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Create an applet

An applet is created from a task, then opened, edited, versioned and shared from Applets in the left rail.

Steps

  1. Go to Applets > New applet. A new task opens with “Make a new applet that ” already typed. In a workspace home you can also choose Build > App or Build > Dashboard.
  2. Finish the sentence. Say who uses it, what they do in it, and what it shows. For example:

    Make a new applet that lets the Harbor & Pine team log property viewings. Each viewing has an address, date, agent name, client name and a rating from 1 to 5. Show a table of this week’s viewings, sortable by date, and a count of viewings per agent.

  3. Send it. The agent may ask about details, or ask to use a connector. Answer in the thread.
  4. When it’s done, open the applet from the task or from Applets, and click Open to run it.

Open an applet

In Applets, your applet is listed with the others in your organization, such as the built-in Templates applet. Use the tabs All, Your applets and Shared with you, or search. The list may start on your current workspace; to see others, pick another workspace, or All workspaces, from the workspace menu in the list’s header.

Click an applet to run it in a pane beside the list. On a phone it opens full screen.

Changes made in an applet are saved if the applet has storage. The agent adds storage when the applet needs it.

Shared data

An applet’s shared data is the same for everyone who can open it, and each saved change records when it was made and by whom. An applet doesn’t refresh on its own when someone else changes something, unless it’s built to.

Edit an applet and manage versions

Every publish creates a new version. The first is “Initial version”, and each later one carries the agent’s summary of the change.

To edit an applet:

  1. On the applet’s Overview, click Edit in a task. Edit in a task is shown to people who manage the applet.
  2. Describe the change, such as “Add a filter by agent name”.

To see or restore a version:

  1. Click the version badge in the applet’s header, such as v2, to open Versions: “Every published build of this applet. Select one to see it running; restoring republishes it as a new version.” You can also open Versions from the … menu.
  2. To undo a change that broke something, select an earlier version and click Restore. The old build is published again as a new version, and the current version stays in history, so nothing is deleted. Only people who manage the applet can restore.

Share an applet

  1. Click Share in the applet’s header, or open its Access page and click Share there.
  2. Add people, agents or user groups.
  3. Under General access, choose who in the workspace or organization can open it. Viewer lets them open and run the applet; for example, everyone in Northwind Advisory can open the tracker as a viewer.

The roles you can pick depend on your organization’s permissions system. On organizations not on the newer system, they are Viewer and Admin: Admin can also configure it, manage access and delete it. The creator is the Owner.

The Overview shows whether the applet is personal, published to the workspace or published to the organization. To publish to the whole organization you need to manage the applet, and it must already be shared with a workspace.

Organizations on the newer permissions system: the roles are Viewer and Editor, and General access reads “Everyone in [workspace] can view”. To publish to the whole organization, share the applet with your organization under General access instead.

Best practices

  • Describe screens, not technology. “A table of this week’s viewings” is enough for the agent to build from.
  • Start with one screen and add features one at a time in the same task. A ten-screen app built in one go is hard to check.
  • Ask for refreshes when several people use it at once. Ask the agent to refresh the data every few seconds and show who changed it last, for example “Updated by Priya Raman · just now”.
  • Test with real data before you share. Entering a few rows yourself checks that the applet works.

Next steps