Introducing A New Resource: In-App Guides

[MultiTech]

Hey everyone.

Over the past few months I’ve been working on building a system to deliver a new type of resource for the community, one that would give people step-by-step guides on how to implement specific functionalities in their apps. Things like:

• How to delete child records with parent records
• How to use Gravatars
• Quickly implementing an avatar builder
• How to turn on/off quick edits using actions
• and more…

What sets these resources apart is the fact that they are presented directly inside the AppSheet editor - right in the app preview! Yes you heard right.

I call them “In-App Guides”

I call them “in-app” because, well… they’re presented inside the app preview. (It’s a guide, inside your app… In-App Guides) There are some unique advantages to providing guides inside the app preview, interactivity being one of them.

Learn more here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/introducing-in-35115500

[MultiTech]

The following guides were published and made public on 4/1/2020:

• Avatar Builder
  • This guide shows how to quickly implement the avatar builder first introduced to the community by Tsuji Koichi
• How To Import Gravatars Automatically
  • This guide shows how to pull the Gravatar for an email
• RoboHash Images
  • This guide shows how you can use the RoboHash service to pull in temporary images as stand-ins (including monsters, robots, kittens, etc.)
• Add GeoFencing
  • This guide shows how to add GeoFencing to your app
• Trigger Workflow Manually
  • This guide shows how to trigger a workflow with the push of an action button
• Force A Sync
  • This guide shows how to use an action to force your app to sync
• Creating Action Based Alerts
  • This guide shows how to use actions to create a pop up alert message
• Changing Default App Folder
  • This guide shows how to change/update the default app folder for your app
• Delete Child Records with Parent Delete
  • This guide shows how to use actions and workflows to delete all the related records when a parent record is deleted
• Using UnSplash for Images
  • This guide shows how to use the UnSplash service to pull in related images
• Party Parrot
  • Nuff said
• Update Row App Formulas
  • This guide shows how to quickly cause all the app formulas for a row to recalculate
• Update Related Records From Parent Update
  • This guide shows how to cause all the related records to update when the parent record is updated
• App Update Feature
  • This guide shows how to use the app update feature to update your app
• Action Controlled Quick Edits
  • This guide shows how use actions to control which columns can be edited via the quickedit system on detail views.

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https://www.patreon.com/posts/public-in-app-1-35512470

[Koichi_Tsuji]

Hey Matt,
Awesome works, I just understand why you have been quiet on the community for the last weeks or so!
I want to access to the site of https://www.patreon.com/posts/35115500
but 504 errors is returned, I assume you still working on it to alter the site.

[MultiTech]

No @tsuji_koichi that’s a live post that should be accessible.

I was just able to access it in an incognito window - maybe try again?

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Try this: https://www.patreon.com/posts/introducing-in-35115500

[Koichi_Tsuji]

Gotcha, Matt!

yes, I managed to access to the site on incognito window on the Chrome. Now looking deep inside!

[Grant_Stead]

That’s pretty neat!
Party Parrot FTW

[MultiTech]

[anonymous]

Pretty cool Matt, great work!

[Suvrutt_Gurjar]

Hi Matt,

I am sure it will be very handy reference to all the app creators. Thank you very much.

[furkizio]

Hello Matt,

Thank you for sharing. I am benefiting very much from your sample app Signature Copy Action.
I have a similar question to updating data but this time i need to update parent records status from child record.

I built a sales tracking app. I am updating purchase order parent record and child records are updated as in your app. But for some child records i do inspection and some of child lines has status inspection and some has delivered. Parent record has status awaiting delivery. So my question, when i complete inspection i set automatically child record status delivered as well. How can i update parent record delivered once all child records have status delivered?

Thank you very much

Furkan

[Jake_Naude]

Thanks Matt… Works great… Loving it…

[anonymous]

thank you everything works fine now!

[MultiTech]

Glad to hear! (^_^)

[GreenFlux]

Awesome work, @MultiTech_Visions!

The ‘auto-table’ setup on its own is pretty cool, but the way you’ve combined it with show-columns to make an app-guide out of a form view is brilliant!

You really don’t have to do anything besides import the table. I was pretty surprised when I clicked the (+) on the first form and there was formatting, images, multiple pages… just awesome!

[LeventK]

Awesome work @MultiTech_Visions, congrats bud!

[MultiTech]

Thank you @GreenFlux , and you too @LeventK! (^_^)

I’ve been occupied lately with other projects, but I intend on releasing another round of guides here in the next month or so.

Let me know what guides you would like to see next.

[HBT]

For a long time I was thinking about how this process could be done. Coincidentally I came across this post and downloaded the file (PUBLIC In-App Guides - Google Drive). I examined it. You are great. Thank you very much for sharing information.

[MultiTech]

You are quite welcome. (^_^)

I’ve got a few other more advanced guides, as well as AppSheet table templates, on my Patreon account.

I’ve built an AppSheet app that puts together all the code bits to make all that work. I had dreams of polishing the app enough that I could open it up to people so they could utilize the same power I’ve uncovered. But ultimately the app is rife with pitfalls and difficulties; syntax, escaping quotes and things, there’s tons of technical details that have to be “just right” in order for things to work.

Here’s a video I put out a year ago that highlights that app I was talking about:

Thanks again for the kind words!

[ATR]

Hey Matt, you’re awesome!
Good job!!