GO PAPERLESS IN 2024: 90 days for $90 on new accounts. 15 users included!

La Boca: Maintenance With A Splash Of Colour

Welcome to the La Boca release! 🏘️

The colourful village of La Boca, the chosen landmark for Appenate's next release.

La Boca is a delightfully colourful suburb in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This spot is a popular tourist destination, featuring (among other things) the Caminito, which is a popular street museum where you’ll often witness tango dancers performing in the street.

The La Boca release will be largely focused on maintenance to provide long-term stability and success for all our customers. That doesn’t mean we’ll be holding out on the flair of a few well-placed new features and improvements, though. 💃

Let’s get stuck in.

Quick Sync & Connect Status On App Tile Bar

Continuing our theme of making the development of Screens easier, we’re adding a Quick Sync and Connection Status icon to the App title bar.

There are currently two only ways to force a sync or update data from server to app:

  1. The “Force Sync” button on the Settings page
  2. Adding buttons into Screen designs (title bar or Form Screens) that invoke the “Force Sync” user interaction.

The app also doesn’t currently indicate offline/online connection status at present, aside from a “Last Synced” date/time on the Settings Screen.

So we’re adding a Quick Sync & Connect Status icon to the app title bar of most Screens.  This dynamic icon can be pressed to force a sync and also reflect the connection status. 

This means you’ll no longer have to navigate to the settings page to force a sync. And if you’ve added a new field to the form design, you won’t have to fill out the form from scratch while testing. 

Lastly, users will be able to update Data Sources on the fly while working on the app. 💪

Enhance BigQuery Connectors To Update Rows

Google BigQuery users, you know how the Connector is currently limited to inserting new rows for each form entry? Well, we’re changing that.

We’ll soon include the ability to update an existing row from a form submission –  similar to what we have with SharePoint Lists, with field mapping and the ability to define a key.

So, as an example, if you’re doing an inventory audit and need to update inventory items, you’ll save a bunch of time and countless new rows.

Add Horizontal Scrollbar To Table Fields Overview

It can be frustrating to only be able to view five (mobile) or six (desktop) columns at a time on the app. We can’t raise that number, sadly, or you’d need a magnifying glass (and plenty of pixels!) to actually see what’s going on. 

Instead, we’re adding a scroll bar. This way, you’ll be able to view as many columns as you want – at the expense of having to scroll through data horizontally. Not the worst compromise in the world, is it? 😉

Add Full Formula Support For Navigation Bar Buttons

As part of our Bungle Bungle release, we implemented the feature “Allow Full Control of Navigation Bar Buttons for All Screen Types”.

The problem is that these buttons only work using basic functions and not when form fields are referenced in a function.

Thanks to our awesome customers’ feedback, we’re extending this functionality to include fully dynamic formulae, along with the ability to reference form fields. ✊

Session Timeout Functionality Coming To The App

In the El Chaltén release, we added a session expiry time to heighten the platform’s security by allowing your admins to set a session timeout.  

Security is still a priority, so we’re extending this feature to the app! 

You’ll soon have the option to implement an app expiry time. Much like the web session expiry, you’ll be able to select the cadence that you prefer.

Show Data Source Driven Table Images In Output

Data Source driven tables are getting more popular. As a result, we’ve been getting an influx of questions about why media files (images) don’t display within the Tables on the data templates or platform after form submission.

We’re working on a solution so that you’ll be able to see the images in data template tables going forward. 🎉

Maintenance

  • Ability to make a backup of an old Data Source before importing rows from a file
  • Changes required for Dropbox API integrations to support the team space
  • Custom error messages to reduce logging and give more context to clients on errors
  • Ability to get back to Master Org as a Consulting Partner in an expired trialing account
  • Require Login for File Links for App Only Users 
  • Add New 2FA Properties to API
  • Renew Windows App Signing certificate
  • User Details – Access Permissions error message
  • ‘Send Invite Emails To’ not working properly since password reset changes
  • Move the settings icon on Folders & User Groups

Getting The Wheels Rolling

That’s it for the La Boca cycle. We’ll notify you as these new features and improvements roll out, as we’re already making steady progress. 💪

We’re optimistic about 2023 and believe this to be the first of many successful release cycles guided by your ever-valued feedback.

Thank you!