Enhancing Appsheet Formula Editor for Improved User Experience

[hien_nguyen]

Why does Appsheet block Appsheet Toolbox while The team developed a very bad tool for formula editor?

Appsheet Toolbox suggests formulas and provides better user support than Appsheet's default input method

Here are areas where Appsheet should reconsider its new formula editor to make it more user-friendly, rather than making users struggle when entering formulas without third-party tools like Appsheet Toolbox.

1. Lack of Automatic Formula Suggestions: Currently, Appsheet Toolbox automatically suggests and corrects functions as users type, making it user-friendly. In contrast, Appsheet requires users to input functions accurately before any suggestions appear, causing difficulty for users new to Appsheet formulas.
2. Replace the Tab Key instead of the Enter Key or accept both to choose Table or Column Selection: Changing the Enter key to the Tab key for selecting suggested table or column names would align with user habits, similar to how users work with formulas in Excel and Google Sheets.
3. Support Line Numbers for Formula Display: Providing the option to display line numbers in the formula editor would allow users to break down longer formulas for easier readability, preventing confusion and facilitating error checking for syntax mistakes.
4. Enable Tab Key for Indentation: Allowing users to press the Tab key for code indentation would enhance the visual presentation of formulas, resembling code formatting in Appscript.
5. Formula Suggestions in Allow Update Values and Webhook Automation: Including formula suggestions in the "Allow Update Values" and "Webhook Automation" sections would assist users in easily composing formulas rather than relying on memorizing function syntax and typing accurately.

Thanks

[wabrian]

Hi @hien_nguyen

0. AppSheet has made an active effort to allow users who wish to use AppSheet toolbox to continue using it. If you are unable to use the toolbox, please contact the toolbox owners, it should be working. There are some things they do better than AppSheet, and some things we do better them. We do not aim to precisely recreate their feature set.

1. AppSheet has explored adding formula suggestions and observed new users struggle more when we enable them. We are hoping to prioritize this in the coming months and get these out in some form that help existing users and new users.

2 & 4. There are some accessibility concerns with doing that, but you raise a good point. I will try to re-explore this path.

3. Line numbers appear once you hit enter and have a multi-line expression.

5. Reasonable feature request! Can you provide some specific examples and I can look to file this internally?