> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docsv4.mile.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Building an Order Type
> The order type editor: fields, statuses, steps and every step type, assigning tasks, and saving.
Open an order type from **Workflow › Order Type** to edit it. The editor has three tabs, **Fields**, **Statuses** and **Steps**, and one **Save** button that makes your changes live.
Required permission:
* View Order Type
* Edit Order Type
Without **Edit Order Type** the editor opens read-only and says **You can view this Order Type but not change it.**
## The editor
1. **Rename**
Changes the order type's name. See [Rename an order type](/pages/workflow/order-type/managing-order-types#rename-an-order-type). The name itself is shown once, in the breadcrumb at the top.
2. **Tabs**
**Fields**, **Statuses** and **Steps**. After a save that found problems, a tab shows how many problems it holds, for example **2 problems**.
3. **Test order**
Runs the order type on sample values without saving anything. See [Test an order type](/pages/workflow/order-type/managing-order-types#test-an-order-type).
4. **Save**
Saves your changes and, when nothing blocks it, makes them live for new orders. See [Save and go live](#save-and-go-live).
5. **Add field**
Adds a field to the order type.
6. **Field row**
One field per row, described below.
## Fields
Fields are the data every order carries: customer, address, items. Each row has:
| Setting | What it does |
| - | - |
| **Title** | The field's name as people see it on the order form and the order page. |
| **Type** | What kind of value the field holds (see below). |
| **Required** | The order cannot be created without a value. |
| **Show on table** | Shows the field as a column in the order list. |
| **Unique** | No two orders of this order type may hold the same value. Not every type can be unique. |
| **Delete** (bin icon) | Removes the field. A field that orders already use is archived instead, and can be restored. |
Drag a row by its handle to change the order of the fields.
Field types:
| Type | Holds |
| - | - |
| **Text** | Free text. |
| **Number** | A number. |
| **Option** | One of a list of options you type in. |
| **Date**, **Date & time**, **Time** | A date, a date and time, or a time of day. |
| **Phone number** | A phone number. |
| **Coordinate** | A map location. |
| **Reference to data** | A record from a data source. |
| **List (line items)** | Rows of items, with their own columns, for example item, quantity. |
| **User** | A user of your organization. |
| **Yes / No** | A yes or no answer. |
Once orders hold a value for a field, its type can no longer be changed and it cannot be removed, only archived. The row says how many orders have a value.
## Statuses
1. **Add status**
Adds a status.
2. **Label**
The status name people see, for example *Picked up*.
3. **Category**
Every status belongs to one category:
* **New**: where every order starts. Add exactly one status in this category.
* **In progress**: the order is being worked on.
* **Completed**: the order is finished. These are marked **Final**; add at least one. A **Finish order** step can only end an order in a **Completed** status.
Drag a row to change the order of the statuses, or use the bin icon to remove one. A status that orders are currently in cannot change category or be removed.
## Steps
The **Steps** tab is where you decide what happens to an order. It opens as a canvas, with a guide panel on the right.
1. **Canvas / List**
Switches between the canvas and a list of the steps.
2. **Trigger**
The first step: what starts the order.
3. **Step card**
Each card shows the step's name and, below it, its type and the most important setting, for example *Create task · Assign to: Siti Rahma (Supervisor)*.
4. **Condition card**
A Condition lists its rules. Each rule is its own exit, with its own path below it.
5. **Canvas controls**
**Zoom out**, **Zoom in**, **Fit to screen** and **Auto-layout**, which rearranges the steps neatly from top to bottom.
6. **Play tutorial**
Plays a one-minute demo of building an order type. See [Getting Started Tutorial](/pages/workflow/order-type/getting-started-tutorial).
7. **Step types**
A short description of each step type. Hover the info icon of a type for more.
The canvas is meant for a desktop or tablet. On a narrow screen it says **Use a wider screen to drag and connect**.
### List view
**List** shows the same steps as a table, which is easier to scan on a large order type.
1. **Step row**
Each row shows the step's **Type**, its **Name**, its **Problems** and where it **Goes to**. A Condition lists each rule with its next step, for example *Approved: Delivery*.
### Add the first step
A new order type has an empty canvas with an **Add first step** tile.
1. **Add first step**
Opens **Choose a trigger**.
1. **Order created**
Starts when an order is created: from the order form, the API, an import, or a **Task finished** trigger of another order type. An order that is updated through its duplicate key does not start again.
2. **Status becomes...**
Starts when the order reaches the status you choose. It runs once per order, the first time the order reaches that status.
3. **Task finished**
Creates an order when a task of the chosen task type is done. See [Task finished](#task-finished).
An order type has one trigger.
### Add the next step
Every card has a **+** under it. Click it to open **What happens next?**
1. **Search steps**
Filters the list by name.
2. **Actions**
Adds a new step: **Create task**, **Condition**, **Update order** or **Finish order**.
3. **Connect to an existing step**
Draws a line to a step that already exists instead, so two paths can join. Steps that cannot be used are greyed out and say why: **Would loop** or **Already connected**.
On a desktop you can also drag from a card's handle to another card to connect them. To remove a line, select it and click its **Delete line** button, or press Delete.
