In this article, we will start to look at the planning and implementation required to get a Claris platform solution up and running. We will start from scratch — nothing built yet, so nothing to consider in terms of “fitting in” to existing solutions.

Start with a Use Case

For any solution, it is important to start from the use case, and specifically from the desired outcomes. The platform on which the solution is built is largely (and importantly) irrelevant at this stage.

Abraham Maslow wrote in 1966, “If the only tool you have is a hammer, it is tempting to treat everything as if it were a nail.” If you start with the platform (tool), you may build the solution around the features (and limitations) of that platform. Better to fully investigate what is your problem and possible solutions to that problem. Then choose the best tool for the job.

This is a Claris platform article so we are going to build this on the Claris platform. But it is important to note that this is not the only platform that we might consider for every solution.

So, what problem are we looking to solve? We need to consider:

• what are we doing now?
• what problems or issues is it causing?
• what are the suggested improvements?
• what would be the best outcomes that we could expect?

Arbor Tree Care Services

Our (invented) business is Arbor Tree Care Services. We offer a range of tree services including:

• tree removal
• stump grinding
• mulching
• tree pruning and shaping
• emergency works

Our small business has a web site that we use to promote our services. Visitors can see the sort of work we do, our qualifications and examples of projects we have completed.

We have the standard “Contact Us” web form where prospects can enter their contact information and some details about what work they would like us to do.

What are the problems?

We get a lot of people filling out the contact form and it does generate enquiries and work for us. However, there are some specific issues this form presents:

• lack of detail about work requirements — free text is not getting the details we need
• too much information required — e.g. we don’t need a full address on enquiry (just a location)
• submitted forms go to a general email address and have to be forwarded to managers
• some enquiries are not being followed up, some are being followed up twice
• we have no way analyse the submissions — types of jobs, locations, how they heard, jobs generated

Ultimately, an enquiry would proceed to a job schedule and then invoicing. We have processes in place but the original enquiries are a manual feed. This also includes phone and direct email enquiries.

We estimate that the current structure and processes cost us:

• 3–4 jobs lost per week (i.e. up to 200 jobs a year)
• 2–3 hours per manager per week in inefficient processes (i.e. up to 3 weeks per manager per year)
• lack of data on submissions that could better inform our marketing

What would be a great solution?

This whole area of how we get new work is obviously key to our business success. We feel that our web site clearly outlines what we do and the benefits of each service. We present as a very professional operation with a wealth of experience. But we are falling down in our responses to customer enquiries.

The Web Form

The web form works for us and needs to be there on the web site. But we are not in any way committed to the way it currently works — that was just the thing the web platform gave us. It would also be interesting to look at other ways that people can get to the form.

We feel that the form needs to be better structured and targeted for the prospect. We need to hit the “Goldilocks zone” for submissions — enough information for the right person to contact the prospect knowing what they want, but not too much that the prospect sees it taking too long to fill out the form. We need to provide quick ways for them to provide information e.g check boxes or pop-up selections.

Specific things we need to know:

• contact name
• preferred contact method — phone or email
• location of the work
• type of work required — with other details for specific work (e.g. tree height/girth for tree felling)
• suggested time frame for work (e.g. emergency, this week, next month…)
• any relevant comments (with examples e.g. site access, known issues)
• how they found us

Processes

It would be great if we had an immediate and automated way to:

• know someone had submitted a form
• notify the right people
• let everyone know when a response is made
• if the submission results in a job, it moves through to that system
• link with other direct enquiries by email and phone

Best Outcomes

If this works, we would see:

• enquiries being dealt with within one business day (max)
• all enquiries being dealt with
• simple process for prospect submissions
• simple process for staff to process, respond and move to scheduling

If the costs outlined above are realised, a great solution would likely:

• increase company revenue by $400,000
• decrease manager workloads allowing for more time in the field
• improve customer responses and staff job satisfaction

Next Steps

Our next steps are to investigate what tools are available to produce the desired outcomes. In doing this research, we may also find other things that are easy to implement that will further improve the processes. But we must remember to retain the focus on our problem and get that solved as a priority.

In our next article, we will look at the Claris platform to see what it can offer Arbor Tree Care Services.

Stay tuned! Make sure you never miss a post by following uLearnIT on Medium and subscribing to our articles by email.

Claris Platform: Use Case Planning was originally published in Discover the Claris platform on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

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If you are in any way connected with the world of Claris, you will have heard about the new Claris platform. With a soft release in September 2022, things have been progressing in all products across the platform. If you want to catch up, have a read of our previous article “Introducing the Claris platform” and a curated pathway on the Claris Community.

Now we are six months down the track, many people are asking whether they should switch from the FileMaker platform to the Claris platform? What are the advantages of the new Claris platform? Are there any downsides? In this article, we will lay out the current (March 2023) landscape. As updates occur in the coming months, we will post them here.

Defining the Switchers

To be clear, we are looking at existing FileMaker customers with solutions that may have been in use and development for anything from one to thirty years. These solutions will likely be well entrenched within the organisation and, more often than not, are critical to the business operations. This has implications for business continuity when transitioning to the new platform.

Let’s look at three model FileMaker customers to consider their options:

• Able Finances — a small finance business with 20 staff
• Beet Growers — a farm cooperative with 5 office staff and 30 farm hands
• Car Mates — a web based business for connecting people to share car trips

Able Finances have their FileMaker solution hosted with FileMaker Cloud in the Sydney (Australia) Data Centre. In the office, staff use FileMaker Pro to work with the solution. Externally, clients use FileMaker WebDirect to submit enquiries and check their accounts. There are various APIs used to connect the FileMaker solution to external services. They currently have an annual volume license (AVLA) for 15 concurrent users.

Beet Growers have their solution hosted on premise on a FileMaker Server. In the office, they use FileMaker Pro. In the field, they use iPad devices with FileMaker Go installed. The FileMaker solution uses a number of plug-ins. They currently have an AVLA for 5 users – only the office staff use FileMaker.

Car Mates have a comprehensive web site used by customers to register rides and connect with people to share their ride. Their FileMaker solution is hosted on a FileMaker Server with a hosting company. They use FileMaker Pro to access the solution which connects live to the backend MySQL database that runs their web site. They also use Claris Connect for connecting to various apps such as their Xero accounting system, SurveyMonkey and Slack. They currently have an AVLA for 10 users and a Claris Connect license.

Licensing Options

Let’s look first at what licensing options are available for our switchers. The upgrade cost will depend on their current licensing and, of course, where in the world they are based. With different currencies and prices across the globe, we will deal with pricing in percentages rather than actual dollars.

There are currently two licensing options:

• Claris Platform Bundle
• Claris Problem Solvers Circle (“PSC”)

Existing FileMaker licensees can change their licensing to either program. There may also be options for customers with expired licenses — check with your Claris Partner developer or direct with Claris.

Both options include:

• Claris FileMaker — Pro, Go, Server, FileMaker WebDirect
• Claris Pro — Pro, Go, Server, Claris WebDirect
• Claris Studio
• Claris Connect — Standard license

Essentially, the Platform Bundle is an annual volume license. You nominate the number of users required, starting with a minimum of five (5). The Platform Bundle is priced at +25% of your existing license cost. This can be locked in for up to three (3) years.

The PSC is an annual site license — it covers you for your entire organisation (employees, contractors and consultants) plus unrestricted anonymous users. The PSC is priced at +45% of your existing license cost. As above, the PSC can be locked in for up to three (3) years.

The best value with the PSC comes for licensees moving from an annual volume license — the site license means you do not need to think about how many licensed users you have; and you can expand usage to everyone for any solution you develop.

If you already have a site license, 45% additional may be a significant cost for access to the new Claris platform. There does not seem to be a cost effective way for an organisation with a site license to move to the Claris platform.

Claris have discussed the value of the PSC to both customers and to Claris. For customers, it allows licensees to upgrade to a site license and expand their use of Claris solutions across their organisation; for Claris, they are banking on the additional value being realised and maintained into the future.

Neither of the licensing options above includes a Claris Cloud option — FileMaker Cloud or Claris Cloud (when available). There is an option for Cloud with the PSC for +55%.

Reasons to Switch

Let’s start with the upside. What will our switchers benefit from with their new licensing?

FileMaker stays

It is important that you will still have access to all FileMaker products included in their licensing. These are still being developed and improved by Claris. An organisation will want to keep their existing installations in place while the new infrastructure is set up and the solutions converted and tested.

There will come a time when the FileMaker platform is retired — the Claris platform will be your only option. But not right now.

Claris Pro development

Developing solutions in Claris Pro is the same as in FileMaker Pro (see our article). This is a definite upside because all your FileMaker development skills still apply. Nothing new to learn there.

If you have external connections through APIs or use ESS connections to SQL databases, these will all still work. Obviously, they will need to be tested but the technology and processes are the same in Claris Pro.

Integrated product

The products of the Claris platform work seamlessly together united with a Claris ID for access. This makes it easy to link a Claris Studio table to your Claris Pro solution for access to data. And users can easily open Claris Connect to create new flows.

Claris Connect

If you do not already have a Claris Connect license, you do now! Start looking at what connectors are available and what flows can be created. This all works with the FileMaker platform, so you may be able to get a head start there.

The question is what happens to an existing Claris Connect license? Can you move any existing flows across to what will be a new license? Yes — Claris have a manual process to assign an existing Claris Connect to the offer. Make sure this is done at the time of taking up either licensing option.

Claris Studio

Start looking at what Claris Studio offers and how it might be useful to your organisation. Read our article “Claris platform: Introducing Claris Studio” for an overview, and many other articles about Claris Studio views and more. You will not be able to easily connect the data from Claris Studio to any FileMaker solutions but you may find standalone use cases to get started.

Claris Studio is an addition to the Claris platform that will fill a lot of gaps currently filled with third party additions. There is a lot to know about the various views available in Claris Studio. There will be many use cases for web forms, dashboards and kanban boards. Learn more through our articles.

