Release notes: 7/14/20

jcadence · 07-14-2020 06:06 PM

Recent releases and updates:

Detail view with customizable header The header of the detail view can now be treated like a card view.
_THISROW_BEFORE enabled in Action conditions This update expands to action condition. It was already available in previous expressions.
Bug fix for notifications in white label apps

Koichi_Tsuji · 07-14-2020 06:40 PM

Could you elaborate a bit more what it does actually?

Grant_Stead · 07-14-2020 07:23 PM

Woot woot, notification bug fixes in white label, that’s awesome!

Jonathan_S · 07-14-2020 08:04 PM

interesting. You guys need to review questions being asked before you start!!!

Jonathan_S · 07-14-2020 08:35 PM

Please Make the detail views etc layout nice on the browser. currently much to skinny
Please Give option to choose what camera “Front or rear” image column opens by default.
Please allow custom action icon images. Maybe just require certain format with clear background
please allow checkboxes with nice setups in detail views (as editable column) and in forms.
Please SQL Connections etc so much per user extra lets says 25$ per month. hard for smaller business to justify paying steep price to connect to on site database and interact with data from other sources
Please Fix Deck View right had side text overflow. Needs to wrap and handle 10X longer string length. Currently cannot support a date…
Please fix Card views of type list action pop up side when selecting action from a list. currently extremely small on bottom left side of browser window.
Please allow password fields in app for security purposes. Masked Field
Please allow Going from gallery view straight to blow up images view. Currently Need to click on image again to see the full blown view.
Please add action to edit a row with data from this row in a different table.
Allow Overlay actions in quick edit mode of table view.
Google please allow the use of watermarks in your google docs… used for templates… No way to do this with reports. Cant have text over image
Please allow syncing in the background of app if app is coming from app gallery. Many people have gallery of different apps that are each opened often. (checklists etc) but waiting for apps to sync each save sucks. Going to main app gallery again takes to long and skipping looses or leaves data un synced.
Add ability to have live timers in app.

Keep it up

LeventK · 07-15-2020 12:08 AM

@JCadence
Can you explain this feature a bit more exclusively? The link you had provided for the detail view, does not come-up with any explanations regarding the use or configuration of this new feature. Thnx.

Fabian_Weller · 07-15-2020 12:36 AM

Please give an example.

Grant_Stead · 07-15-2020 05:42 AM

@all… This is my humble opinion on how we should build the culture of this thread, we are all leaders and stake holders in the community after all…

I see these early release notes as appsheet is in the process of making us a sandwich, we should be grateful, and interested. But I think we should refrain from too many “asks” early on…

This is why appsheet didn’t want to tell us the features “early”… Because it turns into one ask after another…

What does this mean?
Can you add it to the docs?
Can I see a demo?
How about a sample app?
Ohh there’s this bug!
You know what you should have done!

And they’re not quite ready for all that at this point in the process…

They’re making us a sandwich, haven’t even finished making it yet… We should say “Thank you!”
Maybe, maybe, a little “Wow, XYZ Sounds exciting I’m looking forward to learning more!”

If we make this a super difficult process they’re not going to want to do it…

Koichi_Tsuji · 07-15-2020 05:47 AM

Only this thread alone, I see post which should be categorized as feature request, which should be avoided to be posted, right here in this category, to make the community stay clean.

Otherise, asking for questeion and clarification if anytnhing unclear is there, it is natural to ask to me.

Grant_Stead · 07-15-2020 06:16 AM

I’m on board with that.
Simple clarifications of the features, maybe can even help the devs build better documentation of the features!

LeventK · 07-15-2020 06:40 AM

@Grant_Stead
On the contrary, Feature Release in my vocabulary means that some feature is released or rolled-out and the release date is given as well: 7/14/2020. If you read @JCadence’s post, it also points out to a documentation link where there is no any information involved either. So rather than a Feature Release tag, I believe the tag shall be Coming Up or something similar to explicitly give the feeling that something is under progress, not released yet, then I could think about that sandwich. I believe words/wordings shall be carefully chosen especially by the AppSheet staff.

jcadence · 07-15-2020 08:56 AM

@Jonathan_S can you elaborate on this point a bit more?

