	empty string	Yes
QueryString Parameters	Name and Value pairs meant for the forms in the Tabs module, as [QueryString:Name] tokens. See Considerations: in PAA 1.28 these values aren't sent.	Yes	empty	No
TabsPro Modal Settings	Options for the Bootstrap popup, as a JSON object, for example {"backdrop":"static","keyboard":false}. See the Bootstrap 3 or Bootstrap 5 options. Leave it empty for the defaults.	Yes	empty string	No

What happens when it runs

1. The server replaces the tokens and sends the instruction to the browser right away.
2. If the popup of that Tabs module is already open, nothing happens.
3. Otherwise, the forms in the active tab are initialized again and the popup opens after a short delay, about 300 ms.
4. Meanwhile, the server keeps running the remaining actions.

The popup closes when the user clicks x, presses Esc or clicks outside it, unless the modal settings turn that off. To close it from a button, use Close Tabs Popup And Continue Execution.

In Listings

On a listing button with Client Button turned on, use the client-side Open Tabs Popup action instead. It has the same parameters and opens the popup in the browser without a request to the server. See Item Buttons and Root Buttons.

Its tokens are replaced when the listing loads, not when the button is clicked. On an item button, that's when the row is shown, so the row's values, such as [Id], are available. On a root button, only values that don't depend on a row are.

Considerations

• Turn on Open as modal. If the Tabs module isn't set to open as a modal, the action does nothing and shows no error.
• Same page only. The Tabs module must be on the page where the action runs.
• QueryString Parameters aren't sent. In PAA 1.28 the values in QueryString Parameters don't reach the browser, so the forms in the popup don't get them. Don't rely on them until this is fixed.
• Valid JSON only. If TabsPro Modal Settings isn't a valid JSON object, the action fails with Could not parse the TabsPro Modal Settings.
• Later actions can undo it. A redirect or a page refresh after this action closes the popup along with the page.
• Not in every form event. This action isn't offered in the form's On Page Load, On Preinit and On Init events. Use Open Tabs Popup And Stop Execution there. See Form Events.

Examples

tip

To understand how to use the below examples, please see Running Examples.

1. Open a popup and go to its second tab

The first action opens the Tabs module whose ID is in the WizardModuleId token. The second action switches it to the tab whose ID is in the ShippingTabId token.

[
    {
        "Title": "Open Tabs Popup And Continue Execution",
        "ActionType": "OpenTPPopupAndContinue",
        "Description": "Open the order wizard",
        "Parameters": {
            "ModuleId": {
                "Expression": "[WizardModuleId]",
                "Value": "",
                "IsExpression": true,
                "Parameters": {}
            },
            "ModalSettings": "{\"backdrop\":\"static\"}"
        }
    },
    {
        "Title": "Change Tab And Stop Execution",
        "ActionType": "TabsProChangeTab",
        "Description": "Go to the shipping tab",
        "Parameters": {
            "TabsProModuleID": {
                "Expression": "[WizardModuleId]",
                "Value": "",
                "IsExpression": true,
                "Parameters": {}
            },
            "TabId": {
                "Expression": "[ShippingTabId]",
                "Value": "",
                "IsExpression": true,
                "Parameters": {}
            },
            "Refresh": false
        }
    }
]

Revised 09/27/2026