Freemium is coming

With the new Claris platform will come (soon?) a great new way to dip your toes in the water. The freemium offering is more directed at new users to the platform but it will be useful for existing license holders wanting to test Claris solutions. Access to the entire Claris platform for two users is available under a Claris Free license. Some feature and deployment limitations apply. You can sign up to be notified when it is released.

It is Claris

Never underestimate the importance of the history and longevity of the company behind this Claris platform. Claris is a wholly Apple owned company that has been around for over 30 years. There are not that many software companies that can make those claims.

What’s the Catch?

We are not being negative here — just realistic about the potential costs to your organisation of moving to the Claris platform. Costs will not be just money — as above, your licensing will cost more. Costs also include time spent by you and your users. This includes time to:

• set up Claris IDs
• convert files, reset security and test functionality
• setup and configure a Linux server, and install and configure software
• learn how to use Claris Studio and Claris Connect

While you are not switching to completely new software, FileMaker and Claris are not the same. And in many cases that is a good thing that will just keep getting better.

Burn the boats

When you finally make the move to the Claris platform, there is no going back. You will have converted your .fmp12 files to .claris format — there is no backwards conversion. While it is true that you still have the FileMaker copies, any new development you do will be in the Claris files. This means that your converted Claris solution will need to be fully tested before making the final move.

There is no direct connection possible between FileMaker and Claris products (with the exception of Claris Connect). For example, FileMaker Pro cannot see Claris Server; Claris Pro cannot open .fmp12 files; FileMaker Pro cannot access Claris Studio tables. This means that all your users will need to move to the Claris platform.

The exception would be if you were migrating, testing and commissioning solutions separately. In that case, users may need to use FileMaker Pro for some solutions and Claris Pro for others. FileMaker Pro and Claris Pro can coexist on the same machine.

Everyone gets a Claris ID

All your users will need a Claris ID to connect to your Claris solutions and Claris Studio. While this is not complex, it is something that may take time. Anyone can get a free Claris ID — simply go to my.claris.com and provide the required details. However, the license manager can invite users to the Claris Team using their email address. New users will get an email with a join link to create their Claris ID.

The only exceptions to the requirement for a Claris ID are:

• users accessing public links for Claris Studio web forms
• anonymous WebDirect access with a site license (PSC)

Security

Each of your Claris Pro files will need to be set up with all the Claris IDs of your users. This is a reasonably simple process of creating a new account, entering the email address and assigning a privilege set. While you can use the Default account with a privilege set applied for anyone with a Claris ID to access the file, this is not recommended.

Creating Claris ID accounts is quite quick if you only have one file. A longer process for multi-file solutions. All could be made easier if Claris reinstated the Accounts script steps in Claris Pro. Please?

The requirement for Claris ID authentication means there is currently no offline access for Claris solutions. This may present issues for certain organisations.

The downside is that Claris ID is currently the only option for access. There are no other external authentication options such as Active Directory, Open Directory or OAuth providers. This is a high priority for Claris and will likely change sooner than later.

SOC 2® Type 2 reporting for security, availability, and confidentiality, and ISO certifications for information security management (ISO/ IEC 27001) and personal data in the cloud (ISO/IEC 27018) are in the planning stages for the Claris platform.

External Links

Claris files currently have no access via OBDC or JDBC clients. There is also no custom web publishing via PHP. There is still access via OData and REST access via the Claris Data API.

Claris Server

Claris Server is only available for install on Ubuntu 20.04 (Linux) — not macOS or Windows. This will likely necessitate new hardware. The installation is not exactly simple. If you have never used a Linux server, it is a whole new operating system to learn about. Claris have produced a white paper for download — Running Claris Server on Ubuntu Linux — an essential read.

Installing on Linux servers may be a positive where you use an external hosting provider (or even in house) — Linux servers are typically cheaper than Windows servers. The paper referred to above lists a number of other benefits of Linux.

Claris Cloud

Claris Cloud is marked all over the Claris web site as “Coming Soon”.

Claris Studio

Claris Studio is a new product for Claris. It is very functional and can fill a lot of gaps very easily with a no code web platform. However, being such a new product there are a lot of things missing when comparing it to more mature competitors. For example, if you already use some sort of web form, you will quickly see where Claris Studio Forms fall short.

Also due to its short life, there are a number of bugs and unexpected behaviours in Claris Studio. Hopefully these can get fixed quickly with the new agile development methodology and release cycle.

The big downside for Claris Studio is the hosting — currently only in one data centre in the USA. There are more coming online “soon” for Frankfurt and Tokyo. But that will not help us in Australia. There was a promise from Claris that they will be faster to open worldwide data centres than was the experience with FileMaker Cloud. Hoping this is true.

There is also a verbal commitment from Claris that any customers who are early adopters will be automatically moved to a data centre closer to their location when available. Currently seeking confirmation of this in writing.

What About Our Switchers?

So how does this all play out for our switchers? We need to consider whether they will still be able to do what they do in FileMaker, and what licensing option is best for them.

Able Finances

They will immediately have issues with cloud hosting. There is no Claris Cloud yet, let alone a data centre in their region. They could try moving to a third party Claris host, or they could try an on premise server but they will need new hardware and possibly external support for installation and configuration.

For their clients submitting enquiries, it may be possible for them to quickly create an equivalent web form with Claris Studio. However, for clients checking their accounts, Claris Studio is not able to send a response to a web form submission. They may be able to set up a Claris Connect flow that sends the response as an email. It may be best for them to get PSC licensing to continue with anonymous WebDirect usage.

There should be no issue with using their existing API configurations.

Conclusion: while Able Finances could switch to the new Claris platform, they will likely not see any huge benefits for the effort and cost required.

Beet Growers

They will need to set up a new Linux server with Claris Server on premise. iPad devices will be able to run Claris Go. They need to investigate Claris platform compatibility of the plug-ins they use with the various vendors. Claris Studio may present some opportunities for them in creating Dashboards to better visualise their data; they could also use some web forms for farm contractors (sign on/off, and job completions). They will probably get Platform Bundle licensing but if they wanted to extend Claris Pro solutions to their farm hands, getting the PSC licensing would be cost effective.

Conclusion: they may see some benefit investigating possibilities with Claris Studio — get a Platform Bundle to start.

Car Mates

They will need to check whether their hosting company offers Claris Server hosting on Linux (hopefully at a cheaper rate). Their Claris solutions will still be able to access MySQL. And since they already use Claris Connect, that should be easy to transition to their new license. They will probably get Platform Bundle licensing (without separate Claris Connect licensing).

Conclusion: the Platform Bundle will give them a chance to explore the new Claris Platform to see if any current or planned projects could benefit. They may find that it is easy enough to move their existing FileMaker solutions to Claris.

To Switch or Not To Switch?

Eventually, all FileMaker users will need to switch to the new Claris platform. That will take time for planning, testing and moving. Right now, it is prudent to tally the cost of moving — time, learning, hardware and licensing. That will be weighed against the current perceived benefits of the new Claris platform.

If there are no showstoppers, you need some solid use cases and benefits to justify the costs. If you can see some possible uses for Claris Studio, then you can investigate and develop independently from your existing FileMaker solutions. If the benefits are not currently there, you can safely maintain the status quo and check back with the Claris platform in 6–12 months.

What About You?

If you have experience investigating your possible (or actual) switch, feel free to comment below. If you have questions, either post below or email us privately.

Claris Platform: Making The Switch was originally published in Discover the Claris platform on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

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When you create a new file with Claris Pro, it will naturally have the .claris extension. This article is for existing FileMaker Pro users who are switching to the new Claris Pro. Any existing .fmp12 files will need to be converted before they can be opened with Claris Pro.

Conversion Basics

Converting a single .fmp12 file to .claris is simple. Make sure the file is closed. Then, either:

• open Claris Pro and then File > Open… and select the .fmp12 file, or
• drag the .fmp12 file onto the Claris Pro application icon to open it.

Claris Pro recognises the .fmp12 format and prompts you to start the conversion process:

The dialog notes that the new file will only be compatible with the Claris platform. This is important. A .claris file cannot be opened with FileMaker Pro or hosted on FileMaker Server. This is a one-way conversion — no going back.

However, there is one saving grace — the conversion process leaves the original .fmp12 file intact. So it is conceivable (and recommended) that you use the converted file for testing in Claris Pro to ensure that it functions exactly as in FileMaker Pro. If the testing fails in any way, you can continue to use the old file with the FileMaker platform.

Although you can rename the old file, there is no need because the file is left intact after conversion — the converted file is a copy.

Click OK to convert the database file. You will be prompted to name the file and choose a location to save. Again, there is no need to rename the new file as it will have a .claris extension.

The conversion proceeds and you are prompted to open the file using a [Full Access] account from the original file. If you do not enter a [Full Access] account, the conversion will be aborted with insufficient privileges.

There are apparently nine (9) steps in the File Format Conversion starting with copying the source file. The conversion log provides some insight into the process:

There are two major parts to the conversion:

• updating file references to .claris (in data sources, scripts and buttons)
• creating Claris ID accounts

The conversion log may contain error messages requiring your attention in the converted files before testing them further.

As you can see from the above, conversion is very quick for a small file. Even converting a large file (2.5GB) with 70 tables, 530 layouts and 410 scripts took only 20 seconds!

Converting Multiple Files

If you have a multi-file solution, you can drag multiple selected files or a folder containing multiple files, onto the Claris Pro application icon. This results in a different conversion dialog with options:

You will likely choose the first option to “Open all files and convett when necessary.” It is advised to create a new folder as a location top save the converted files.

What Changed?

The new file with a .claris extension is functionally the same as the old file. But there are some updates to the file.

Security

There will be just two accounts in the new file (regardless of how many there were in the original .fmp12 file). Both accounts authenticate via Claris ID as this is currently the only method available in Claris Pro.

The first account has the [Full Access] Privilege Set for the Claris ID that you were logged into Claris Pro with at the time of conversion.

The second account is named [Default]. It will have the Privilege Set and the Active status previously assigned to the [Guest] account. If the [Default] account is active, any Claris ID user can open the file and will use the Privilege Set assigned to that account.

