Get Started
      Back to home
      1. Knowledge Base
      2. Get Started

      Quickstart Videos

      This tutorial takes less than 10 minutes, and at the end, you will have successfully built an online database app.

      Data

      For this tutorial, you can use the "Sample Clients Table" data already in your app when you sign-up. Or, find sample data relevant to your use case here. Then, click on "import" in Data or Records.

      How to import your data to create a new table

       

      Knack can predict the format of most of your columns during import. This format guide to import tells you how, but here are the main ones:

      • Phone Numbers: Knack recognizes various supported phone formats as a new phone field.

      • Links: Valid URLs are recognized as a new link field column, except for image URLs. See the below info.

      • Images: If you import a <img> tag or URL ending in a supported image format, we'll predict this as an image field. 

      • Rich Text: Knack recognizes columns with valid HTML as a new rich text field.

      Quick Tips: 

      • In your file being imported, 'Name' columns need to be separated into two columns: first name, last name

      • Make sure the first and last name columns are sequential and not separated by other fields. The import will combine all sequential name and address fields into a single field.

      • Similarly, Address columns also need to be separated into "Street 1", "Street 2", "City", "State" and "Zip" as shown:

        fileformat2

      • To import into a Date/Time field that is set up to hold date values and start/end times, we recommend using this format: mm/dd/yyyy 00:00am to mm/dd/yyyy 00:00pm 

      • If the Date/Time field ignores time, we recommend mm/dd/yyyy to mm/dd/yyyy

      • Make sure multiple choice columns are consistently formatted before importing. For example, the "Size" column can't be "large," "Large," and "L.” Each of these will be a different option for size in your new Knack “Size” field.

      • For values with commas, the entire value needs to be quoted. For example, let's say you have this text: "hello, world"

      In your spreadsheet, this needs to be:

      "hello, world",

      More videos and articles: 

      Pages & Views

      Next, design your app using Pages and Views. Views are the building blocks to design on a Page.

       

      Customizing your page layout

      Customize your page layout by dragging Views around a Page:

      Moving_Views

      Display 'Details' for each row 

      Allow your users to drill down into specific rows of a Grid View by adding a "View" button to each row. Clicking on "View" takes the user to a "Details Page" that shows details for that one row:

      Details_View_v2

      As you build out your Pages and add more "Details" Pages, the left hand side panel of your Knack Builder will start to look like layers of nested pages, which you can expand out. 

      You have a Top-level page. Each top-level page has nested Details Pages:

       Top-level pages      Details pages
              
      • A Details page allows you to drill down into a specific record in your database, while a top-level page allows you to view all the records in that database.
      • Details Pages and Details Views get created when you add a "View" or "Edit" action button on your Top-level page, usually inside a Grid, List, or Calendar that shows all records. 
      • You can add multiple Details Views to a Details page!
      • Remember the datasources you can display are different on a Details Page. On this type of page, you can display details of a specific record, or records linked via a connected table. For example, if a client order has many 'line items' connected to it, you can display all orders on the top-level page and display just the line items for a specific order on the Details Page. 

      Filtering Displays of your Data for your users

      There are five ways to filter what your users see in Knack: 

      1. Allow your user to add custom filters: This feature will add a button labeled "add filters" to the grid, giving users the freedom to filter records based on their own criteria. 

      Go to Grid Settings > Scroll down to Filter Options > "Allow users to add custom filters"

       

      2. Allow users pre-built filters using Filter Menus: Filter menus allow users to cycle between multiple pre-filtered Views. You could use them to create a pipeline view of your workflow, filter by a 'status' column and more.

      Go to Grid Settings > Scroll down to Filter Options > "Use a filter menu"

      3. Ensure a user cannot see certain records:  You can add a filter behind the scenes that 
      customizes which records are shown and how they are sorted. Users can't change this. 

      Go to Grid Source > Add a "Filter Rule" > Create filter conditions for rows as you would in Excel

      See more about "All" and "Any" conditions here

      4. Ensure a user cannot see certain column fields: You can add a Page Rule that hides an entire View from a specific user group. Duplicate your View on the same page, deleting Columns that this restricted user group should not see in one version. Then, using page rules, hide the version without deleted columns from the restricted user group. 

      Page_Rules

      5. Filter by the Logged In User:  Display only the record rows that are connected to the user currently logged-in when adding a View. Before you can do so, watch this video.

      Logged_inUser

      Show / Hide Page Elements using Display Rules

      Display Rules allow you to hide or show form inputs, change input labels, add icons, and change text and background color. They are available on form views, details views, and grid views.

       

      You can also Color code a column using Display Rules in a Grid View

      Automate Workflows with Actions & Rules: 

      Actions buttons unlock the ability to update and delete records at the click of a button: 

      You might want to: 

      Need more advanced workflows? Our Scheduled Tasks feature is available on Starter Plans and above.

      Preview Changes & View Your Live App

      Finally, hit the Preview button on the top right of the builder to view your app as your users would:

      Settings

      The Settings Tab includes a variety of options for your app. These include: 

      Further Exploration

      At this point, you can see the customizability and speed with which Knack allows you to get your users to interact with data.

      There is, however, a lot more to unlock in your workflows. If you wish to add logic, rules, and trigger actions with your views, these articles are a good place to learn: