Templates (samples) that are useful tools, not just illustrations

AppSheet AppSheet Q&A
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In this little post, I’m hoping to start a discussion about “useful templates.” Templates usually function as demonstrations of how to do certain things on the AppSheet platform. As such, they function as illustrations of what can be done and pedagogical tools but usually don’t go beyond that.

If, however, a template app is not intended to be used by multiple people in a business or organization, it is possible for such single-user templates to function as very useful tools, not just illustrations of techniques or capabilities. One such app that comes to mind in this regard is @GreenFlux 's SVG Icon Tool:

https://www.googlecloudcommunity.com/gc/Tips-Tricks/SAMPLE-APP-Custom-SVG-App-Icons/m-p/372405

I have found this tool to be very useful to me in preparing SVG images to use in my app.

Granted, SVG Icon Tool is only of use to AppSheet creators but, nonetheless, it’s an illustration of how templates can become valuable tools, not just illustrations.

I’m hoping that other creators will respond to this post by sharing apps that you see as functioning tools.

My own interest in this type of “template” stems from the fact that, for the past 7 years or so, I’ve been working on a flashcard app that I’m planning to share with interested persons free of charge. The app is not 100% complete yet (mostly documentation issues remain); I’m hoping to “go public” next year with a website, YouTube channel, and other content sometime next year. But, in the meantime, if you’re interested in this work-in-progress of mine, you can check it out here:

https://www.appsheet.com/templates?appGuidString=2bdcbc79-8c09-4c25-ba87-f2718cf3d852

Be careful, however, because the size of the app has rendered the “Copy and Customize” button useless. If you would like to copy it and play around with it, you need to click on “Look under the hood” → Manage → Collaborate and publish → Copy to do so. Specialists at AppSheet are currently working to resolve this issue for me.

In 2016 or so, I asked Praveen about whether or not I could use AppSheet in this way. He hesitated a bit at first – wanting to double check to see if I was really willing to share my work and data for free – but then, after some discussion with others at AppSheet, gave me the go ahead.

I doubt that there are many other creators interested in sharing working apps for free but, on the other hand, I suspect that I’m not entirely alone either. At the very least, GreenFlux’s app is at least one example of a useful template that has been shared for free, and I suspect that there are quite a few more.

I hope this thread will grow in the coming weeks and we’ll get a fairly long list of useful apps that can be copied and used free of charge. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Thanks @Kirk_Masden ! Glad to see my old templates are still helping the AppSheet community. And I love this idea of a community effort to build a set of free utility apps.

We have a monthly template contest in the Appsmith community, and last month the topic was developer tools just like this! The winner made an image to Base64 converter that might be useful here as well.

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Thanks so much! Yes, indeed, the template looks really interesting! I tried to copy the app but I’m not yet familiar with the Appsmith platform. Perhaps that is the problem.

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I think you might be viewing the live preview of the template still. Click Try it out (top left) to open the app directly. Then click Fork app (top right).

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Oh, I see! Works right in the browser. Thanks!

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@Suvrutt_Gurjar I wonder if you have any ideas about this. I imagine you must have quite a few AppSheet apps you have built and published as templates that are useful tools for accomplishing some task.

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Hi @Kirk_Masden ,

I am sure AppSheet experts will have great insights to share on the topic. Greenflux has already participated in the discussion thread.

I am sure as you referred, there are a few great examples of pure play tools with AppSheet.

In my case though I have always shared templates as can be used with “traditional” definition of templates. Meaning using those as a base, a more customized functionality can be built by anyone. I do not recollect an app that I have built for mass consumption as a tool.

In my humble opinion, AppSheet with its per user model is better for specific customizations to solve a business / workflow requirement. For a more widespread mass use , maybe some other Saas tools can be used. However this again need not be a watertight rule on either side.

I think the following tip/ app built by @Fabian_Weller can be categorized as tool as per your thoughts?