No other accounts are shown in the accounts list of Manage Security. However, in Privilege Sets (Advanced Settings…) you will see listed all the old accounts against each Privilege Set. For some reason these accounts have been hidden but not removed — they cannot be used to access the new file in Claris Pro.

So you will probably want to add other users to have access to your converted file. To do this, you need to know their Claris ID account name (an email address). As with previous FileMaker accounts, you can assign each Claris ID to a specific Privilege Set.

Unfortunately, Claris has removed (hopefully temporarily), the Accounts script steps from Claris Pro. This means that you cannot script a process to add new accounts. You will need to add Claris IDs one by one.

As you can see above, all the Privilege Sets from the old file are carried across. The structure of a Privilege Set in Claris Pro is essentially unchanged from FileMaker Pro, except for the Extended Privileges.

There are three Extended Privileges that have been removed (marked in the screenshot comparison below). These are mainly due to the lack of connectivity in Claris Pro for ODBC/JDBC and PHP.

If any of the remaining Extended Privileges were assigned to Privilege Sets in the old file, this will be carried through to the new file.

Interestingly, the Extended privileges that remain are still prefixed by “fm” — referring to their FileMaker legacy.

File Access has not changed.

File Options

There is also a change in the File > File Options… dialog. The options available in the Open tab are reduced in Claris Pro.

The minimum allowable version is in line with the new version numbering for Claris Pro — 40.0. When opening the file in Claris Pro, there are now no options for:

• Log in using [account] — in Claris Pro, the file is opened with the current logged in Claris ID
• Keychain Access (macOS) or Credential Manager (Windows) to save password — not required with Claris ID
• Show sign-in fields even when OAuth or AD FS is enabled — only Claris ID is currently available for authentication

All other tabs in File Options are the same.

File References

As noted in the conversion log, file references are updated.

In Manage External Data Sources, any files with a .fmp12 extension have that extension removed. This implies the .claris extension for connections from the converted file. If a file of that name with the .claris extension is not found when needed, you will be asked to locate it. If you choose a .fmp12 file, you will be prompted to convert the file first.

What Might Go Wrong?

With great credit to the Claris engineers, it is very unlikely that anything will go wrong with the actual file conversion. It is the testing where you may discover some unexpected behaviour in the new Claris platform.

As noted in a previous article, Claris platform: Developing with Claris Pro, there are some differences in the Claris Pro app that you should be aware of. Some of the current features missing in Claris Pro are show stoppers for those wanting to move to the new Claris platform. Claris Product Managers are very much aware of these and are working to level the playing field between FileMaker and Claris. Stay tuned!

Claris Pro: File Conversion was originally published in Discover the Claris platform on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

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To be technically correct, the view is called List View. Not sure why this is the only View that has the word ‘View’ in it! That makes it a List View View.

List is the newest of the current set of Views available in Claris Studio. We have covered the other types of Views in previous articles:

• Spreadsheet
• Form
• Dashboard
• Kanban
• List-Detail

When working with a table in Claris Studio, you will likely need a combination of Views to manage the data effectively. Also remember that for each Table, you can have more than one View of any type.

What is a List View?

A List View in Claris Studio is a grouped view of records in a table. When creating a List View, a field that requires an exclusive choice (Single Choice or Drop-down) is selected to define the groups. Records are grouped according to the data in that field.

It is important to note that it is not possible to change the field selected for grouping. However, you can create a new List View grouped on another field.

The List View displays a Group for each available choice. There is also a group for Ungrouped Items — records where the field is empty.

Create New List View

There are two ways to create a List View:

• using the Create New View button when looking at all Views
• from an existing Spreadsheet or Form View

Create New View

When using the Create New View button, List is one of the choices. This will create a brand new Table for the data underlying the List View. You do not have an option to select an existing Table. Claris Studio creates a new Table with six fields — Item, Group, Status, Priority, Person and Date. If this is not what you want, you can open the Sidebar and edit or delete the fields.

The Group field is used to group the records. There are no records in the new Table. The Group, Status and Priority fields are all Drop-down with the following options:

• Group — Group Name 1, Group Name 2
• Status — To Do, In Progress, Done
• Priority — High, Medium, Low

This is the only View for the new Table. You can create other Views, beginning with a Spreadsheet View, when looking at all Views. In Spreadsheet View you can edit the options for each Drop-down field. Edit the field using the column header menu, then edit the items in the Custom List.

There is an interesting bug with a new List View created in this way. While you can create a new Spreadsheet View for the table, if you create a new List View from the Spreadsheet View, you will not be given a choice of which field to use for grouping (it always uses the Group field).

Workaround: delete the Group field from the table. When you do this, a new List View provides the choice of Status and Priority fields for grouping; the existing List View (based on the now deleted Group field) will ask you to select a grouping field when next opened.

Create from Spreadsheet or Form

If you have an existing Table with a Spreadsheet or Form View, you can create a List View for it. Do this when looking at all Views.

This is likely to be the more efficient way to create a List View. You will begin with the fields you need in the Table and you either select or create a single choice field to be used for grouping.

Edit List View

The List View can be edited directly (in Views) or via a Hub. The only option not available when accessing via a Hub is the ability to create and edit Quick Filters.

The top of the View consists of:

• All Views icon (four squares) — navigate back to all Views
• View name — edit directly (shown as List View 3 below)
• + Add New Group — add a new option to the selected grouping field (and therefore a new group); also used to restore archived groups (see below)
• Quick Filters — with chevron icon on right to view and edit Quick Filters

Quick Filters

Quick Filters appear as named buttons at the top of the View for all users. When looking at the View directly (not via a Hub), Quick Filters can be edited using the chevron button at the right.

Each Quick Filter is given a custom name that should reflect the purpose of the filter applied. This custom name appears on a Quick Filter button. The three buttons at the right of each Quick Filter are Edit, Delete and Reorder. Drag the Reorder button up and down to change the order of the buttons.

When editing a Quick Filter you choose a field, an operator appropriate to the field type, and an option. You can apply multiple criteria to each quick filter — their effect is a logical AND where all must be true for a record to be displayed.

Quick Filter buttons are exclusive toggle switches — click to apply, click to turn off. Only one Quick Filter button can be applied at once. When applied, all records matching the Quick Filter conditions are displayed in each group; other records are hidden.

Beware of a bug also mentioned with List-Detail Views — if a Quick Filter is applied, new records will not be displayed if they do not match the Quick Filter. So you may inadvertently create a lot of new records! Make sure all Quick Filters are turned off before creating new records.

Groups

As mentioned above, the List View will initially display one group for each option defined for the single choice field plus a group for Ungrouped items.

Each group can be expanded or collapsed using the chevron icon at the top left of the group.

Each group has a name (large bold text). The group name is initially set as the option for the grouping field. However, it can be changed for any group by clicking and directly editing.

Below the group name is the name of the grouping field (e.g. Stage) and the option for the group (e.g. Preliminaries).

At the right of each group is a meatballs icon with the option to Archive Group. This will hide the group and all its records in this List View. It does not affect the display of the records in any other Views. To restore an archived group, click the + Add New Group button. Here you can select any archived group as well as adding a new group.

Groups are initially displayed in the order of the options defined for the grouping field. Groups can be manually reordered by dragging the group header up or down (four headed arrow).

In any group, records may be edited as you would in a Spreadsheet View. Edit directly in each field or click the expand icon (box with two arrows) when mousing over the row number. The row number column also provides an icon to drag and reorder records in a group, and a box to select a record.

The + button in the last row of the group allows you to add a new record that auto-enters the option for the grouping field.

The column header menu provides the similar options to that in Spreadsheet View:

• Edit field
• Insert Column Left/Right
• Delete Column
• Freeze Column
• Hide Column
• Show Column

There is also a + button at the right end of the displayed columns to add a new Column to the Table.

Records can be dragged between groups, thereby automatically updating the data in the grouping field. Drag a single record or select multiple records to drag. Alternatively, you can right click a record or selected records, and choose Move To…. This context menu also contains Duplicate and Delete commands.

Conclusion

List View is an interesting way to keep track of records in custom groups. It is similar to Kanban View in that respect, but also similar to Spreadsheet View for display and editing of records.

Claris Studio: List View was originally published in Discover the Claris platform on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

View the full article

The interface is made up of a master list and a detail area. When an item is selected in the list, the details are displayed in the detail area. The list usually displays key data about each item; the detail shows more data for the selected item.

The list and detail are commonly displayed side by side (as shown above). When there is less room, such as on a mobile device, a stacked approach displays the list by default. When an item is clicked or tapped, the view changes to detail for that item. A back button returns to the list.

List-Detail View

It is important to note that you can only work with data in List-Detail via a Hub. While other views such as Spreadsheet and Kanban can also be used in the actual View itself, List-Detail is more like Form View. Edit the view structure in Views; view and edit the data in Hubs.

Before we look at creating a List-Detail View, let’s take a look at a completed example. The following is a screenshot of a List-Detail View of Construction tasks.

The List-Detail View in Claris Studio has the list on the left and detail on the right. In the above example, the third record is selected in the list. The View has an optional header object (blue bar).

At the top of the List there are search, filter and sort tools. At the bottom of the List, the + Add button allows you to add a new record. If there are more records, the list is vertically scrollable. Navigate between records by:

• clicking them in the list,
• using the navigation chevron buttons at the lower right of the Detail, or
• using the up/left and down/right arrow keys on your keyboard.

The record Detail on the right of the View allows editing of the data.

Musings: Curiously, the List is horizontally scrollable but shows no further information. Unfortunately, the list pane is not resizeable. The View has a fixed maximum size regardless of the browser window size. These may be addressed in future updates.

Create New List-Detail View

There are two ways to create a List-Detail View:

• using the Create New View button when looking at all Views
• from an existing Spreadsheet View

Create New View

When using the Create New View button, List-Detail is one of the choices. This will create a brand new Table for the data underlying the List-Detail View. You do not have an option to select an existing Table. Claris Studio creates a new Table with four fields — First Name, Last Name, Email and Comments. If this is not what you want, you can open the Sidebar and edit or delete the fields.

This is the only View for the new Table. You can create other Views, beginning with a Spreadsheet View, when looking at all Views.

