We're starting the year off with a modest update. Nothing too crazy, just a few useful improvements to make your experience better 😊 (especially on Android). The update took place during the evening of the 26th January. For a full list of changes in v2.43, please visit the Alloy Changelog.

Extend Blueprinted Designs/Interfaces with Custom Interfaces

In September, we announced the introduction of custom interfaces. For the first time, it was possible to create a new interface that one or more designs could implement, providing a way to share a single set of generic attributes across multiple custom designs.

For technical reasons, it wasn't originally possible for a blueprinted design/interface to implement a custom interface. But not anymore!

Now, a custom interface can be implemented by any design/interface, regardless of whether its Context is Core, Module or Customer.

This fully unlocks the possibilities of custom interfaces, as they can now be used to extend the hundreds of ready-made designs/interfaces available in Alloy.

Bulk Invoice Workflows

For customers with the Financial Accounts module installed, this will be a welcome announcement!

A new module is available containing two manual workflows, which can automatically generate invoices for a list of Customer Accounts or Supplier Accounts.

For each account, the workflow will find all the related job work units that have their Invoicing status set to Ready and process them all into a single Account Invoice item for that account.

The resulting Account Invoices will be left with their Status set to Draft, giving you the opportunity to double-check everything and make any changes before progressing them to Issued.

We know that some of you need to process hundreds of invoices at a time, so these new workflows will save you a lot of time and effort! If you'd like the new module to be enabled for your Alloy customer project, please contact Support.

See Nearby Items when Editing Geometry on Alloy Mobile

Previously, when creating geometry for a new item (or editing the geometry of an existing item), the map area would appear empty.

Even with the Satellite basemap enabled, being unable to see the position and shape of nearby objects could sometimes make plotting the new geometry a bit tricky.

The items on your map now remain visible when editing geometry, making it easier to draw points or polygons accurately in relation to nearby items.

The items shown respect the layer configuration of the main map and the Search Here button can be used to refresh the current view.

Multiple Improvements on Android

Alloy Mobile has received special attention on Android this month, incorporating several changes that were recently implemented for iOS.

Item Forms on Android

If a custom item form exists for a design/interface, it will now be displayed to Android users when they create or edit a corresponding item. Users will only see the attributes that the item form has controls for, listed in the order defined by the item form.

Otherwise, the standard item form will be displayed. Users will see all the design/interface's attributes, listed in chronological order.

Prevent Locked Items Being Edited on Android

In Alloy Web, items can be locked to prevent them being edited. This can be done manually via the action bar or automatically via a workflow.

When locked items get synced to Alloy Mobile Android, they now display a visual indication of their locked status if you try to edit them. Users can no longer edit the locked item’s attributes or add/remove any items associated with it (e.g. attachments, job work items, related tasks).

Read-only View of Link Attributes on Android

When an item has a Link attribute that references multiple items (e.g. a job with multiple job work items), it shows as “X selected” when viewing the item's details in Alloy Mobile Android.

Tapping this now always displays the list of referenced items, even if the attribute is set to Read-only, or your user account has Read-only permission to the attribute.

As we reach the end of the year, it's time to look back at what we've all accomplished together in 2022. Liz and Kwarti, you can sit this one out... 😬

You loved it last year, so here it is again! We've put together a fancy webpage that you can log into to see all kinds of stats about your year in Alloy, delicately interwoven with the eccentric humour you've come to expect from us 😅

So go on, visit review2022.alloyapp.io and marvel at how busy your organisation has been this year. Feel free to share the URL of your personalised report with someone you want to impress, such as your boss or a prospective dating partner. Here's what Matthew McConaughey had to say about ours:

On behalf of the Alloy team, thanks for being with us in 2022, and we look forward to making 2023 even better 🎉

This month’s update provides a number of useful improvements across the board. The update took place during the evening of the 8th December. For a full list of changes in v2.42, please visit the Alloy Changelog.