Convert RGB to Hex (decimal to hexadecimal) - Google Cloud Community

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Thanks very much for your thoughtful comments. I’m sure you’re right about the appropriateness of AppSheet’s per user model for business requirements; I think that the vast majority of useful applications of the AppSheet platform to real-world problems will require a “Secure” or “Public” pay plan. And, that is as it should be; I want AppSheet to continue to be a viable business so I want them to have income from use of the platform. On the other hand, I hope that there can also be room for people like me, who are willing to lose control of apps after they are copied in exchange for free distribution, on the edges of that model.

And thanks for mentioning @Fabian_Weller 's app. I wasn’t able to find a link to a template though. If there is one, I would definitely want to add to the list of “templates as tools” I’m trying to put together here. :slightly_smiling_face:

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@Kirk_Masden here’s one you can add to the list.
https://www.appsheet.com/templates?appGuidString=d6ab1dec-d053-4920-9c74-fc205df266d0

It’s a US census dataset that can be used to create enum lists, with an example of how to dynamically group a table view by any column. It’s an app from one of my old posts.

https://www.googlecloudcommunity.com/gc/Tips-Tricks/Create-Dynamic-Links-to-Group-the-Same-Table-View-BY-ANY-COLUMN/m-p/268010

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Being in the paint business, I found it very interesting. However, instead of a full app, I found it to be a formula? I am a little confused. In order to use this formula, I will need 3 fields for Red, Green and Blue, right? or only one with the rgb numbers?

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Yes, @Fabian_Weller seems to have referred only an approach and not an app in the tip. However I believe his post is elaborate.

By looking at the expression he shared, yes, one will need three input columns, one each for defining RGB values for red, green and blue and then it converts into a single Hex value.

Anyway, since @Fabian_Weller has shared it, I think it will be appropriate for him to guide further.

In the same thread , I have also shared an approach for Hex to RGB and others have also shared some other variations.

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Thanks! I’m copying it now! I hope others will chime in with apps they’ve built. I really would like to build a list of apps like these. Actually, I have one more that I’ve built that I’d like to add. And, I also have a list of little project apps that I think others might find useful; these are apps that I’ve been thinking about building but haven’t done yet.

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I’m in the process of building a rain water collection app which I will release for free. I’d be a bit embarrassed about sharing the inner workings of it as I’m a newbie and there’d be heaps of ways to improve it. I was always curious if there was a forum somewhere where we can share the app build and get comments/suggestions on it? Or would that be too much trouble for people to look through an app’s inner build (I imagine so).

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Thanks so much for your comment. If you would like to get comments or suggestions on an app, I would suggest making a post to this part of the community (the Q&A section) in which you include a link to your app’s template (free sample that can be copied) and provide an explanation about how you built it. If you faced some sort of obstacle or difficulty in building the app, you might explain how you dealt with that problem and ask if there are other ways to handle it. It’s been my experience that such posts sometimes get comments about whether your strategy was or wasn’t the best one for that particular problem. On the other hand, without a clear description of the issue in the text, I doubt that you would be likely to receive an analysis and critique of the app as a whole because that would take quite a lot of work.

Now that I think of it, another approach would be to post a “tip” in which you explain the problem you confronted and offer your own solution as advice for others. If readers think that there’s a better strategy, they may tell you so. I have found writing “tips” to be a great way to learn because people often tell me that my approach is not the best one after all. I don’t post tips knowing that my solution is second rate and there’s actually a better one out these but sometimes that is what I find out. Even though it can be slightly embarrassing to find out that the approach I was trying to promote wasn’t the best after all, it’s still nice to get the feedback.

By the way, in case you don’t already know about it, I’d like to introduce the following tip of mine:

How to share your app as a template / sample app via your portfolio and/or a URL
https://www.googlecloudcommunity.com/gc/Tips-Tricks/How-to-share-your-app-as-a-template-sample-app-via-your/m-p/357996

When you are ready to share you rainwater collection app, I hope this “tip” will be useful to you. :slightly_smiling_face:

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