Create from Spreadsheet

If you have an existing Table with a Spreadsheet View, you can create an additional List-Detail View for it. Do this when looking at all Views.

This is likely to be the more efficient way to create a List-Detail View. You will begin with the fields you need in the Table and a Detail section with all fields which can easily be edited.

Edit List-Detail View

As mentioned above, when the List-Detail View is opened directly (not via a Hub), it can be edited. This allows you to set up the list and detail areas as needed.

The white toolbar at the top of screen has four tools:

• Sidebar — click to toggle the sidebar open and closed, showing Fields (in table)
• Go To — Views with Same Data (table) — click to go to a view (this is an update; the old screenshot above does not show this button)
• Add Object — show the Add Object panel used to drag and drop field and static objects onto the page. Panel can be pinned to remain open
• Preview — preview and test the List-Detail (data submitted while previewing is not saved); options to test for mobile (360 px), table (768 px) and laptop (1024 px)

The grey toolbar has four tools:

• four square icon — click to return to all Views
• View name — click to rename View
• cogwheel icon — Page Settings — theme colour and option to make all field objects on the Detail required
• meatballs icon — Delete Page — deletes the View

The Header displays large text by default. This can be edited directly in the header. When the header is active, there are two buttons at the right:

• cogwheel icon — Header Settings
• meatballs icon — Delete header object

The Header Settings allow you to control the header content.

• Header Position and Opacity are currently disabled for List-Detail Views
• The header Background can be a colour (set by the page theme) or an image.
• Add a Logo (choose image) and set to left or right of header
• Two text sections — Small Text and Large Text — show or hide, set alignment

The header also has an icon (two lines) in the middle of the bottom that allows you to adjust the height.

Edit List

The List area has a few edits available. The main settings are in the cogwheel icon of the first dummy record.

The List Title is optional. If displayed, it appears in a fixed position above the List records and can be edited directly.

The other four fields — Title, Subtitle, Description and Detail — allow you to choose a field to display in a fixed position for each List record. This displays key data to enable the user to distinguish between records. Only one field can be displayed per position and there are no formatting options available. You must show a field for the Title but all other fields are optional.

Since the List pane is not resizeable, the space available for each field in the list is limited. If there is more data in the field than can be displayed, it is abbreviated with an ellipsis (…).

• Title — approx 13 characters
• Subtitle — approx 15 characters
• Description — approx 15 characters
• Detail — approx 6 characters

If the selected field is empty for a record, the name of the field is displayed in place. Each of the fields has a hover tooltip showing the complete data from the field.

In addition, you can set Filter conditions and Sort rules. These can be reset by any user using the View.

Edit Detail

The Detail area can contain both Field Objects and Static Objects. These can be added via the Add Object tool. Adding a Field Object in this way will create a new Field in your Table. To add an existing field not currently in the Detail area, drag it from the Sidebar Fields list.

The Detail area is edited in much the same way as a Form page. Refer to our previous article Claris Studio: Edit Web Forms for details of the features and methods.

Using List-Detail View

As mentioned above, List-Detail Views only display data from the underlying table when viewed via a Hub. This applies to both Manager and Member users. When viewing via a Hub, none of the View editing tools are available.

Search, Filter and Sort

Initially all records will probably be displayed in the list. The list is scrollable but there is no indication of the record count. There are three tools at the top of the list — Search, Filter and Sort.

Search — enter text in the Search box to progressively reduce the number of matching records as each character is entered. The number of records in the list is reduced, matching the search. The search is applied to every field e.g. searching for steel searches for the string in every field in the table. The search is not case sensitive.

Something to watch out for — if you have a current search and click + Add to create a new record, you will probably not see the new record — it does not match the search. So you think it has not worked and click it again! And again! Until you realise you have been creating a lot of empty records.

Clear the search by deleting the string or by clicking the x in the search box.

Filter — works by adding conditions as in other views such as Spreadsheet view. Refer to our previous article Claris Studio: Spreadsheet View for details.

Note that Search and Filter are additive — you will see the intersection of both results. Search is good for a quick search of all fields; Filter is better for more specific searches of certain fields.

Sort — works by adding rules as in other views such as Spreadsheet view. Refer to our previous article Claris Studio: Spreadsheet View for details. The records in the list are sorted according to the rules entered. For example, you can sort people by Last Name and then First Name.

Work with Records

Working with records means all the CRUD operations — create, read, update and delete.

Create — this is simply done using the + Add button at the bottom of the List on the left. As mentioned above, be aware of the effects of any search or filters in action — you may not see your new record. Also be careful with sort rules in place — new records may be added at the start or end of the list and you may not land on your new record! (likely a bug)

Read — You can read a record in the Detail area on the right. Simply navigate to a record by clicking on it in the List, use the previous and next chevron buttons, or use your keyboard arrows.

Update — Update a record by entering a field in the Detail area. Depending on the field type, various options will be available.

Delete — delete a record in the List area. Select the record and click the meatballs icon in the top right of the list item.

Warning — there is no delete confirmation and no undo — the record immediately disappears! That is not very nice!

Conclusion

That’s about it. Yet another view of your data in Claris Studio. My current opinion is that this View seems unfinished — there are a few things that just don’t seem to be well thought through. I would like to see some significant updates for this view.

Claris Studio: List-Detail View was originally published in Discover the Claris platform on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

View the full article

What is Kanban?

Kanban is a Japanese word meaning “visual sign”. It originated as a scheduling system at Toyota to help with “just in time” (or Lean) manufacturing.

At the beginning of 2007, the Kanban Method became popular in areas like Research and Development, and software development.

Some people pronounce the word “can-ban” and others say “carn-barn”.

To manage a project, imagine a simple Kanban Board with three columns — To Do, In Progress and Done. Each column is a step in the workflow. Every task is entered on a separate Kanban card and placed in a column. Each task will start in the To Do column, move to In Progress and finish in Done. This is a visual way of tracking the scope of work required and how close the project is to completion.

One of the principles of Kanban is to limit work in progress (WIP). The Kanban board allows you to track the number of cards in that column and therefore limit the number according to capacity.

Create Kanban View

There are two ways to create a Kanban View:

• using the Create New View button when looking at all Views
• from an existing Spreadsheet View or Form View

Create New View

When using the Create New View button, Kanban is one of the choices. This will create a brand new Table for the data underlying the Kanban View. You do not have an option to select an existing Table.

The Kanban View created will be given a generic name such as Kanban 1. This can be edited directly in the toolbar. There are four columns — Not categorised, To Do, In Progress and Done. There are no cards.

The Kanban View created is the only View of the new Table. You can then create a Spreadsheet View from the Kanban View to aid in managing the data.

Create From Existing

If you have an existing Spreadsheet View or Form View for a Table, you can create a Kanban View for that Table.

Interestingly (or confusingly), you are able to select any Spreadsheet View from the Claris Studio instance as the Data Source for the new Kanban. The View used is automatically selected.

Kanban Columns must be based on a Single Choice field. If one or more of these fields exist in the Table, you can select the desired field. If none exist, or if you need, you can create a new Single Choice field on the fly.

Using Kanban View

Once you have created a Kanban View, it can be used to manage tasks.

The top bar in Kanban View contains the Sidebar button — used to open the sidebar with access to Views with the Same Data and Fields (from the current table).

The second (grey) bar contains the breadcrumb for navigation. The first button (four squares) goes back to All Views. The next is the name of the current View (in this case, Construction Kanban) — click to edit.

Tool Bar

The third bar down contains the majority of the tools for Kanban View. The high level view of each is listed here and we will go into more detail about each below.

• Board Settings
• Filter — add conditions to filter the list
• Sort — add a rule to sort rows
• Color — add a condition to mark rows with a
• Search — enter text to search all cards
• Columns — show, hide and reorder columns (choices from Single Choice field)
• Customize Card — fields to show on each card

Board Settings

Board Settings brings up the same settings as for Create Kanban Board (see above) but it is named Update Kanban Board. Although present, the Data Source (Spreadsheet View) cannot be changed. You can change the Single Choice field for defining columns, and the Kanban Card template (small, medium or large). Click Save to save changes.

Filter

You can reduce the number of cards displayed by applying filters. On first open, you see that the Records are not filtered with a button to Add Condition.

For a Condition, select a column, a comparison operator and (usually) specify an option.

The comparison operators are (depending on the field type):

• Is equal to, Is not equal to
• Is empty, Is not empty
• For text — Contains, Does not contain
• For numbers — Is greater than, Is greater than or equal to, Is less than, Is less than or equal to
• For dates and times — Is before, Is on or before, Is after, Is on or after, Is in the future, Is in the past

Further points to note:

• Can create multiple conditions.
• Choose if cards are displayed if all (logical AND) or any (logical OR) of the conditions are met.
• Choose to Keep Filtered — the filtered set will update as you add and edit row data, or turn off to not Filter but keep the conditions.
• Delete any condition (Trashcan icon), or Clear All.
• When Filter conditions are applied, the Filter button is highlighted.
• A column does not need to be displayed in the Spreadsheet View to be used in a Filter condition.

Sort

You can sort the cards displayed in each column by applying rules. On first open, you see that the Records are not sorted with a button to Add Rule.

For a Rule, select a field and a sort order.

The sort orders are as for Grouping:

• Drop-down, Checkboxes, Single Choice — First-Last / Last-First (by list order)
• Other fields — Ascending / Descending

Further points to note:

• Can create multiple rules — can be re-ordered for sort levels e.g. sort by Tag then Title
• Choose Keep Sorted to apply the rules continuously — when rules are applied, the Sort button and relevant columns are highlighted.
• If Keep Sorted is off, you retain the rules and can use the Sort Now button for a temporary sort.
• Delete any rule (Trashcan icon).
• A column does not need to be displayed to be used in a Sort Rule.

Color

You can mark cards that match a condition with a color swatch in the row number header. On first open, you see that there is No record color specified with a button to Add Condition.

For a Condition, select a column, a comparison operator and (usually) specify an option.

