Removing the barrier of entry into developing complex web applications even further with each step, we are excited to have brought you another version, jam-packed with new features.
Excel’s flexible input/output structure allows for creating straightforward and user-friendly applications. Unless you lock any of the cells, you can always interact with the existing formulas and change them as you wish. Typically used for giving the user an option to choose between the “system-generated” value and what they think is right, making output cells intentionally editable is a totally viable option.
To achieve the same effect in Designer applications, we’ve just introduced the Formula Override feature. One of the biggest updates in this version, Formula Override essentially allows the end users to edit the outcome of a calculated field, and revert back to the formula-generated result at will.
This feature can be enabled on a control-by-control basis, and is available for Textbox, Checkbox, Radio Button, Calendar, Slider, Dropdown, and Input Grid controls. To apply, simply activate Enable Formula Override for the specific control, and make sure that its Enabled validation is set to Always or activated with a By Value Of outcome.
Input controls with Formula Override will calculate the formula results during runtime, until you edit the calculation result. At that point, the system will not interfere with your manually entered value in subsequent calculations, and the user-entered value will also be used in any other dependent formulas.
The user override value can be reset by pressing the button that appears next to that control. Doing so will revert back the cell input to the formula-calculated value.
Advanced Data Filters (Filter Actions menu) is another feature that certainly deserves the highlight in this version. This offers a more elaborate approach to filtering-down the results shown on the Data page. The number of filters available is based on the active data fields as configured in the Columns menu.
You can access the Advanced Data Filters menu by pressing the filter icon on the top-right-corner of your screen when you’re on the Data page of an application. Pressing the same button will close the Filter Actions menu. In this panel, you can enter any number of characters for text data, select a start and end date for date type of data, and use slider controls for numeric fields. All controls are generated automatically based on the type of the data recognized by the system as defined in the Databases module.
Another exciting feature added in this version is the Google Sheets Connector. Google Sheets has quickly become a very popular choice for creating and sharing web-based spreadsheets. With this new connector, you can now insert data into your online workbooks directly from your web applications. All you need to do is authenticate the connector with your Google account, and select the document you want to send data. Be it for collaboration or reporting, it is easier than ever to integrate third party services into your SpreadsheetWeb applications.
In addition to several bug fixes and performance improvements, we also enhanced the Open with Original feature in Designer applications. This feature now allows opening a record with the workbook version it was first created with, in view or edit mode. For a full list of changes and new features, please see the change log.
Feel free to sign up for a 14-day free account if you haven’t already done so, and create elaborate web applications in no time!
