Table of Contents

Getting to Know the New Builder

Lesley Updated by Lesley

What's New?

Welcome to the newest version of the Knack Builder! This update adds new features, improvements to existing features, and creates a foundation for additional features and improvements going forward.

To stay in the loop, you can follow along with product updates on our “What’s New” page.

Clear Navigation

The new Builder design adds clear navigation alongside with Data (previously called "Schema"), Records, Pages, Tasks, and Settings.

  • Data: (previously called "Schema"): here you add your tables, fields, and connections.
  • Records: here you can edit, import, or run batch updates on records in your app.
  • Pages: in this section, you build your Live App by adding pages and views.
  • Tasks: here you can add scheduled tasks to run updates or trigger emails. Available on the Pro plan or above.
  • Settings: now you can access all of your app settings from the main navigation.

You can also find icons to quickly switch between Data, Records, and Pages at the top of the Builder.

Fields & Records

Add & Edit Fields in the Records Section

When working in the Records section of the Builder, you can find quick access to edit and add fields directly. You'll now see a dropdown menu that provides field options without having to navigate to your Data.

Field Descriptions

You can now use field descriptions to add more context to a field when the name isn't enough.

You'll now see a description input when editing a field. When added, these descriptions will show up as information icons in your field list and record columns. Hovering over the icon reveals the description.

Improved Import Process

We completely overhauled the import process. You can drag and drop your file with easier mapping to spreadsheet columns and create new fields with specific formats.

Read more on importing records here.

Improved Equation Editor

We improved the equation editor to add more clarity with a larger text window, drop-downs to browse functions and fields, and improved clarity when selecting connected fields.

Read more about using equation fields here.

Image Resizing

On image fields, you can now enable image resizing when images are uploaded, allowing you to ensure images are a web friendly size and reduce overall storage in your app.

Read on how to resize images here

Pages

Toolbox

When editing your pages and views, you can now find all settings in the toolbox to the left. The toolbox will display settings for whichever page or view you are working on, so you can view your settings, side by side with your page preview while you are building.

Flexible Page Layouts

When building Pages, flexible layouts are now supported. You can drag and drop your views into one, two or three columns.

Improved Child Page Creation

We have improved the process to create child pages, with no limit to the types of views or how many can be added.

Views

Improved Add View Wizard

Adding new views to your pages is now much more intuitive, with the process broken down into simple steps.

This improvement is particularly helpful in those complex cases where you're working with tables two connections away. Now you are only dealing with one step at a time, and each choice is very clear.

Improved Connection Clarity

When adding views displaying connected records, the language has been simplified, making it much clearer to select the correct connection when you have many to choose from.

Here's an example of adding a view when you may have multiple connections between the same tables to pick from:

Live View Previews

When editing these views, all edits are now immediately visible in the page preview. So you can make multiple edits in the view settings in the toolbox to the left, and immediately see how it looks in real time in the page preview.

Internal View Names

You can now add and edit internal view names directly in the page preview. You can show and hide view names by using the tag icon in the top menu. When view names are shown, you can edit by clicking on the individual view name in the preview.

Expand/Collapse Views in Page Preview

You can now expand and collapse all views in your page preview, making it easier to navigate your pages while building and maintaining your app.

Add & Remove All Fields

You can now remove all fields directly from the preview, or add all the fields from either the preview or the left toolbox. You can also now add a new field directly from the left toolbox without having to navigate back to your table.

Filter Connection Lookups on Tables

In table views, inline editing now allows for filtering connection lookups. This will allow you to filter which options are available for your users to choose while editing inline, similar to the options available in a form input. For example, filtering by connected records with an active status so users can only choose from active records.

Table Record Rules

You can now trigger record rules on tables while inline editing. These rules can update the record being edited, insert a new connected record, update a connected record or send a custom email.

These record rules are similar to form record rules and can be used to do things like track which user last updated a record, send an email when a record is updated, or update/insert connected records when a status has changed.

You can read more about using record rules here.

Details View Layout

Details views now support preset layout options. From the details settings, layouts can be selected to split details into different two column layouts.

Pairing these layouts with field grouping will allow you to display even more record information horizontally.

Learn more about details view layout and grouping here.

Add Views Linked From Menus

You can now add a new view linked from a menu view when adding a view to a page. This option is available as a checkbox when adding a new view in the toolbox.

With this option checked, when your new view is added to your app, a menu view is added first which links to your new view on a child page.

Rules

Append & Remove Actions

You are now able to use rules to append or remove values from multiple choice fields or connection fields without overwriting the existing values. These rule actions are available on conditional rules, scheduled tasks, record rules, and action links.

For example, when an approval form is submitted, you could use a record rule to append the “approved” tag without overwriting the existing tags.

'Has Changed' Filters

You can now trigger record rules when the value of a field has changed. You can also get more precise by defining when a field has changed to or from a specific value. This is a great way to trigger notifications or alerts if you want to know whenever a critical field value has changed.

Getting Help

If you need any help along the way here are a few helpful resources:

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