The comparison operators are (depending on the field type):

• Is equal to, Is not equal to
• Is empty, Is not empty
• For text — Contains, Does not contain
• For numbers — Is greater than, Is greater than or equal to, Is less than, Is less than or equal to
• For dates and times — Is before, Is on or before, Is after, Is on or after, Is in the future, Is in the past

Further points to note:

• Can create multiple conditions — can be re-ordered and deleted
• Each condition can contain multiple sub-conditions — can be set to show color if All or Any of the conditions are met
• If two conditions are true for a card, the first one wins and that color is displayed
• Can choose a color for each condition (two conditions can have the same color)
• Delete any condition or sub-condition (Trashcan icon)
• A column does not need to be displayed to be used in a Condition.

Search

The Search box allows for a ‘card content contains’ search of all visible data.

When the search is applied, cards containing the string will be highlighted. The number of found cards is shown in the search bar e.g. 1 of 4. There are chevron icons to jump between the cards containing the found instances. Use the x button to clear the search.

Columns

Toggle the control to show and hide columns in Kanban View. Columns are the choices defined for the Single Choice field selected. The Columns option also allows you to easily reorder the columns across the screen by dragging the reorder icon (three lines) up or down.

There is a button to Show All (if any columns are hidden) or Hide All (if all columns are shown).

Tip: If you want to show most of the columns, Show All then turn off the columns you want to hide; if you want to hide most of the columns, Hide All then turn on the columns you want to show.

If you have a lot of choices, there is a Find a column search tool to reduce the list. This works on a ‘choice contains’ rule e.g. a search for n will return the Not categorized, In Progress and Done choices.

Customize Card

This allows Field Mapping for the components of each card. A card may display the following components:

• Key — for small, medium, large cards
• Status — small, medium, large
• Title — small, medium, large
• Assignee — small, medium, large
• Date — medium, large
• References — medium, large
• Description — large
• Attachment — large

The Field Mapping list will display the components available for the Kanban Card Template selected in Board Settings as shown in the list above. There is no option to customise the display of components on cards — the position and font for each is determined by the Kanban Card Template.

Each of these components can be mapped to a field in the underlying Table. The field name does not have to match the component name — select whichever field contains the required data for each component.

Each component has the option to Show or Hide. If Hide is selected, the component will not display on the card.

Working with Records

The majority of the Kanban View displays columns containing cards (one for each record).

Each column has a header displaying the value from the Single Choice field, the number of cards (records) for each choice, and a downward chevron menu.

The column name can be edited directly. Note that this will change the field choice defined for the field and also update the field in each record that uses that choice.

The column header menu can be accessed using the downward chevron icon or by right-clicking in the header. The commands available are each fairly straightforward:

• New Record — creates a new card in the column auto-entering choice (as for + Add card button)
• Add Column Before/After — creates a new choice for field, placing column before or after the current column
• Rename Column — edits the choice as per directly editing the column heading
• Delete Column — deletes the choice from the Single Choice field (see bug below)
• Hide Column — hides the columns as per the Columns toolbar function

As of writing, there is a bug with the Delete Column function. One would expect that any records with the deleted column would be empty for that field. Instead, they contain an artifact of the former available choice (a UUID of some sort). This can easily be deleted or changed to an existing choice when in Spreadsheet View.

Editing Records

When hovering the mouse over a card, there is a small meatballs icon in the top right corner. Clicking this icon reveals a record editing menu.

The commands available are each fairly straightforward:

• Move to Top/Bottom — move the card to the top or bottom of the column
• Add Record Above/Below — creates a new record above or below the current record in a column
• Duplicate Record — creates a copy of the current record and places it below the current record
• Delete Record — deletes the record from the Table
• Expand Record — opens an Edit Record window form to edit all fields in the record

Note also that:

• cards can be manually dragged up and down in a column
• cards can also be dragged between columns thereby editing the Single Choice field
• click a card to quickly Expand Record for editing
• the Edit Record window has a button to + Add New Field
• when using Add Record Above/Below or + Add card, the Edit Record window opens automatically to allow you to fill out the record. There is no Delete function provided if this is done in error — the user must close the window and then delete the empty record.

Conclusion

For a first iteration, this is a simple Kanban view of data. It is a useful and workable view for visualising tasks and updating their status. There are feature requests such as a WIP limit (restricting the number of cards in a column) and swimlanes (for separation of tasks in a column). Hopefully the Kanban View will be iterated in future.

Claris Studio: Kanban View was originally published in Discover the Claris platform on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

View the full article

As with other Views, a Manager can add a Dashboard View to a Hub so that it can be accessed by Members. Managers can access the Dashboard View directly for editing or view a Hub for standard use.

Create Dashboard

A Dashboard is one of the Views provided by Claris Studio. Unlike other Views, it is not created directly — create a Dashboard from a Spreadsheet View. This can be done from the Create Dashboard button in the toolbar or from the Chart by command in a column menu.

The Create Dashboard button opens a dialog to create a bar, line, pie, bubble or combo chart. You can select a column for the X-axis and there may be options for what to chart on the Y-axis (depending on chart type).

The Create Dashboard button opens a dialog to create a bar, line or pie chart. You can select a column for the X-axis and there may be options for what to chart on the Y-axis.

Dashboard Tools

The top white bar contains three buttons:

• Go To — direct access to Views with Same Data — click to go to a view
• Add Object — add objects to the Dashboard — Dashboard objects and Static objects (see below)
• Preview — preview how the Dashboard will appear when viewed through a Hub (not editable)

The grey bar below the header has four buttons:

• All Views (four square icon) — return to all Views listing
• View Name — click to edit
• Page Settings (cog wheel icon) — select theme colour (sets the header)
• Delete Page (meatballs icon) — delete the View; cannot be undone, removes the View from all Hubs

Add Object

An Object can be added to a Dashboard in a couple of ways:

• Add Object — use the pop-up Object menu to select an object. It will be added at the end of the Dashboard but can be dragged to reposition it.
• In Position — hover the mouse to the left or right or above or below an existing object to reveal a green line with a + icon. Click anywhere on the line to open the Add Object pop up menu and select a new object to go in that position. There is a limitation of three (3) objects per row — the line between or beside objects in a row of three will be orange.

To move an object to another position, hover the mouse over the object until a four headed arrow icon is displayed, then drag to reposition. A green line will be displayed to reposition on a new row, and a green box to position on the same row as existing objects.

Dashboard Objects

Chart Objects

Chart objects are Dashboard objects that can be added to a Dashboard. Every Dashboard will start with a chart object but it can be edited or deleted.

The Chart Title can be edited directly. There are no formatting options.

When working with the Chart Object, there are two buttons at the top right:

• Chart Settings (cog wheel icon)
• Delete (meatballs in circle icon) — delete the chart object

There are three Options for charts — Type, Table and Filter.
Currently, there are five (5) available chart types:

• Bar — best for grouped sets of data
• Line — best for continuous data, most commonly with dates on the X axis
• Pie — best for grouped data to show relative proportions
• Bubble — best for grouped data, charted by two values — one for Y axis, the other for bubble size
• Combo — combines multiple data series charted as bar or line

Each of the chart types deserves some investigation of the options available.

Selecting a Table for the Chart allows the manager to select any table from the Claris Studio instance. This means that a Dashboard can display a combination of objects drawing data from several tables. Could be very useful.

The Table selected for the Chart can be filtered by adding a Condition as is done in the Spreadsheet View. There can be multiple conditions, each with multiple sub-conditions.

Spreadsheet Object

Spreadsheet objects provide an embedded Spreadsheet in a Dashboard. The Spreadsheet title can be edited directly. The Manager creating the Dashboard can reorder and resize the columns but they are fixed in the Dashboard View via a Hub.

There is a fixed Index (row number) column at the left. All columns in the selected Table are initially displayed across the object, which can be scrolled left–right and up-down. The Spreadsheet object can be resized vertically to show more or less columns.

When working with the Spreadsheet Object, there are two buttons at the top right:

• Spreadsheet Settings (cog wheel icon)
• Delete (meatballs in circle icon) — delete the spreadsheet object

As for Chart objects, the Manager can select any Table from the Claris Studio instance. The Spreadsheet Title and Index column have options to hide or show.

The Manager can apply Filter conditions, Sort order rules, Grouping rules, and select and reorder Columns. None of these are editable when the View is accessed through a Hub. Likewise, spreadsheet data is editable by the Manager directly in the View but not via a Hub.

Just a thought: Providing a Spreadsheet object in a Dashboard View may be a better option for some use cases than providing a Spreadsheet View.

Summary Object

Summary objects provide a record count for a selected table, or a summary of a single field in a selected table.

When working with the Summary Object, there are two buttons at the top right:

• Summary Settings (cog wheel icon)
• Delete (meatballs in circle icon) — delete the summary object

As for Chart objects, the Manager can select any Table from the Claris Studio instance. Filter conditions can be applied.

The Options available are either Record Count or to select a column from the Table. The Summary object Label can be show or hidden, and custom text entered. There are no formatting options.

Filter Object

Filter objects provide a tool for a Dashboard user (via a Hub) to apply filters to one or more Dashboard objects. A Filter object controls data for a single selected Table and is connected to one or more selected objects for that Table.

When working with the Filter Object, there are two buttons at the top right:

• Filter Settings (cog wheel icon)
• Delete (meatballs in circle icon) — delete the filter object

As for Chart objects, the Manager can select any Table from the Claris Studio instance. Any Dashboard object for that Table can be connected. In the example below, the filter has been applied to all Summary objects. If an object is connected to a Filter, a dashboard filter icon is show at the top right of that object.

Multiple filters can be created in a Filter object selecting a column, operator and optional data. Any filter created can be deleted (Trash can icon).

It would be best practice to position the Filter in the Dashboard directly above the objects to which it is connected. It is possible to provide multiple Filter objects applied to different sets of Dashboard objects.

Interestingly, multiple Filter objects can be connected to the same Dashboard objects. Their effect is additive. Likely not best practice!

When a Filter object is displayed in a Dashboard View via a Hub, the user cannot edit the column for any filter or delete filters. They can edit the operator and the optional data. The Refresh button at the top right resets the filter to the default values set by the Manager when creating the Filter object.