Design/Interface Search Settings 🔍

When using the top-right Search panel to find items of a particular design or interface, there are several settings you can change to customise how searching works and how the results are displayed.

Before, these search settings were applied across all designs/interfaces. Now, they are saved per design/interface. This lets you be selective with your search customisation, so you can apply different optimisations to the designs/interfaces that are important to you.

For example, if you prefer to see Tasks sorted by their Created Time, this can now be set without affecting other designs/interfaces.

Additionally, these search settings now apply to item pickers as well, providing you with a consistent experience whenever Alloy presents you with a list of items for that design/interface.

For more details, please see this previous announcement and the Alloy User Guide.

Note: the search settings currently don't affect how Work Items or Bill Items are displayed in the Job Work Unit Editor. We're working to address this in an upcoming release.

Item Forms - New File Picker Control 📎

If you want to attach a file to an item, you no longer need to upload the file to Alloy first!

When creating/editing an item, it's now possible to upload a new file as you're configuring its Attachments attribute.

This is made possible by the availability of a new File picker control in item forms. When editing an item form for a particular design/interface, you can choose to add a File picker control for the Attachments attribute (or any Link attribute that references Files items).

When the item form is presented to a user (i.e. they create or edit an item of the relevant design/interface), selecting the File picker control will display a browsable folder structure where they can select one or more files stored within Alloy.

However, the user can also use the highlighted button to upload a new file and select it for inclusion.

Bulk Download Attachments 🖇️⬇️

When viewing an item's details, if you switch to the Attachments tab, you can now select Download all from the action bar to download all the attached files in a single zip file.

A simple but useful improvement!

Disable Module Workflows

Another simple improvement is the ability to disable any of the system workflows that appeared in your Alloy customer project after a particular module was enabled.

For example, you want to disable the Invoice Calculation workflow included with the Financial Accounts and Invoicing module because your organisation uses a custom-designed workflow instead.

When viewing the details of a workflow included with a module, you can now select Edit in the action bar and change Enabled to false, so it no longer appears in the list of runnable workflows.

Manual Workflow Output Mode

When creating a manual workflow, there's now an optional Output mode field that determines how items will be processed when the workflow is run.

The possible values are:

• Many items - all items are processed by a single workflow (used by default).
  
  
• One item - each item is processed separately by its own workflow. Slower but makes certain operations possible, e.g. if a workflow creates an invoice when supplied with an account’s Item ID, it will run once for each account, thereby generating an invoice for each one.

Alloy Mobile - iOS 16 Support 📱

In line with our policy to support the latest three versions of iOS, Alloy Mobile is now supported on iOS 16!

This means that we've performed a series of exhaustive tests on all aspects of the app running on iOS 16 and completed any work required to ensure stable operation. On this occasion, we only had to correct a couple of minor issues encountered when adding attachments to an item (such as a "Cancel" button appearing white on a white background).

As we take on iOS 16, we therefore say goodbye to iOS 13 👋. While Alloy Mobile can still be used on devices running iOS 13, the app will only be tested on iOS 14-16 from this point onwards. Therefore, if you were to encounter an issue on iOS 13, only basic troubleshooting support would be available.

Fortunately, all iOS 13 devices can be upgraded to iOS 15, therefore we strongly recommend doing so to receive the best experience going forward.

This month’s update provides item form improvements, the ability to attach files directly to permit applications, and a brand new map tool! The update took place during the evening of the 27th October. For a full list of changes in v2.41, please visit the Alloy Changelog.

New Measure Tool 📐

You asked for it, you’ve got it!

Alloy has a new Measure tool that can accurately measure the length between two points, the total length between multiple points, and the area of a closed shape.

It’s simple to use – just select the tool and then select two points on the map to draw a line between them. Continue selecting points to draw more lines. The length of each line is calculated and displayed in real-time, as is the total Length displayed in the bottom-left corner.

Double-select the last point to finish your initial drawing. If you do this over the first point, the Area of your closed shape will also be displayed.