### Read and edit a step
Click a card to open its summary in the side panel.
1. **Settings**
The step's settings, read-only. **Not set** means a setting is still empty.
2. **Next**
Where the order goes after this step, and **Add parallel step** to start a second path from the same exit. For a Create task step the exit is **When the task is done**.
3. **Comes from**
The steps that lead here. Click one to jump to it.
4. **Delete**
Deletes the step. If other steps can then no longer be reached, the app names them and asks you to confirm with **Delete only this**.
5. **Edit**
Switches the panel to editing. Change the settings, then click **Done**.
The step name at the top of the panel can be changed while editing. When no step is selected, the panel shows the guide: **Getting started** and the **Step types**.
## Step types
### Order created and Status becomes
1. **Add next step**
Adds the step that follows the trigger.
2. **Connect to...**
Connects the trigger to a step that already exists.
**Order created** has no other settings. **Status becomes...** asks for the status: **When the status becomes**.
### Task finished
A **Task finished** trigger creates orders from finished tasks, for example one order per finished *Pickup* task. Its settings:
* **Task Type**: which task type's tasks start an order.
* **Only if (optional)**: conditions on the task's answers. If they do not match, no order is created.
* **Task answers → order fields**: which task answer fills each order field. A required order field with no value is reported as a problem.
* **How many orders**: **One per task**, or **One per row of** a list in the task, so a task with five rows creates five orders.
Tasks created by an order never start a new order. Later steps can read the triggering task's answers.
### Create task
Creates a task and waits until it is done.
1. **Task Type**
The task type the task is made from.
2. **Assign to**
* **Unassigned**: the task is created without an assignee, to be assigned later.
* **A user**: first choose a **Role**, then pick a user who holds that role. The card then reads *Assign to: Siti Rahma (Supervisor)*.
3. **How many tasks**
**One per order**, or **One per row of** a list field of the order, so an order with three line items gets three tasks.
4. **Task data**
Fills fields of the new task, each from an order field, an earlier answer or a fixed value.
5. **Save answers to the order**
Copies answers from the finished task into order fields. Optional: a Condition can read answers without saving them.
6. **Delete**
Deletes the step.
7. **Done**
Leaves editing and shows the summary again.
The task is created in the order's hub. The order moves on when every task this step created is settled.
### Condition
Sends the order down the path whose rule matches.
1. **Rule name**
The name of the rule, which is also the name of its exit on the card, for example *Approved*.
2. **Value to check**
An order field, an earlier task answer, or the attempt count of a Create task step.
3. **Operator and value to compare**
The operator (**equals**, **does not equal**, **greater than**, **at least**, **less than**, **at most**, **contains**, **is empty**) and what to compare with: a **Fixed value** or another field or answer. For a list, choose whether **All rows** or **Any row** must match.
4. **Add condition (AND)**
Adds another condition to the same rule. All of them must match.
5. **Goes to**
The step this rule's path leads to, with **Add next step** and **Connect to...**.
Add more rules with **Add rule**, and use a rule's **⋯** menu to move it up or down or delete it. Every rule that matches runs. If none matches, the order stops and needs attention, so cover every case, for example with both *Approved* and *Rejected*.
### Update order
Sets order fields or the status.
1. **Set fields**
**Add field** sets an order field from an earlier answer, another field or a fixed value.
2. **Set status**
* **Don't change**: keeps the status.
* **Fixed status**: always sets the chosen status.
* **From a choice answer**: picks the status from an earlier choice answer, using an **Answer → status** table. An answer not in the table leaves the status unchanged.
Set at least one field or a status. Update order cannot set a **Completed** status; use **Finish order** for that.
### Finish order
Sets the final status and ends the order.
1. **Final status**
A status in the **Completed** category.
When a Finish order runs, other paths that are still running stop. A Finish order has no next step.
## Problems
The editor checks the order type when you save. Problems appear on the cards, in the step panel under **Problems** and **Warnings**, and as a count on each tab. Common ones:
* **Add a trigger to start these steps**, or **An Order Type can have only one trigger**.
* **Unreachable: no line leads here**: a step no path reaches.
* **Dead end: every path must end at Finish order**.
* **This line would make a loop**: steps cannot go back to an earlier step.
* **… is required**: a step setting is still empty, for example **Task Type is required**.
* **No rule covers: …**: a Condition leaves some choice answers without a path.
* **Add exactly one status in the category New** and **Add at least one status in the category Completed**.
## Save and go live
There is one **Save**. It saves your changes and checks the order type:
* **No problems**: the changes go live at once and the app says **Saved. New orders use it.**
* **Only warnings**: a **Check these warnings** dialog lists them. Click **Save anyway** to go live, or go back and fix them.
* **Problems**: a **Fix these to go live** dialog lists them. **Your changes are saved as a draft. They go live once these are fixed.** The list shows the order type as **Published · draft changes** (or **Draft** if it was never live) until you fix them and save again.
Orders already running keep the version they started with; new orders use the latest live version.
If someone else saved the same order type while you were editing, the app says **This draft changed while you were editing** and offers **Reload** to see their changes or **Overwrite** to keep yours. Leaving the editor with unsaved changes asks you to **Discard changes** or **Keep editing**.
This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.