Quick Filter Object

Quick Filter objects provide a tool for a Dashboard user (via a Hub) to apply pre-configured named filters to one or more Dashboard objects. A Quick Filter object controls data for a single selected Table and one or more selected Dashboard objects for that Table.

When working with the Quick Filter Object, there are two buttons at the top right:

• Quick Filter Settings (cog wheel icon)
• Delete (meatballs in circle icon) — delete the quick filter object

Selecting a Table and connected Objects works as for Filter objects.

Multiple quick filters can be created in a Filter object selecting a column, operator and optional data. Any filter created can be deleted (Trash can icon). Each Quick Filter can be named and appears as a button with that name.

When a Quick Filter object is displayed in a Dashboard View via a Hub, the user cannot edit any quick filter provided. They simply click any button to apply the named filter. There is no access to see the Filters applied so it is good practice to explicitly name each quick filter. Only one quick filter can be applied at any time. Click again to remove the quick filter.

Static Objects

Currently there are three (3) Static object types:

• Text Block
• Image
• Header

A Text Block object is used to add static text such as a heading or explanatory notes to a Dashboard. Text Blocks support Markdown for text formatting. The Text object will resize vertically to accommodate all text entered.

An Image object is used to add an image such as a logo or other graphic to a Dashboard. Vertical and horizontal alignment within the object can be applied. The image can be set to Contain (sized within the object) or Fill. The Image object can be resized vertically.

The Header is a static object that can be edited, formatted or removed.

The colour can be set with a limited palette using the Page Settings Theme Colour.

The initial text displayed is Large Text (see below). The text can be edited directly. When text is selected, a formatting toolbar appears above.

The buttons 1, 2 and 3 control the heading size. The heading size applies to the entire text. The selected size is shown as a green button. If no button is selected, the text is “body” (small) size.

The B, I and S buttons are for bold, italic and strikethru respectively. These apply to the selected text so it is possible to have a combination of words in bold and others in italics.

The header size can be adjusted by dragging the two line icon at the bottom centre of the header.

When working with the Header, there are two buttons at the lower right:

• Header Settings (cog wheel icon)
• Delete (meatballs in circle icon) — delete the header object

There are various Header settings:

• Header Position — lock or unlock — if locked, the header will remain at the top of the screen while the user scrolls down, objects scroll behind; if unlocked, the header scrolls off the screen.
• Header Opacity — set to either 100% or 80%
• Background — set the either Theme Colour or an Image (stretches to fill)
• Logo — hide or show
• Logo in Header — if shown, Choose Image or Replace Image
• Logo Alignment — if shown, logo can be left or right in Header (logo can be resized in the Header but has a limited width)
• Small Text — show or hide, appears above Large Text; same formatting options as for Large Text but size selection is 4, 5, 6. Text alignment left, centre, right.
• Large Text — show or hide, appears below Small Text. Text alignment left, centre, right.

The Text alignment setting affects both Large and Small Text — they cannot be set independently. This may be a bug. Small Text and Large Text allow only one line of text for each.

Conclusion

Dashboard views provide a useful view to summarise the data in one or more tables. They can be used to provide instant and up to date visualisations of data.

Claris Studio: Dashboards was originally published in Discover the Claris platform on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

View the full article

Claris Studio Access

Claris Studio currently provides four levels of access:

• Team Manager
• Manager
• Member
• Anonymous

All except Anonymous require a Claris ID.

There is one Team Manager for each Claris Studio instance. This is the Claris ID used to purchase the licensing (or to sign up for the freemium product when available). The Team Manager has master access over all other users. They can:

• invite new users
• switch the role of any user between Manager and Member
• remove any user from the Team
• use all Claris Studio features

A user assigned to a Manager role has the same access as a Team Manager except that they cannot change the role of the Team Manager or remove them from the Team.

A Member has much more limited access. They can:

• access the Hubs and Views assigned to them by a Manager

An Anonymous user can only access publicly shared Claris Studio Form Views, enter data and submit the form.

Claris ID

The new Claris platform security currently revolves around a Claris ID. Anyone can get a free Claris ID. simply go to my.claris.com and provide the required details.

After submitting the form, you will be sent an email with a verification code:

On verification, your Claris ID is created and you can sign in.

Sign in takes you to your Claris Customer Console. Initially, there is not a lot to access except your profile. This will be updated once you are part of a Claris Team.

Adding Team Users

As mentioned above, the Team Manager and all Managers can invite a new user to the Team. They simply provide an email address and name for the user.

In the Users list in Claris Studio, the new user name will be greyed out and marked as (Pending). When a user invite is pending, the meatballs icon at the right allows managers to Edit User Details (full name), Resend Invitation or Remove From Team. When a user has joined, the icon has the option to Edit User Details or Remove From Team.

The user will receive an email (Invitation to join a Claris Studio team) from Claris advising them that they have been invited to join a Team. They can click the Join link and follow the instructions. If they already have a Claris ID, they can simply sign in; otherwise they can sign up for a new Claris ID as above.

When the new user joins the team, they join with the role and any Hubs they were assigned when the invite was pending.

Using Claris Studio Features

Managers

As mentioned above, Managers have full access to all Claris Studio features:

• Hubs — create/rename/delete Hubs, add/remove Views, add/rename/remove users*
• Views — create/rename/delete Views, edit Views, add/delete columns/fields
• Users — invite new users, remove users from team, switch user roles, edit user name
• Resources — access to Downloads for Claris Pro and Claris Server, copy links for sharing
• Claris Connect — access to manage workflows
• Customer Console — direct link access
• Help and Feedback
• Team — switch between Teams if a member of multiple teams
• Account — create Extended Claris Account (see below), Sign Out

* When managing Hub users, only Members can be added and removed because Managers have free access to all Hubs. A pending member can be added to a Hub so that when they join the Team they instantly have access to a set of Views.

In an update to Claris Studio, the Team and Account have been moved to the top right of the window. There has also been added a Developer Mode toggle switch for Managers. When Developer Mode is off, the links to Views, Users, Claris Connect and Customer Console are hidden; Views are accessed via Hubs and behave as for Members (for data entry but no editing).

Members

Members have limited access in Claris Studio:

• Hubs — access only Hubs they have been assigned by a Manager
• Views — access to any Views in their assigned Hubs
• Downloads — (updated) links to download latest versions of Claris Pro and Claris Go
• Users — no access
• Claris Connect — no access
• Customer Console — no direct access (use my.claris.com or console.claris.com)
• Help and Feedback
• Team — switch between Teams if a member of multiple teams
• Account — create Extended Claris Account, Sign Out

In an update to Claris Studio, the Team and Account have been moved to the top right of the window.

When a Member accesses a View (via a Hub), they have full access to the data and fields of the underlying table in a Spreadsheet View. This means that they can freely and easily:

• edit row data, add new rows and delete rows
• import CSV data and download as CSV
• add new columns/fields to and rename the table
• edit column names and field options
• delete columns from the table (and all data therein)
• edit summary rows

A Member cannot create new Views. When in Spreadsheet View, they will not see Create Dashboard in the toolbar. However, they can create a Quick Chart using Chart by… in the column header menu. Quick Charts cannot be saved.

Managing Views

Any changes made to Views by Managers or Members will be saved for all other users. This includes Spreadsheet View actions such as:

• applying Filters, Grouping and Sort
• showing and hiding columns, reordering and resizing columns, changing Density
• updating Summary cells

If one user updates a Spreadsheet View, it will be updated for all other users when they refresh their browser.

Although Members cannot edit Form, List-Detail and Dashboard Views, any changes to those views made by a Manager will be seen by any user.

Using Forms

The only Views with Public Sharing are Forms. If a View has Public Sharing Enabled, it can be accessed via a web link such as:

https://platform.claris.com/form/315/55?s=bXN0XzJJQzg2ZDVadzVSMXZndkhrTFRoOERYQ0lKUmVSem9NOjUyMzk4NTYzNmFjOWUyYWI1MDVmZTcwOWQ1N2EyMDc0MjRlNTIxYjc2ZDUwZTlmNNTg5YWY=

When any user (regardless of if they are signed in with a Claris ID) accesses a Form using the public link, they are anonymous. They can complete and submit the form but there is no authentication required and there is no way to identify the user.

Whether a Form is shared or not, a Member can still open and complete the Form if it is included in a Hub they can access. In that case, if the table includes a User type field with the option of a default value of Current User, then the current user name will be captured in the field.

A Manager can access the Form to complete it through Hubs. If they access the View directly, they are in editing mode and cannot fill in the Form. This also applies for List-detail Views.

Extended Claris Account

When logged in to Claris Studio, any Manager or Member can create an extended Claris account. This will use the same Claris ID email and an additional password.

It is required to sign into certain Claris Server services such as Claris WebDirect, Claris Data API, and scheduled scripts.

It is not obvious if a user has already created an extended Claris account password. If you try to create an extended account when one already exists, Claris Studio will display an error:

Couldn’t create an account. If you already have an account, you can change the password.

The Change Password link will allow you to change your password or go through the process for Forgot Password.

Closing Thoughts

The current security levels in Claris Studio are not at all fined grained. For example:

• no way to limit Manager access to certain Hubs or Views
• no way to limit Member access to table structure in Spreadsheet Views
• no concept of user settings for View appearance

It is hoped that more extensive security settings will be provided in future releases.

Claris Studio: Security was originally published in Discover the Claris platform on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

View the full article

Claris Studio provides a range of Views for each table of data. In this article, we will look in depth at Spreadsheet View. This View packs a lot of functionality and features, so this article is quite long.

Spreadsheet View is a standard view of columns and rows that you are likely familiar with from using Excel. Generally, the following pairs of terms are used interchangeably:

• row and record
• column and field

The View has three bars above the column headers, row numbers down the side, and a summary row at the bottom.

The top (white) bar has one button — Sidebar — that toggles open the sidebar with access to Views with the Same Data and Fields (from the current table).

The second (grey) bar contains the breadcrumb for navigation. The first button (four squares) goes back to All Views. The next is the name of the current View (in this case, Holiday SS) — click to edit.

