Chaining Flow Actions

While flows can be as simple as a single action, you can create much more powerful widgets by chaining flow actions together.

Variables

Variables are the key to connecting actions together, and connecting widgets to flows. A variable will take the output of one action, and feed it into a following action. For instance, you could start with the result of 5 + 5. Then you can use the result (Sum) as the input of a multiplication problem: Sum * 2. The Add action will essentially perform the following algebraic expression: Sum = 5 + 5. Then, you are able to use Sum in the Multiplication action as a variable.

Any variable in your flow is accessible from a connected widget.

Let’s take a look at how to do this by creating a Step Goal widget.

Step Goal Widget

To create this widget, we will need to get our current step count, as well as a percentage of how close we are to our goal of 10,000 steps.

Let’s get started with the flow.

1. In your new flow, find the “Health Data” action and add it. Select “Steps” as the data, and grant Power Widgets access to your step count if needed.
   
   
2. Try running the flow. You should see your current step count appear. However, we need the step count to be a percentage (that is, a decimal between 0 and 1). To do this, we can divide the step count by our goal, 10,000 steps.
   
   
3. In the math category, choose the “Divide” action.
   
   
4. Tap in the dividend field and choose the Steps variable from the bar just above your keyboard. In the divisor field, enter your goal, 10000.
   
   
5. Now try running your flow. You should see two numbers: your current step count, and the percentage.
   
   

The flow is now ready to be used in a widget:

1. Create a new widget, and use the template “Ring Graph”. This will get us closest to the desired result. Name your widget, and connect the “Step Goal” flow.
2. Tap into the “Percent Filled” field, and select the Quotient variable. This will enter the result of your division into the widget. Tap “Add Widget”.
   
   
3. We want to display the total step count in the center of the ring graph, not the percentage. Select your widget in the gallery to open the editor.
   
   
4. Tap on the percentage to open its edit sheet.
5. Set the format to “Decimal”.
   
   
6. Tap on Quotient to remove it.
7. Tap in the number field, and select Steps in its place.
8. Change the font size to 26.
   
   

Now you can see how close you are to your step goal straight from the Home Screen!