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Data-Bound Controls and Data Binding vs. Static Controls

Controls that get data from or show data to the user are called data-bound controls because they are bound to specific process or work item variables. When a user enters a value into a data-bound control, such as an edit box bound to a string variable, the control passes the value into the control's bound variable. Similarly, if a data-bound control’s variable has a value, the control displays that value.

Controls that are not data-bound are static controls. Static controls, such as labels without an optional data binding, present information to the user but do not pass any information to process or work item variables.

The control's context menu displays two icons to specify whether a data-bound control sends data to a variable or receives data from a variable (see table).

Icon	Meaning
	When modifying design of the work item, changes apply to all selected controls.
	When modifying the design of the work item, changes apply only to the active control if more than one control is selected.
	When the work item runs, the control sends changes to the data source.
	When the work item runs, the data source sends changes to the control.

If you bind multiple controls to the same variable:

A change in the variable's value changes the value of all controls that get data from it.
A change in the value of a control that sends data to the variable changes the value of the variable. The variable will have the value of the last control that updated it.

Note (background information): When a process user picks up a work item page, the IPA server sends that page to the client, along with a snapshot of all bound variables and their values. When the client displays the page, the page controls display their corresponding variable values. Those values come from the snapshot. When the user enters data on the work item page to controls that are bound to data, IPA updates the values in the local snapshot but does not change the values of the original work item variables. When a process user submits the work item page, IPA sends the values from the snapshot to the server and updates the work item variables. If the process user cancels without submitting, IPA does not update the work item variables. If the process user holds the page, the IPA server holds any updated values that the user enters but does not update the work item variables unless the user later submits the page.