You can then adjust your drawing by dragging any of its points, or adding new points along any of its lines.

This new tool will no doubt prove useful across many different service areas and reduces the need to visit sites, saving considerable time, costs and emissions.

Item Form Improvements

We’re continuing to improve the new item forms feature, which makes it possible to customise the form that users fill in when creating or editing items of a particular design/interface (introduced in the Alloy September 2022 Update).

New label property

All item form controls now have a Label property, which lets you set a display name for the control. If left blank, the attribute's name will be used.

New Multiline control

When adding a Text attribute to an item form, you can now choose a Multiline text input control. Unlike the standard Text input control, this new control can display multiple lines of text at once.

When a user selects the field on the form, a large text box will appear for them to write into.

New Super Globals

First, some background information!

We’re gradually improving support for expressions in item forms. An expression takes zero or more inputs, performs one or more logical operations, and produces one output. By utilising expressions, item forms can be context-sensitive and react to user input.

When configuring a control on an item form, you can target any of its properties to the output of a saved expression. This lets a property react to the status of other controls within the item form, e.g. make a read-only control writable if a Checkbox control is checked

Super globals are effectively system-wide variables that can be referenced in expressions. They make it possible for a property to react to the status of many other things in Alloy. For example:

• details of the current user (e.g. name, username, email address, item ID)
• details of the current item form (e.g. name, code, whether it’s operating in Create or Edit mode)
• details of the item being created/edited (e.g. item ID, design name and code, collection, parent item ID)

For a full list, see the Alloy User Guide.

This opens up all sorts of possibilities!

For example, imagine your item form has an Item picker control that displays the lookup list for a Link attribute. Using the power of expressions and super globals, it could now be configured to only list items with the same parent as the item being created/edited by the form. We know this is something many of you have wanted for a while!

While expressions remain developer-focused for now, this is an important part of ongoing efforts to develop the feature. We plan to make expressions available to a wider audience when we release a user-friendly expression builder in the not-too-distant future.

Indicate Required Attributes *️

Previously, when creating/editing an item, Alloy displayed all of the required attributes and hid the others behind a Show Options button. With the introduction of item forms, this behaviour has had to change.

Therefore, Alloy now marks any required attribute with an orange asterisk. This happens automatically, regardless of whether an item form is created for a design/interface or not.

Attachments for Permit Applications📎

For Street Works users, applying for permits is a regular procedure. Permits often require supporting documents and photos. While permits can have file attachments, you could only add them after the permit was created. This was a bit of a hassle!

Therefore, we’ve now added an optional Attachments step to the permit application itself, so you no longer have to spend extra time attaching files afterwards.

New Rounds setting on Alloy Mobile Android

In response to customer feedback, we’ve added a new Go to rounds on login setting to Alloy Mobile on Android.

If enabled, the app will automatically show the Rounds panel after logging in. This happens immediately, so you don't need to wait for the automatic sync to finish (your Rounds will refresh afterwards).

This will be especially useful for vehicle-based users who seek to minimise time spent between tasks.

The second update for September contains some useful improvements to Alloy Mobile iOS. The update was applied during the evening of the 29th September. For a full list of changes in v2.40, please visit the Alloy Changelog.

Note: the same functionality is planned for Alloy Mobile Android users.

Item Forms on Mobile iOS

In the previous update, we introduced item forms for Alloy Web. This new feature makes it possible to customise the form that users fill in when creating or editing items of a particular design/interface. For more information, see Alloy September 2022 Update.

In this update, item forms are now supported on Alloy Mobile iOS.

If a custom item form exists for a design/interface, it will be displayed to users automatically when creating or editing a corresponding item. As a result, users will only see attributes that the item form has controls for, displayed in the order defined by the item form.

If multiple item forms exist for a design/interface, Alloy will choose the one most relevant to the user’s situation. For example, an item form tagged as Mobile will be prioritised over one tagged All platforms.

