A more simple Snapshot picker is now available in the Data view. Opening the picker displays a table. The left-hand column indicates which action you used to open the view. The middle columns shows the available available snapshots (the actions in the current group as well as the Initial and Latest states). The right-hand side allows you to pick which snapshot you want to view.
The screenshot below has selected the snapshot after the “Automation” group action, which includes all the changes that the “Automation” group has given rise to. If the snapshot location is moved a single step upwards, it would show a snapshot just before the Automation group.
The right-hand column includes two lanes: the view lane (left) and the compare lane (right). Selecting snapshots from the compare lane allows for comparing two snapshots against each other.
In the screenshot below, we compare the snapshot before the “Automation” group and after the “Automation” group. We can see that the accountNumberAsInteger field has changed from a value of null to a value of 1001.
Each type of data view includes a companion comparison view: in this case we are looking at the JSON UI. You can toggle between a Merged view, which shows how the data changes between the start and the end point overlaid on top of each other in a single view. The Side-by-side view, in turn, shows the earlier snapshot on one side, and the later snapshot on the other side. The screenshot above shows an example of the Merged view, while the screenshot below shows a Side-by-side view of the same comparison.
Alongside Nested data, you can now access References and Queries from the Data menu for all data types. Most data usually references data that is not directly a part of the current data model, but that still may contain related information. References are direct links to data based on a particular field, and always return either a single data object or a null value. Queries are a more powerful alternative that allows for finding a particular set of data (one, many, or zero) based on a set of filter conditions.
In the screenshot below, the user can access referenced Company data, or query Invoice data. We can also access the Company via a query, if we are so inclined.
For everyday use, there is seldom a difference between accessing data via a Reference or a Query. The main differences are: 1) queries can return many data rows, while references always return (at most) a single data row, and 2) references are more quick by default.
Alongside Nested data and Queries, you can now also access References in the Filter action. References are discussed in more detail in the section “Quick access to related data”. Selecting a Reference or a Query gives access to fields from the referenced data model.
For example, if we select the Company reference from the Ledger receipt, we can now create a filter condition based on a field in the Company model, such as the businessId.
The Add Action menu has been updated for improved usability. It now features a collapsible design, allowing less relevant packages to be collapsed by default to declutter the menu. You can easily open or collapse any section, and your choices will be remembered for your next visit. Additionally, to help new users, nested actions within each package are now clearly displayed, providing guidance on accessing more complex data and actions.
The Import actions feature that was introduced in an earlier update has been improved. Importing a group of actions will automatically also importing the filters from the target workflow config. This will generate a new Filter action the top of the imported group that contains these filter conditions. This is meant to streamline importing solutions from a sandbox into a production workflow, without having to manually recreate the filters for each group separately. If no filters are imported, or if this feature is toggled off, no Filter action will be generated.
Note that the workflow filters are not always fully exhaustive, meaning that you may want to modify them before completing the import wizard.
We are improving the user experience in building workflows by enabling users to see and access more information without leaving the workflow. The revised metrics menu, located at the bottom-left of the screenshot, now includes the following buttons for a quick-access data slide-over:
The previous default full-page data view can still be accessed through the 'Expanding Arrows' icon, located to the right of the 'X' icon (at the top-center of the screenshot).
Along with the current merged comparison view, which overlays changes from data points A and B, we're introducing a new side-by-side mode for comparing changes. This view is more suitable for comparing data with numerous changes and has the advantage of being interactive, unlike the merged view. The side-by-side view can be activated from the Comparison view menu located at the top of each data entity when in compare mode.
The default compare mode is still the merged mode.
We have streamlined the workflow navigation bar (which indicates your location within a workflow) and relocated it to the main navigation bar to conserve screen space in the workflow view.
In addition, each ‘/’ icon in the navigation bar is a drop-down menu that allows you to quickly jump to different parts of the workflow at that level. This feature is intended to make navigation within complex workflows easier and more efficient.
The highlighted section replaces the former data level icon (previously at the bottom right), indicating the data level of the current workflow group. This view can be minimized by hovering over the icon and clicking the '-' icon.
A new Data option has been added to the left sidebar. Clicking on this option will navigate the user to the Data page, which now includes a new Data sidebar. The Data sidebar provides a convenient way to view all data models, organized by component package. By default, the sidebar is hidden when accessing the Data view from a metric. However, you can toggle the visibility of the sidebar by clicking on the icon located to the right of the sidebar.
Along with small tweaks to the appearance of the Entity options menu, a new Advanced section has been added. The Advanced section provides the following capabilities:
Toggle the Also show metric name checkbox in the Update metric menu to display the metric name in the workflow.
We’ve been hard at work improving the performance of both reading and generating change operations. This is more of a behind-the-scenes update, but it should drastically improve generating change operations and paves the way for even more improvements in the future, including a periodically scheduled workflow for generating change operations.
Each action contains a set of ports that allow entities to enter and exit the action. Actions always have a single entry port and one or two exit ports. This update adds an Action Port Menu that displays information about the particular port, displays the latest action output that the action has generated, and allows for quick access to the action logs that have have been updated by that port. The port icon on the action is highlighted if the action has generated an output (See the blue port icons in the screenshot).
We have added a new Tutorial package (@accode/tutorial)
that contains a Tutorial action that allows for creating a tutorial directly inside of a workflow. The action can be configured to contain many distinct steps and various completion conditions. The Tutorial action works with any type of workflow.
We will work to add example tutorials (workflows, dashboards and data) to the Tutorial package for getting started with Accode, which can also be used as a starting point for creating your own tutorials.
A new widget - Embed - is added to the default widgets package. This widget allows for embedding content from other websites, such as presentations from Google Slides or spreadsheets from Google Sheets.
Press Ctrl + K to access the improved search/command pallette.
This modal allows you to navigate through workflows, dashboards, data and components, and allows you to perform a number of actions directly, such as creating a new workflow.
We have moved the Search (see above), Notifications and Add components navigation links to the top-left of the Sidebar. Our intention is to highlight these more, as our users felt that these options should be more prominently displayed in the user interface.
The various component editing views have been merged into a single modal/wizard, which includes a more detailed explanation and documentation for the various components and what they can be used for. This modal is accessible by opening the top-left Create menu, and selecting the Create a new component option.
Actions can now be imported from other workflows (or from another place in the same workflow). This menu can be accessed from the Paste action(s)... option in the Action Quickselect menu.
This is a maintenance release that adds a few convenience updates and bug fixes .
Learn more about building workflows or create an account and start building your own. You can also contact us to configure a custom package for your business.