Tool Bar

The third bar down contains the majority of the tools for Spreadsheet View. The high level view of each is listed here and we will go into more detail about each below.

• Table name
• Filter — add conditions to filter the list
• Group — add a rule to group rows by a field (category)
• Sort — add a rule to sort rows
• Color — add a condition to mark rows with a color swatch
• Search — enter text to search all columns for the current rows
• Columns — show, hide and reorder columns
• Create Dashboard — create a Dashboard View with a chart
• Table Actions — Import and Download rows
• Density — setting for row height

Table Name

Click to Rename Table and Edit Description of the table. In the above screenshot, the table has been renamed HolidayPlan. The original name of a new table in Claris Studio is generic (e.g. Untitled64bd). Give every table a good descriptive name for reference outside Claris Studio (e.g. in Claris Pro).

Filter

You can reduce the number of rows displayed by applying filters. On first open, you see that the Records are not filtered with a button to Add Condition.

For a Condition, select a column, a comparison operator and (usually) specify an option.

The comparison operators are (depending on the field type):

• Is equal to, Is not equal to
• Is empty, Is not empty
• For text — Contains, Does not contain
• For numbers — Is greater than, Is greater than or equal to, Is less than, Is less than or equal to
• For dates and times — Is before, Is on or before, Is after, Is on or after, Is in the future, Is in the past

Further points to note:

• Can create multiple conditions.
• Choose if rows are displayed if all (logical AND) or any (logical OR) of the conditions are met.
• Choose to Keep Filtered — the filtered set will update as you add and edit row data, or turn off to not Filter but keep the conditions.
• Delete any condition (Trashcan icon), or Clear All.
• When Filter conditions are applied, the Filter button and relevant columns are highlighted.
• A column does not need to be displayed to be used in a Filter condition.

Group

You can arrange the displayed rows into groups. On first open, you see that the Records are not grouped with a button to Add Rule.

For a Rule, select a column and a sort order.

Sort order depends on field type:

• Drop-down, Checkboxes, Single Choice — First-Last / Last-First (by list order)
• Other fields — Ascending / Descending

Further points to note:

• Can create multiple rules — can be re-ordered for primary and sub groups
• Choose Keep Grouped to apply the rules; or turn off to ungroup but keep the rules
• When rules are applied, the Group button and relevant columns are highlighted. The grouped columns are moved to the left of the View and are fixed in place.
• Delete any rule (Trashcan icon).
• A column must be displayed to be used in a Group Rule.

When grouping is applied, each group heading row contains a Count for the group or subgroup.

Individual groups can be collapsed and expanded with the chevron > icon beside each.

There is a meatballs icon visible when you mouse over any Count — with commands for Collapse (or Expand) group, Collapse all and Expand all. Or choose Collapse All or Expand All in the Group settings.

Thought bubble: I am not sure if the meatballs menu should contain Collapse/Expand group. It is two clicks to use it there versus one click to use the chevron icon on the left. Also question the validity of hiding the menu under the Count.

Sort

You can sort the rows displayed by applying rules. On first open, you see that the Records are not sorted with a button to Add Rule.

For a Rule, select a field and a sort order.

The sort orders are as for Grouping:

• Drop-down, Checkboxes, Single Choice — First-Last / Last-First (by list order)
• Other fields — Ascending / Descending

Further points to note:

• Can create multiple rules — can be re-ordered for sort levels e.g. sort by Tag then Title
• Choose Keep Sorted to apply the rules continuously — when rules are applied, the Sort button and relevant columns are highlighted.
• If Keep Sorted is off, you retain the rules and can use the Sort Now button for a temporary sort.
• Delete any rule (Trashcan icon).
• A column does not need to be displayed to be used in a Sort Rule.

Color

You can mark rows that match a condition with a color swatch in the row number header. On first open, you see that there is No record color specified with a button to Add Condition.

For a Condition, select a column, a comparison operator and (usually) specify an option.

The comparison operators are (depending on the field type):

• Is equal to, Is not equal to
• Is empty, Is not empty
• For text — Contains, Does not contain
• For numbers — Is greater than, Is greater than or equal to, Is less than, Is less than or equal to
• For dates and times — Is before, Is on or before, Is after, Is on or after, Is in the future, Is in the past

Further points to note:

• Can create multiple conditions — can be re-ordered and deleted
• Each condition can contain multiple sub-conditions — can be set to show color if All or Any of the conditions are met
• If two conditions are true for a row, the first one wins and that color is displayed
• Can choose a color for each condition (two conditions can have the same color)
• Delete any condition or sub-condition (Trashcan icon)
• A column does not need to be displayed to be used in a Condition.

Search

The Search box allows for a ‘field content contains’ search of all visible data.

When the search is applied, cells containing the string and the row number for each row will be highlighted. The number of found instances is shown in the search bar e.g. 1 of 4. There are chevron icons to jump between the cells containing the found instances. Use the x button to clear the search.

Columns

Toggle the control to show and hide columns in Spreadsheet View. The Columns option also allows you to easily reorder the columns across the screen by dragging the reorder icon (three lines) up or down.

There is a button to Show All (if any columns are hidden) or Hide All (if all columns are shown).

Tip: If you want to show most of the columns, Show All then turn off the columns you want to hide; if you want to hide most of the columns, Hide All then turn on the columns you want to show.

If you have a lot of fields, there is a Find a field search tool to reduce the list. This works on a ‘field name contains’ rule e.g. a search for m will return the Image, Comments and Number columns.

Create Dashboard

Spreadsheet View currently provides the only place you can create a Dashboard View for a table. The Create Dashboard button opens a Create Dashboard with Chart dialog.

To create a Dashboard:

• select a chart — Bar, Line or Pie
• select a field for the X-axis and optionally for the Y-axis
• click the Create Dashboard button

We will look into Dashboards in more detail in a future article.

Table Actions

Table Actions are for import and export of table data. The only file format recognised by Claris Studio is CSV(comma separated values).

On Import from CSV, you are prompted to Click (to select) or drag a CSV file here. In the field matching dialog that follows, choose which fields to import and match them with existing field names (first row) in the csv file. There is feature to preview the data in the import file.

The Import from CSV dialog has a checkbox for Create a new spreadsheet. This will create a new Spreadsheet View and a completely new table.

Thought bubble: There is a curious limit of just 50 records for import. Presumably this limit will be removed in future. Testing shows that importing from a 200 row CSV imports the first 50 records.

For Download as CSV, Claris Studio downloads a file to the web browser downloads location. The file will contain the current set of records (by Filter), in the current sort order and containing the currently displayed columns in order. Grouping summaries are not exported.

Density

This is a simple choice to determine row height:

• Compact — one line
• Medium — two lines
• Comfortable — four lines

Thought bubble: Not sure about any of the terminology used there. Why not just call it Row Height and give an open choice of number of lines? The cogwheel icon is a strange choice.

Data Area

For want of a better name, I am calling the rest of the screen below the toolbar, the Data Area. It consists of:

• row numbers (left)
• column headers (top)
• summary row (bottom)
• data in cells

Row Numbers

The row numbers down the left are just that — a number on each row. They are not record numbers. When a spreadsheet is grouped, the group summaries are numbered rows too. The row numbers simply number the visible rows in order.

On mouse over the row number, there are three buttons revealed:

• reorder — (six dots) manually reorder rows by dragging up and down
• select — (checkbox) select row for reordering or deleting multiple (selected) rows
• expand — (box with two arrows) open the row in a form window for editing

There is also a checkbox at the top of the row numbers for selecting all rows (or deselecting all when all are selected).

There is a + at the bottom of the row numbers to create a new row. This can also be done by clicking in the white space below the last row.

When the row is expanded for editing, the window provides access to all visible fields and also to hidden fields. There is a button to Add New Field to the table. Navigation buttons at the top left allow you to go to the previous and next row in the list without closing the window. Click the Close button (x top right) or click outside the window to close. As with editing data directly in a row, edited data is saved automatically — there is no explicit Save or Undo/Revert.

Column Headers

The column headers across the top of the data area show the column/field names. There is hidden functionality in these column headers.

For each column, there is a downward chevron icon on mouse over that reveals an extensive menu:

• edit the field
• sort, filter, group and chart by the field
• insert column (add a field) left or right
• delete column (field and all data, from table)
• freeze column (see below)
• hide column, show hidden columns

If entered for a field, there will be an i icon which can be moused over to show the field description (see the Budget field above). Click the icon to edit the field description.

Edit a field by choosing the command from the column header menu or by double-clicking the name in the column header. This will allow editing of the column name, setting any field options, and adding or editing the description. It also shows the field type — this cannot be changed for an existing field.

Columns may be:

• reordered across the screen by dragging the column header.
• resized by positioning the mouse at the right of the column header and dragging; or double-click the right of the column header to auto-resize to the longest content.
• frozen by selecting one or more columns and selecting Freeze Column or Freeze Selected Columns from the column header menu. This will move the columns to the left and freeze them in position while you scroll to the right.

At the time of writing, there is a bug with the Safari browser — the column resize icon does not display. But the column resize still works.

At the right of the last displayed column is a + icon used to add a new column to the table. Click and select a field type, then specify the name, type, options and description.

Summary Row

The summary row is at the bottom of the screen. There is a summary cell for each column.

The summary cell below the row numbers displays the total record count (e.g. ∑6).

Mathematicians may be amused by the use of the incorrect symbol here — ∑ means ‘the sum of’ not ‘the count of’. Perhaps it should be #6.

Each column summary cell has options dependent on the field type. You can select one option by clicking on the summary cell. The result will be displayed with a label.

If the rows are grouped, each group row also displays the column summaries selected.

The summary options provided are reasonably obvious and do not need individual explanation here.

Data in Cells

Each column for each row creates a cell intersection where data is displayed. Data is formatted according to selected field options.

Where the field is a choice (Drop-down, Checkboxes, Single Choice), the data is displayed as a coloured pill for each choice. There is currently no control over the colours used.

Click in a cell to edit data. There is some variability in the techniques required here. Sometimes it may need a double-click to begin editing, to select some contents, or to display a list or calendar.