If no custom item forms exist for a design/interface, Alloy will display the standard view (all attributes in stencil or creation order).

Prevent Locked Items Being Edited on Mobile iOS

In Alloy Web, items can be locked to prevent them being edited. This can be done manually via the action bar or automatically via a workflow.

When locked items get synced to Alloy Mobile iOS, they will now display a visual indication of their locked status if you try to edit them.

It’s therefore no longer possible to edit a locked item’s attributes or add/remove any items associated with it, such as attachments, job work items, or related tasks.

Read-only View of Link Attributes on Mobile iOS

If an item has a Link attribute that references multiple items (e.g. a job with multiple job work items), the attribute’s field will show X selected when the item’s details are viewed in Alloy Mobile iOS.

Tapping the attribute will display the list of linked items.

Previously, it was only possible to do this if the attribute was writeable. Therefore, if your user account only had Read only permission to the attribute, or the attribute’s Read only property was enabled, you couldn't see the linked items.

This has now been resolved, so tapping a Link attribute will always display the items it links to.

We’ve got some exciting new features to showcase in this month’s Alloy update! The release will be applied during the evening of 1st September 2022. For a full list of changes, please visit the Alloy Changelog.

Item Forms

This is a big one! We’re pleased to announce that you can now customise the form that users fill in when creating/editing items.

Item forms can be created for any design/interface and provide a wealth of ways to customise data entry, which can improve save time and improve efficiency.

Using the new Item Form builder, you can add attribute controls to your form. Start with a blank canvas and add controls as required, or start with the default controls and remove as required.

Either way, Alloy warns you if the form is missing a control for a required attribute, and you can fix it with a single click.

Some things you can do with the Item Form builder are:

• specify the order of attributes
• show or hide an attribute
• make an optional attribute required
• override an attribute’s default value
• make an attribute read-only
• use AQS to sort and filter items in the lookup list of a link attribute

If this reminds you of stencils, there are indeed some similarities! However, a stencil customises how an item looks when viewing it, whereas an item form customises how data can be inputted into an item when creating/editing it.

Item forms aren't supported on Alloy Mobile just yet (users will see the default form instead) but this is coming soon.

Stay tuned for improvements and enhancements to item forms over the coming months!

Custom Interfaces

Another major new feature is the ability to edit interfaces and even create your own!

An interface is similar to a design but can be implemented by other designs/interfaces. This lets you define a group of generic attributes. Anything that implements the interface will inherit those attributes, as if they were their own.

For example, you could create a Playground Assets interface, which is implemented by more specific designs such as Swing and Slide. These will inherit the generic Playground Assets attributes alongside their own specific attributes.

Interfaces also provide a way to address multiple designs/interfaces at once. This is useful when working with things like:

• map layers
• AQS queries
• workflows
• reports

Targeting one interface instead of multiple designs saves you time and avoids repetition. Additionally, any future designs can be included by simply implementing the target interface, avoiding the need to go back and edit things.

We’re looking forward to seeing how everyone uses this powerful new feature!

Colour-coded Report Builder Controls

In the Report builder, controls now display a pill shape representing the control’s Label and Value fields. Pills are colour-coded depending on whether the field’s set value is dynamic (green), constant (blue), calculated (orange) or not set (white).

This gives you an indication of how your controls are configured at a glance. It also makes it a bit easier to set a control’s Label or Value, as you can now select the corresponding pill directly.

Bulk Trigger Manual Workflows

In May, we announced the ability to trigger a manual workflow for a single item. As of this release, you can now trigger a workflow on multiple items of the same type.

Select your items in Data explorer and perform a Bulk action as normal. Choose the new Trigger workflow option and select the desired workflow from the list.

Context

As you may be aware, we have been facing an issue with importing geometry data through the Gateway using the Alloy Web Client. Currently, when a coordinate system is selected, all rows with geometry in an import will return a warning and will not be imported correctly. This has been due to a change to a third-party service which supplies projection settings used by the Alloy Web Client.