Jonathan_S · 07-15-2020 09:43 AM

There where Items that People had trouble answering or seems a little contradictory. Things can can be done in app sheet where said to not able to be done etc.
Great Hour None the less

jcadence · 07-15-2020 09:43 AM

Hi everyone, thanks for your feedback a few items to follow up on.

As noted for the about section for this category this area is a work in progress. Our goal is to provide information on updates quicker so these less of a surprise when features are rolled out.

There’s a lot of questions/comments in this thread and I want to try and summarize them as concisely as possible:

Feature Release in my vocabulary means that some feature is released or rolled-out and the release date is given as well: 7/14/2020. If you read @JCadence’s post, it also points out to a documentation link where there is no any information involved either. So rather than a Feature Release tag, I believe the tag shall be Coming Up or something similar to explicitly give the feeling that something is under progress, not released yet

@LeventK The exact intention of this category is to discuss features that have been released, not items that are coming up. I would welcome your feedback to help clarify the expectations we are intending to set as perhaps my initial post as to what this category was for is not clear. Not every release has documentation, demos, etc. available upon release given we rollout when a feature is ready not when all of the previously mentioned items area available. We know this is a pain point, and have been trying to find solutions to remedy this.

@Jonathan_S There’s some really great feature requests here, please post suggestions such as these in the Feature Request category.

@tsuji_koichi The goal of this category is a quick list with the date window in which features have been released. The feedback previously had been no information is given. This is an MVP that will consist of a simple list with a short description of that feature. At this time, we’re not planning on including information outside of this scope in this particular category.

@Grant_Stead thank you for posting this, the sandwich is coming

Jonathan_S · 07-15-2020 09:44 AM

Already Done

Grant_Stead · 07-15-2020 10:12 AM

Nom nom nom

hcquadros · 07-15-2020 02:07 PM

Agree. We need to be more excited and interested on these Feature Releases. Every release is a welcome improvement.

But still, I have the feeling that Feature Releases are not mainly based on users’ Feature Requests.

We have many feature requests on this community. Some simple to solve (I guess), some more complicated, some with only a few votes, some with a lot of votes. But all of them was created by a user that faced a challenge that couldn’t solve or imagined and improvement opportunity.

It’s not easy to please the users with improvements that doesn’t come from their requests.

MultiTech · 07-15-2020 02:48 PM

@JCadence this category is a welcome addition, something like this has been missing for far too long. We don’t need a huge-fully-developed-marketing-push to explain things, we just need a list of things that are changing - any clarifications and deep-dives can come later.

Thank you!

Koichi_Tsuji · 07-15-2020 03:12 PM

Thanks Jennifer. Your point is carefully noted. But I’m still bit puzzled, what is going to happen if this description of short list is unclear ? Are you going to plan to document properly in other thread or official documentation for those additions? For this time there are three items , and I’m not sure why they are exactly this is adding own questions to me what they are. Without proper explanation I details, the list become useless and should simply add frustrations… If there is no other place to learn more.

MultiTech · 07-15-2020 03:19 PM

@tsuji_koichi

_THISROW_BEFORE enabled in Action conditions

… but only the [ThisRow_Before] part - and for notifications instead of just working for workflows.

Koichi_Tsuji · 07-15-2020 03:25 PM

Ah thanks Matt. Document seems to be updated which I did not know… I hope links to doc for listed items could be added in this thread when Apsheet team add lost newly which will solve all the discussion right here.

For the moment on appsheet official help docs, there is no indication what is the latest , chat is changed etc other knowledge page have such guide so that the learner can get the quick insight into the logs to knowledge base items to find the most latest additions instantly. @JCadence, please consider thank you!

