Now what was the name of that action . . .?

[Kirk_Masden]

If you have lots of actions in your app it can be hard to remember what you called each one. Here’s a little trick to get the name of an action so that you can find it more easily in the editor:

If you “drag” your action inside the browser like this, you should be able to see the name, or at least the first part of it.

By the way, I hope that someday AppSheet will make it possible to download and/or search the text of all actions, expressions, etc. in a given app to help us figure out what’s what in an overgrown app. I’ve written about this here:

Better search capabilities within the AppSheet editing interface Feature Requests

As AppSheet has grown, it has become possible to develop apps in which columns, actions, and expressions interact in increasingly complex ways. The ability to build more complex apps is great but it can be very difficult to figure out what is connected to what when one returns to an app after some time has passed. We can use our browser’s search function in some contexts to solve such puzzles but the current search function is extremely limited. So, here’s my proposal: Add the capability to …

[Grant_Stead]

Wow, I better be careful what I name things…
“Stupid button that Jimbo wants”
“Sara is too lazy to click two buttons”
And
“Billy has to have a smiley face check mark”
All have to go… LoL

[Kirk_Masden]

I hadn’t thought of it that way. I don’t think this works on phones (haven’t tried it, though) but if someone is using an app on a computer browser, they can probably do the same thing.

[Lynn]

No doesn’t work on my phone

[Swoopy]

[Kirk_Masden]

Footnote:

I was wrong about the lack of a way to search for this kind of information:

Searching the whole App Tips & Tricks 💡

If you like to know where in the App you are using a column, you can use the App Documentation. [image] In this you can search for text. For example. You have created a Virtual column and you think you could delete it. But … perhaps you have used it in a workflow rule? Or in a format rule? Simply search for the column in the App Documentation to find out where it is used.

[peterdykstra]

Regarding ‘searching the text…’, have you tried going to Info > Properties > App Documentation and downloading the documentation page?

Look for “The documentation page for this app is available here.”

[Kirk_Masden]

Thanks @Peter! Yes, that’s what @Fabian has pointed out to us.

[peterdykstra]

Oops, missed that reply, nice!

[Lucinda_Mason]

Thanks. I never knew that existed.

[Kirk_Masden]

Hi @Lucinda_Mason! This new feature may be of interest to you too:

Searching the whole App Tips & Tricks 💡

Search has been improved. Please see the following report from @Jamie: This won’t eliminate the need to refer to “App Documentation” in all situations, but in many cases it should be quicker and easier. Dear AppSheet people: Thank you Since you’ve added this great feature, why not announce it? I haven’t seen anything on the “What’s new” page.

[Lucinda_Mason]

Thanks.

[Kirk_Masden]

The editor has improved in many ways recently. Unfortunately, mostly positive changes in the editor have made this tip obsolete and there isn’t a workaround that I know of that works for all actions. With inline actions, you can copy the text of the line and the action name will come with it when you paste it. For other actions, however, you just have to figure it out some other way. So, I made a request for a right click to copy the action name:

Right click for action name Feature Requests

It used to be possible to drag an action in the editor to find out what its name is: https://community.appsheet.com/t/now-what-was-the-name-of-that-action/17864 That trick, however, is no longer works. If it’s an inline action, you can copy the text for the app’s page and then, when you paste it, you’ll have the action name. That doesn’t seem to be possible, however, with overlay or “display prominently” actions. It would be very nice to be able to copy the name of the the action in the edit…

[Kirk_Masden]

This tip, which no longer works due to changes in the AppSheet interface, has been replaced by the following one:

Find names of inline actions Tips & Tricks 💡

I have an app with lots of inline actions and, when I need to go back and re-edit or fix something, I’m often unable to remember the name I gave the action so I can find it quickly in the editor. Here’s a simple way to do that with line actions: [Line_action_name2.2021-04-12 11_15_07] All I’m doing here is copying the text around the line action (it may be difficult to select only the action), pasting the text into a text editor, and then identifying the action name that got copied with the …