Community! This post is to discuss and list EXISTING issues that hinder app creation.

AppSheet AppSheet Q&A
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Community Members! We need your input!

Over the years AppSheet has done a tremendous job providing us a platform packed with features that allow us to build very exciting apps. But its exploding growth has led to some “loose ends” on previously built features. Some of these cause us App Creators to implement work-arounds or use less-than-desirable alternative implementations. Many of these “loose ends” existed prior to Google acquiring AppSheet and I think may not actually be known to Google.

So, I would like for us Community Members to come together and shed some light on the existing issues we contend with on a daily basis and would like for Google to seriously consider addressing to improve our App Creation experience.

NOTE: THIS IS NOT A COMPLAINT THREAD. PLEASE RESPECT THAT.

POST ONLY SERIOUS PLATFORM FUNCTIONAL ISSUES THAT HINDER BUILDING OF APPS THAT YOU WOULD LIKE THE GOOGLE STAFF TO BE AWARE OF. SUCH AS:

  • EXISTING NON-PREVIEW PROBLEMS/BUGS
  • MAJOR ITEMS DEEMED MISSING/NEEDED TO FULLY COMPLETE PREVIOUSLY BUILT FEATURES.
  • ITEMS THAT LIKELY IMPACT THE MASSES WITHOUT GOOD WORKAROUNDS
  • NO SPECIAL USE CASE ITEMS PLEASE.

Add any additional items you are aware of and I will update the list below with qualifying items daily. The intent is to inform AppAheet of pain points facing us as App Creators. I hope you will help.

Here is the current list as of 4/13/2023 10:00 am

Current Platform Existing Issues List

  • Card and Deck views: allow for nested tables but columns are misaligned and navigation to selected rows is incomplete.
  • Card views do not apply Format rules properly to buttons
  • Deck views eliminate white space gaps between rows when using Nested tables
  • INPUT() function does not apply default values or expressions.

Missing or Incomplete Features that Hinder App Creation for the Masses

  • Ability to set static column widths on views.
  • Card and Deck views: allow for more button Icons based on screen size
  • Table QuickEdit does not allow for Behavior actions to be added upon Save - like on Form Save
  • Index Lookup - ability to get the index NUMBER of an item in a list.
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INPUT() function does not apply default values or expressions

I’m curious where and how you think the default of an INPUT() would/should evaluate?

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In the function itself. According to documentation, we can specify a default value even with expression. Based on my experience with INPUT, and a few others I have witnessed, the default parameter is ignored. I have had several uses for it.

Screenshot 2023-04-13 at 8.58.49 AM.png
Screenshot 2023-04-13 at 8.58.49 AM.png1486×406 35.2 KB

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Not really what I was asking. “I have several uses for it”, what are those uses?

The way I see, it wouldn’t have any effect on the pop-up modal, just like the input-name parameter. We already have a mechanism for that, an initial value with resetOnEdit.

Only thing I could see for it would be similar to an optional parameter of a function, when being used with a reference action. I can imagine setting up a single action with several INPUT()s for several columns, with the expectation that multiple reference actions would be using this, with different combinations of passed-in arguments. Even so, it just doesn’t seem very important, as its easily worked around. Certainly not a pain point facing me as an App Creator.

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Does it really matter? The fact is that they intended to support such a default, even documented it. Using the default value parameter will make certain functions much easier and cleaner to implement - for all of us. So, I’m asking to complete it so we can use it then we don’t need the convoluted work-arounds.

Since you asked, my use cases, so far, have been:

  • Set an initial/default Date for the pop-up Form so user doesn’t have to scroll through months in calendar or enter it when they need to tweak it by only a day or two.
  • Pass different default values from different calling actions into a common action for updating instead of some switch expression in the receiving action.
  • There are times when an expression in the INPUT returns blank where you want the called action to keep the original value. It would be nice to pass the original value as the default instead of expressions on the receiving end.
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