Suvrutt_Gurjar · 07-15-2020 08:53 PM

If I may add to already very useful discussion in this thread

1)Mention Release details in post title .e.g.
Release Notes: 7/14/220 : FRB-1 Detail view with customizable header- BETA , FRB2- THISROW_BEFORE enabled in Action conditions**-BETA** , FR3 Bug fix for notifications in white label apps -Full fledged

Numbering the releases and suffixing them with Beta etc.will easily denote the status and easier to reference or else all posts titles make look similar.

Following is based on useful discussions by @Grant_Stead, @tsuji_koichi and @LeventK

As @Grant_Stead mentioned, we stick to only brief queries here.

Any major related addition suggestion to the features could be in “Feature Request” with a pointer to this particular post.
For extended discussion,on testing , giving feedback to AppSheet team, there may be another post category called "Features- Releases Discussions ". Example “Card Views Beta” release threads in announcements. The creators’ feedback have been useful to AppSheet team.

When Beta becomes full fledged release feature, that can also be announced in this category of “Feature Release Notes”

So this category mainly remains as a quick reference directory of releases history.

jcadence · 07-16-2020 11:37 AM

Would numbering the releases be beneficial for everyone? Internally, it doesn’t impact the work we’re doing but I’d want to ensure its impactful for others.

As for the status suffix, the thought is noted and we typically do add that detail to our posts. We can certainly try to ensure that it’s explicitly clear when we post here.

Suvrutt_Gurjar · 07-16-2020 07:30 PM

Thank you @JCadence for your revert.

The numbering suggestion was for referencing purpose as in any index or table of contents. Works in general better to reference and gives perspective of total features in beta etc. However I agree with you that it may as well be dropped.

hru · 07-17-2020 12:17 AM

Yesterday, I saw below icon in a detailed view, but now is no longer there:

Is this part of this release notes?

Steve · 07-17-2020 06:12 AM

Yep:

jcadence · 07-17-2020 09:47 AM

hi @hcquadros thank you for your feedback. As noted in our Office Hours on June 30th, many of the features we build and release are base don user feedback, but not all. There’s a number of reason for this- infrastructure, anticipating future needs, number of requests, etc. What’s important to note is that we do listen, we do build on based on feedback, but we have to be strategic in how we approach it.

Fabian_Weller · 07-21-2020 02:56 AM

When I try to use this in an Action Condition, I get this Error:

Error in expression '[_THISROW_BEFORE].[Charge]' : Unable to find column '_THISROW_BEFORE'

GreenFlux · 07-21-2020 02:59 AM

Same here. I’ve been trying [_THISROW_BEFORE] and [_THISROW_AFTER] in the action condition since this was announced but I keep getting the same error.

@JCadence is this feature rolled out for all users yet?

hru · 07-21-2020 04:09 AM

Based on my testing, to make it work for action condition,I need to have a VC with expression something like: [_THISROW_BEFORE].[Products]=[_THISROW].[Products]
and make the action condition if the [VC]=TRUE

It seems working since the action can only be called after background sync is completed.

MultiTech · 07-24-2020 12:35 PM

@JCadence any news on this? I’m still getting the same error - the [_ThisRow_Before] can’t be found by the expression assistant.

Koichi_Tsuji · 07-25-2020 02:28 AM

I m trying to pass current row’s BEFORE value to action for “Add new row to another table using values from this row” like screenshot, but it ends up with error. New code yet rolled out fully, is that a reason?

Steve · 07-25-2020 07:22 AM

I am able to use [_thisrow_before]. I’m using a free account.

Kirk_Masden · 07-25-2020 07:32 AM

Hi @JCadence! This new “Feature Release Notes” category is very welcome.

I understand that it is difficult to provide complete documentation of new features as they are released. I wonder, though, if it might not be fairly easy for those of you at AppSheet to release tiny apps as samples that show each feature. Sample apps would not need to be useful apps – just apps that include a part that utilizes the feature. I imagine that some testing is done before a new feature is released so perhaps an actual test app could be made into a sample to demonstrate what the new feature does. This, of course, is only relevant to new capabilities – not to mere bug fixes. And, I wouldn’t expect much, if any, explanation about each sample app. Just a simple “the new shiny thing is in this sample app so take a look” would be enough.

