June 24, 2021

[willwitman]

Deployment Time: 11:27 AM PST

Features & Enhancements

Item	Description
Feature	A new action type was added: Navigate back. This type allows automation pipelines to send the user back to the previous screen.
Performance Enhancement and Bug fixes	We're beginning to roll out an update to the app expression runtime that includes several substantial performance optimizations as well as a few bug fixes. Currently this will only affect expressions running locally within the app, like slice filters or virtual columns that update dynamically within a form, and will not affect expressions running on the server, like security filters or virtual columns computed during sync. However some of the same optimizations should be applicable to the server and will be considered for a future update. The optimizations primarily target expensive Slice filters and LOOKUP, SELECT, and IN functions and can potentially make these run many times faster, particularly when multiple layers of filtering are involved (like a LOOKUP within a SELECT filter, or a SELECT within a Slice filter). Deployed to 20% of free users.

Bug Fixes

Item	Description
Bug	Bots with a scheduled Event using a slice can now use Processes defined on the slice's source Table.
Bug	Issues were fixed where certain list expressions produced blank inline views. Another issue often reported to customer support where some Slice and SELECT filters involving EnumLists produce wrong results in the app that don't align with the expected results from the expression tester. Deployed to 20% of free users.
Bug	An issue often reported to customer support was fixed where some Slice and SELECT filters involving EnumLists produce wrong results in the app that don't align with the expected results from the expression tester. Deployed to 20% of free users.

Rollout changes

None.

Preview announcements

The AppSheet Preview program lets app creators try out new app features that are not yet fully supported. Learn how to participate in the AppSheet preview program for app client features.

• Table View now supports freezing the first column while scrolling horizontally. For details, see Freezing the first Column of a Table View - in Preview Program.

What's currently available in the Preview program?

Item	Description
Feature	Google BigQuery data source For details, see the official announcement on the AppSheet Community.
Feature	Table view Table View now supports freezing the first column while scrolling horizontally. For details, see Freezing the first Column of a Table View - in Preview Program.
Feature	Chart Editor App Creators can now make use of our new chart editor and the new and improved charts it can create. Learn more.
Feature	Filters in AppSheet applications App users can now filter items from a collection of records based on column values. The feature is available both on mobile devices and desktop computers. Learn more. In the Search box, you can now filter by label. Strings in the filtering interface, such as Done, Clear, Contains, and so on, can now be localized under UX > Localize. In filtering, Yes/No attributes now support custom Yes/No display values. App users can now search by columns of type EnumLists.

[Rifad]

Will_Witman:

A new action type was added: Navigate back . This type allows automation pipelines to send the user back to the previous screen.

Where can we find this ?

Will_Witman:

However some of the same optimizations should be applicable to the server and will be considered for a future update.

Good News!!

[MultiTech]

Will_Witman:

We’re beginning to roll out an update to the app expression runtime that includes several substantial performance optimizations as well as a few bug fixes. Currently this will only affect expressions running locally within the app, like slice filters or virtual columns that update dynamically within a form, and will not affect expressions running on the server, like security filters or virtual columns computed during sync. However some of the same optimizations should be applicable to the server and will be considered for a future update.

The optimizations primarily target expensive Slice filters and LOOKUP, SELECT, and IN functions and can potentially make these run many times faster, particularly when multiple layers of filtering are involved (like a LOOKUP within a SELECT filter, or a SELECT within a Slice filter).

Anyone on the AppSheet team willing to do a quick 10 min chat about this?

I’d love to know so specifics. (^_^)

[Koichi_Tsuji]

Will_Witman:

|Feature|A new action type was added: Navigate back . This type allows automation pipelines to send the user back to the previous screen.

My understanding is this new action is just to give us an option to create the existing action placed at upper left corner of the app, to go back to previous view.
When I tested this, I assumed this custom action is going to be syncrolizely made available or hidden if the app holds a state of “previous view”
When we hit the view placed on the primary or menu position, we dont have system generated action to go back to previous view, but the three lines icon is shown to open the menu navigation.
But when the app is staying at this state, where the humbarger menu icon is shown, this custom action of navigate to previous view is kept displayed and available. Then we hit the action, nothing is going to happen, as app does not know what is previous view.
We are not able to conditionally hide this new action neither.
Better to make this custom action to show/hide automatically, only made available when app holds a state of “previous view”

For the time being, I push the expression to show this action on detail view only, by exprssion of Context(ViewType)=Detail
Works perfect.