Moving to the next cell is normally achieved with the tab key (and back with Shift-tab). However there are anomalous times when the tab key moves out of the browser window. This may be a bug to be fixed.

Fill Down

Cells provide a “fill down” (or up) function. An active cell has a green square in the lower right corner. When you point to this square, it grows and the cursor changes to a four-headed arrow. Then you can drag up or down to fill the current cell contents to adjacent rows.

Be warned — there is no check or warning if you fill down over existing data. Claris Studio will simply overwrite the existing data as soon as the mouse is released, and there is no undo available.

Fill Down is not available if rows are grouped.

Expand Field

Some cells have an Expand Field option when the field is active. The icon is the same as Expand Row in the row number column. This option opens a new window for editing the cell contents. This is available for Long Text and Checkboxes fields.

Context Menu

There is a context menu (Ctrl-click or Right-click) available anywhere in a row. It has commands for:

• Add Record Above
• Add Record Below
• Duplicate Record
• Delete Record (Delete Selected Records if multiple records selected)
• Expand Record

Certain commands are greyed out when not applicable e.g. Duplicate record when multiple records are selected, Add Record Above/Below when a Filter is active.

Anything Else?

You can see there are a lot of features in Spreadsheet View to manage your table, control the display and the data contained in rows and columns. Bear in mind that some features may not be available all the time depending on the current state of the view.

This article details a lot of hidden features and tips for using Spreadsheet View. There are likely some that I have not found yet! Feel free to add a comment if you know of any more.

Claris Studio: Spreadsheet View was originally published in Discover the Claris platform on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

View the full article

Just a reminder that Claris Studio is rapidly evolving, but we will try to keep this article updated as tools and features change.

Creating a Form

If you Create New View in Claris Studio, it creates a new table and two views — a Form and a Spreadsheet. You will not always want to create a new table for a new Form — often, you will want a new Form for an existing table.

Create a new Form for an existing table with Create from This View using an existing Spreadsheet View. This option for a new Form is not available from any other View type.

When we create a new Form in this way, Claris Studio still creates a two page registration form. However, the first page is populated with all the fields from the existing table.

With any Form, the first thing you need to do is to give it a meaningful name. The default name provided by Claris Studio is shown in the breadcrumb at the top left and can be changed there — just click and type.

Holiday Planning Example

The example we will use here is one where we are setting up views for our holiday planning. The Form allows our whole family to suggest things for planning our holiday and categorising them as travel, accommodation, activities or expenses. They can assign a budget to an item as needed.

The Form will provide us easy access to add a new record when it occurs to anyone. This will be convenient as we will not have to sign in or use an app — just have an Internet connection and our phone.

Our Form will provide simple and quick data entry, with options for more details. It is a very good idea to have a plan of your new Form in your head or preferably on paper.

Edit Page

When we have the Form View open, we see the page flow (in this case two pages). We can easily rename each page, and add a new page in the flow.

Once you have set up the pages you need for your Form, it is easy to edit the first page — hover over the page to see Edit Page, and click.

Page Settings

The cogwheel icon at the top right of the page being edited is for Page Settings. The settings are quite basic — Theme Colour and Required Field Objects.

There are four theme colour choices. This will affect the colour of the header and the buttons at the bottom of the page.

There is a checkbox to instantly set all field objects on the page to required (not empty). This saves you having to individually set each field. If most of the fields on the page were required, you could turn on all required and then turn off the optional fields.

The three horizontal dots (meatballs) icon provides either Delete Page (if the Form has three or more pages) or Delete Workflow (for two pages, deletes the entire View).

Field Objects

A page holds objects. Objects are either Field Objects or Static Objects.

New objects can be added from the Add Object widget at the top of the screen. Simply drag an object from the widget onto the page and the widget will close. There is an option to “pin” the widget to Keep list open in a movable floating window.

If you position the mouse beside or between objects or rows, a green line with a + symbol also allows you to add objects in the clicked location. This is only available if the Add Object widget is not pinned open.

Adding a Field Object from the widget will create a new field in your table. You can drag existing fields onto a page from the Sidebar > Fields list. Note that some fields will be greyed out because they already exist on one page of the Form. Currently, the limitation is that any one Field can only exist once across all pages of a Form.

To start, all the field objects are arranged down the page, one per row. Fields can be dragged around on the page. They will rearrange and resize according to where they are placed. You can place up to three objects (Field or Static) per row.

There is currently no way to custom-set the width of an object — it will either be full, half or one-third column width. There are no spacer objects but you can use an empty Text Block to force the resize of an object on a row (see below, the Budget field is between two empty text blocks).

When you hover over or select an object, it will display various controls and tools. The number and nature of these will depend on the object itself.

Most of the controls are annotated in the screenshot below:

• Label — the field label shown in the form to explain the data required (initially the same as field name, edit in place)
• Placeholder text — text displayed in an empty field to further explain what should be entered (edit in place)
• Vertical resize — available for some field objects (Long Text and Attachment) to drag to adjust vertical size of field
• Lightning (icon) — Action Engine to set conditions for hiding or showing field object
• Cogwheel (icon) — field options depending on field object type — Required status (all fields), list control (Drop-down), signature area and pen colour (Signature), date and time format (Date, Time and Timestamp), decimal format and currency symbol (Currency)
• Meatballs (icon) — Delete field from the page (not from the table)
• Field type icon — signifies the field object type in an icon (as per Add Object widget list)
• Field name — name in the table
• Options for Checkboxes and Single Choice fields — add, edit (direct), delete, reorder (drag)

The Action Engine (lightning icon) needs a little more explanation. This is used to conditionally show or hide a Field Object. It can also be used for static image and text objects (updated 18 Jan 23).

In the above example, we have determined that when the Tag field is Physical Activity, the Budget field will be hidden. Our logic is that physical activity (going for a hike or a swim) will never cost us anything so we don’t need a budget. We will now Save the condition.

We can add multiple conditions to the same action using + And When, and also Save multiple actions. All saved Actions are managed in the Manage area — each Action can be disabled or deleted.

This powerful feature allows you to create smarter forms where fields appear or disappear depending on responses in other fields.

As of the 15 Dec 22 update, when you conditionally hide a field object in Form and List-Detail views, objects beside and below adjust to fill the space.

Also note that if a field is set to Required, and it is hidden by an Action condition, the user will not be required to fill it in. Makes sense but the Claris engineers did think of that scenario.

Static Objects

There are three static objects available — Text Block, Image and Header.

Static Text Blocks are added to a page to provide more information or messages to the user. As with field objects, they can be dragged around and will resize when placed next to other objects in a row.

Click on a Text Block to display options with three icons:

• M — informational — Markdown supported in Text Blocks for formatting
• Cogwheel — text alignment
• Meatballs — Delete from page

Markdown is a lightweight markup language that you can use to add formatting elements to plain text documents. Simply type text in the Text Block and use Markdown symbols to format. For example:

• # Heading level 1
• ## Heading level 2
• You can have **bold** text or *italicised* text or ***bold and italic***
• > Create a block quote
• >> And a nested block quote
• * bulleted list item
• *** for a horizontal rule

There is good support for Markdown. Have a play and see what works.

Static images can be added to a page for information or design. This is different to providing an attachment field for a user to upload an image.

• Add an Image Object from the widget, or
• Drag an image file directly onto the page.

The cogwheel icon provides options for vertical and horizontal Alignment of the image in the object and whether it Contains or Fills the object. The meatballs icon provides Delete. There is a vertical resize at the bottom to resize the object.

A page can have a Header — an area at the top of the page.

Open the Header Settings (cogwheel icon):

• If the Header Position is Locked, the page will scroll behind it as it stays in place; if it is Unlocked the header will scroll off the top of the screen.
• The Header may have an Opacity of 100% (opaque) or 80% (slightly transparent).
• The Header Background can be a colour (set by the page theme) or an image.
• Two text sections — Small Text and Large Text — show or hide; adjust text size (Large = Heading 1, 2, or 3; Small = Heading 4, 5, or 6); set alignment.

Each page has an independent header. As of the 30 Nov 22 update, there is an option to set a master header for the Form — Repeat this header on all pages.

Page Buttons

All pages except the last have buttons at the bottom right. Button colour is controlled with the Page Setting Theme Colour. However, the text and position cannot currently be customised. The buttons are Next, Previous and Submit and are provided automatically as required.

The Next button will usually go to the next page in the workflow; the Submit button will usually go to the last page. However, you can control the workflow with Jump to Page options using an icon below the button (or below the page when looking at the entire View workflow).

In the example above, we have set a condition that, when true, will jump to the All Done page (skipping one or more pages). If the condition is false, the button behaves as normal.

You can add multiple conditions. These are evaluated in order listed with the first one evaluated as true being run (subsequent conditions are ignored).

This feature allows you to design forms to skip certain pages based on the answers to questions. For example, if a user answers that they do not own a car, then skip the car insurance page.

The page workflow is strictly linear. Hopefully there will be branching in future.

Back to Our Example

Phew! That is a lot of features available to set up a web form. Claris Studio is a very young web app but it already has a lot of power just in the Form Views.

So about our example? We have used a lot of the features above to set up a three page form. Before we share it to a public URL, we should test it to see how it works on a Laptop (1024px), Tablet (768px) and Mobile (360px). Claris Studio provides an easy Preview option for this. You can also test in normal or dark mode (setting determined by the user).

Here is our completed Form in workflow view:

The web form created by Claris Studio is responsive — it will resize and reorganise depending on the available screen size. Here is the first page (Suggestion) in three different sizes:

These previews provide great feedback for changes needed to improve the experience on tablet and mobile.

When entering Preview, Claris Studio gives the following warning:

Data submitted while previewing a form is not saved.

To save submitted data, use the shared form.

This is great! It means that you can fully test the form and all the conditional logic you have built in to make sure it works the way you intended.

All that is left is to set up sharing as per our last article. And wait for the data to start rolling in from the family!

How easy and powerful is that?

Claris Studio: Edit Web Forms was originally published in Discover the Claris platform on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

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