Thanks for your consideration!

P.S. My tiny sample app proposal is relevant, I think, to the current, [_thisrow_before] discussion.

Koichi_Tsuji · 07-25-2020 07:57 AM

Sounds like new code is yet fully rolled out then.

Fabian_Weller · 07-26-2020 05:29 AM

They often roll out first to the free accounts to check if there are any errors. After that they roll out to the paid accounts.

jcadence · 07-26-2020 07:02 PM

Hi @Kirk_Masden! Thanks for your input, I’m always happy to take feedback to help improve our offerings. One item I want to be really mindful of is an overpromise and an under deliver. There are few things worse than not being able to deliver on a commitment we’ve made to all of you. Until we have more resources, the quick list will need to continue to lead with a more fully fleshed out feature rollout notes in the days/weeks that follow.

Please continue with your feedback. The more we hear, the more likely we are to obtain additional resources to contribute to the cause.

Grant_Stead · 07-29-2020 09:55 AM

@morgan I’ve played with the detail view a bit, and I don’t see this “option/concept” is this on roll out?

morgan · 07-29-2020 11:05 AM

Hey Grant,

This feature is being rolled out. I will increase the rollout today so that you should see the updates tomorrow.

Thanks,
Morgan

Grant_Stead · 07-29-2020 06:45 PM

Sweet deal, thanks @morgan

psfulgham · 07-31-2020 11:48 AM

Is rollout still happening? Thanks, Phillip

Grant_Stead · 08-01-2020 09:51 AM

HA! i found it!

morgan · 08-01-2020 03:24 PM

Woohoo! Send me your feedback about it.

Also, there is now richer support for format rules in the card view. Card elements can display little badge dots, and show highlight colors.

You can also conditionally show/hide actions.

Grant_Stead · 08-01-2020 03:33 PM

@morgan I need to wrap my head around it… Initially disappointed that it wasn’t just floating on top… I don’t know why but I think I would prefer if it was it’s own pane similar to a reflist… I guess mainly I enjoy using an image as a background of the detail view, and using the card means I lose that…

But, I need to let it ruminate.

Grant_Stead · 08-01-2020 03:49 PM

I’m glad the actions are conditional, that’s awesome!

Also, I think I built up the idea of a card view as a header to end up being able to look and feel like a social post that you might see on Facebook, or LinkedIn… For my project management apps, I want to start a “feed” of sorts…

Koichi_Tsuji · 08-01-2020 04:55 PM

new code to arrive and land US first? I m yet seeing new feature of this on my account! Jealous!

You never mind to put some screenshot what you managed to achieve, what you could not etc?

Once feature is reaching out to my hands, I will do hands on testing, which I cant wait.

Sean_Lim · 08-01-2020 05:26 PM

Thank you @morgan ! I hope this update will solve the issues I have been having for the last 6 months on card views.

However now after I have edited the Card Views in the app editor, I actually don’t see cards being displayed. My inline views that are the “Card” type and have Format Rules are not displaying.

morgan · 08-03-2020 11:39 AM

Hey Sean, hmm… Can you try re-authoring your card and saving it? I wonder if the view on your app is stale and needs to be re-loaded. If that doesn’t work, can you send me a screenshot so I can reproduce? This issue should’ve been resolved a while back so I’m not sure what could be going on.

Thanks!
Morgan

Sean_Lim · 08-03-2020 07:06 PM

@morgan I’ve tried to save it multiple times and … nothing. Nothing displaying on any device. The card view’s column display fields are completely filled. No cards are appearing on the right side.

This completely wrecks the app

Grant_Stead · 08-03-2020 08:06 PM

Crazy question have you tried reverting to a deck view, remove the grouping, and save… Then swap to card view? (I wouldn’t use the card view grouping as it’s not really supported, more like a hack)

Sean_Lim · 08-03-2020 08:25 PM

Totally valid suggestion, yeah unfortunately the error is happening to the Card views that don’t have grouping too.