@Takuya_Miyai

@Arthur_Rallu

[Fabian_Weller]

Will_Witman:

A new action type was added: Navigate back .

App: navigate to the previous view

[Koichi_Tsuji]

This is just set the showif condition to detail view only.

[Koichi_Tsuji]

By the way, we wont be able to upload high quality GIF to this community place, due to presumably newly added restriction to the size of the uploading GIF or image files.

[Koichi_Tsuji]

Will_Witman:

|Feature|A new action type was added: Navigate back . This type allows automation pipelines to send the user back to the previous screen.

Automation can control action with regard to data change. This new navigation to previous view is nothing to do with data change, where I believe we are not able to control from Automation side.
Automation is always back-end job.
Navigation view to view is always client side.

I wondered how we are able to control this new action from Automation (BOT) side.

[wabrian]

Thank you for the feedback.

You are correct that users could use the navigate back action to replicate the existing back button. We do not anticipate this is being the main use case, as the functionality already exists with the back action. We suspect the primary use case will be coupling this action with other actions, such that you can incorporate the back action with other functionality. For example, one could have a “Mark as Inspected” button, that sets a field and then navigates the user back to the previous view.

As you have observed we do not currently hide the back action, which we likely should. We are still actively working on this new action and will try to integrate that in the coming weeks.

[Koichi_Tsuji]

wabrian:

As you have observed we do not currently hide the back action, which we likely should. We are still actively working on this new action and will try to integrate that in the coming weeks.

Hope we will see improvement soon, thank you for your advice.

[Koichi_Tsuji]

One more thing that I noticed.

Creating a return to previous action alone (not being grouped with other data change action), when applying bulk action, this action is showing up as options for action, which is not making sense to me. As a part of feedbacks for this new feature.

[Kirk_Masden]

wabrian:

We are still actively working on this new action and will try to integrate that in the coming weeks.

Thank you for your work on this important feature. I have no understanding of the complexities and difficulties involved in integrating a new feature like this with existing features but I hope it will be possible for those of you at AppSheet who are working on this to take this occasion to undertake a systematic review of the the relationship between the hamburger menu, which @tsuji_koichi mentioned, the native back button, and the new navigate back action.

In the past, I requested making it possible to disable the back arrow:

Disable back arrow Feature Requests

Unless I’m mistaken, we cannot disable to back arrow. On my app, there is at least one “detail” view where disabling of the back arrow would have the following advantages: Prevent or discourage the user from returning to the previous view, which would display data that has become outdated as a result of the user’s last action. Display the hamburger menu bars in the spot where the arrow would be, enabling easier navigation to other menus. If I am mistaken and it is already possible to do what…

One reason is that there are situations where the back arrow doesn’t make sense or might cause confusion. Another reason is that the display of the back arrow causes the hamburger menu to be hidden.

I welcome the new navigate back function but I’m concerned about looking for back arrows in the wrong place. If, for example, we could turn off the native back arrow and make our own back function appear in the top menu next to (not in place of) the hamburger menu, that would allow us to make a seamless and consistent interface for the user. Conversely, I can imagine situations where depending on the native back arrow, located in the upper left corner, in some situations and a separate action (displayed, for example, as an overlay action in Koichi’s gif) could cause confusion or an aesthetically diminished experience.

Thanks for your consideration.

[Josephine]

Well said, @Kirk_Masden & @tsuji_koichi - sometimes my users have to press the back arrow 4, 5 times to see the hamburger, or navigate to a new module along the bottom - neither of which are ideal.

[Koichi_Tsuji]

I used to see in options for actions ; Navigate to previous view action, but it is no longer on the list…
Wondering what is happening.

[Koichi_Tsuji]

I see now action is transformed to expression!!!
I see the reason why there is no longer in the options.

Now it is new deeplink expression in place?