Techblog: the new Form Designer is coming!
Major new release boosts user-friendliness Grexx Platform
Our development team is constantly striving to improve the Grexx Platform for our customers. Every three weeks, we make updates and enhancements to our platform to make it more user-friendly, intuitive and efficient. Additionally, we are continuously developing new features and solutions to keep our customers ahead of the game. In this tech blog, we want to take you behind the scenes of our development team and let you know about our latest update.
A highly anticipated update is on the horizon and will benefit all Grexx developers. The Form Designer has undergone a significant upgrade, greatly improving its usability and efficiency.
The Form Designer is one of the most frequently used features on the Grexx Platform, as almost every application includes a significant number of forms:
- It's clear why: forms are essential for manual data entry by end users, such as inputting customer information.
- Additionally, automated data entry can also be achieved through forms by integrating with external systems and applications.
- Forms can be used in various other ways, such as creating widgets to display organized customer data. In this case, the end user only sees a simplified view of the data while the backend is built from a form.
Essentially, the Form Designer is a critical component of the Grexx Platform.
Time for an update
The original Form Designer was created in 2014, which seems like ages ago in the fast-paced world of software development. While it delivered results at the time, we now look back on it with a sense of nostalgia. The version that most of our users are currently using is v2 from 2020, although we have made continuous updates since then. However, we recognised it could use some modernizing touches to keep up with current standards.
So, for the past few months, our development team has been hard at work on a brand new version. Our focus has been to make it more user-friendly and intuitive, with a seamless experience of what you see is what you get. And it worked!
What's new?
- Those familiar with the current Form Designer know that, while it functions adequately, it requires a lot of clicking and dragging to achieve desired results. However, this will no longer be an issue in the updated version, making form implementation significantly easier.
- You will have a clear view of your actions and can work with precise control down to the pixel. It is 100% WYSIWYG, meaning what you see on the screen is exactly what you will get in your final product.
- Functionality has become a lot more user-friendly. There is less need to drag and click through various options. Commonly used form features, (such as marking fields as hidden, mandatory, or read only) can now be added with just one click.
It is now a lot more intuitive. This is a welcomed change, especially for our less experienced citizen developers, but of course it will benefit everyone. The Form Designer is self-explanatory.
How does the migration work?
The new Form Designer has now been rolled out to our beta environment and will be available to all users starting June 12, 2024. In principle, as a Grexx Developer, you won't notice any of this: you will automatically see in Grexx Studio that the new editor is live. Nothing should need activating.
Our team is currently reviewing potential issues that may arise during the rollout and addressing them proactively. If there are any complications with your applications, the Grexx Platform will provide a solution so that your forms continue to work well. You will receive a notification about this migration and have the option to review and publish or adjust our fix if needed.
Just a little more patience until June 12th! Our team is already working on the next releases. In the coming period, we’ll continue to share with you the technical advancements, new features, and decisions we make. See you at the next Techblog!
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