This is an ongoing issue and has not yet been resolved, however, in an effort to allow a workaround for this issue, we have altered the coordinate system selection to display the conversion (proj4) string.

Workaround

To select your data file's coordinate system, click the magnifying glass icon to bring up the picker and select from the list.

This populates the Coordinate system text box with the configuration string for your selected coordinate system. This string is currently being formed incorrectly and removing the text +type=crs at the end of the string, will resolve this import issue.

We understand that this solution is not ideal, and are working on a long-term fix, but in the meantime, we have introduced this change to allow you to continue importing your data.

This month's release brings a few small, yet mighty changes to Alloy. Here's a quick run-through of the highlights of this release. If you would like to see the full list of everything included in this release, take a look at https://releases.alloyapp.io

Character Limit Removed from Defects Description

The Description attribute which appears on all Defects designs previously had a character limit which was just too low for most uses. As part of this release, we have removed this limit, allowing you to use the attribute to store much more detail about defects.

Locations of Interest

Included in this release of Alloy Mobile, is a shortcut method for navigating to your workspace's locations of interest. The menu bar now includes a Locations of Interest (LOI) option, which will bring up your LOIs in a drawer list. Tapping the location pin of an LOI in the list will open the location in available mapping applications on your mobile, allowing you to navigate to the location.

We envisage this helping with things like needing to navigate to a tip if you're on a waste collection round and need to empty a vehicle, or to navigate back to a depot. The list can also be sorted and filtered, as an example, for times when you may need to find the closest LOI.

This feature is currently only available on the Android version of Alloy Mobile, we hope to bring this feature to iOS soon.

Full-Screen Job Work Item Editor - Mobile

Also included in this release of Alloy Mobile is a new experience when managing your Job Work Items. A new widget has been added to represent Job Work Items on Jobs, it gives you more of an overview of estimated and actual values and makes it much easier to quickly enter these figures whilst on a job.

This feature is currently only available on the iOS version of Alloy Mobile, we will be introducing it to the Android version soon.

As an extra special treat, this month contains not one, but two Alloy updates! As such, we are really excited to announce the second Alloy update for May. Here are some of the highlights of this release.

Trigger Workflow from Items

We have had the ability to create manually triggered workflows for a few months now, this feature extends that feature by providing the option to trigger those workflows from an item.

This would allow you to create custom complex actions for particular designs and for people to carry them out easily through a single selection.

When setting up these Workflows, you may only want some users to be able to trigger them, you can control this by setting Read permissions for those users. Any user who does not have Read permissions will not be able to trigger it.

We've been looking forward to this feature and are really excited to see what creative uses for this everyone produces. For uses such as completing all jobs on an item, creating an invoice or emailing a supervisor, the possibilities are endless.

Workflow Emails - Multiple Recipients

Previously, whenever you wanted your Workflow to send emails to multiple email addresses, you would need to create a separate node for each recipient. This update will now allow for multiple recipients to be listed under the Email To field. 

Just keep in mind that each recipient address will need to be delimited using a comma (,). When a Workflow is triggered with this set up correctly, an identical email will be sent to each of the addresses listed.

AQS Builder Relative Dates

Workflows have been able to define relative Dates and Times for a long time, but this useful piece of functionality has, until now, been missing from the AQS builder.

You can now use a relative date time as a comparator to other compatible attributes or values. This is particularly useful when you are defining saved queries as you no longer need to update any date values that are filtering your data to a specific time period. For example, you can create a saved query to display all Jobs raised within the last two weeks. 

The point in time from which the relative date time is taken from can also be configured to the following options:

• Now
• Start of Today
• End of Today
• Last Monday
• Start of the Week
• Start of the Month

Custom Reports on Items

An improvement has been made to the Reports pane. Due to a slight difference in how Standard and Custom Reports are linked to items, the Reports pane used to only show Standard Reports. This has now been changed to include any Custom Reports that have been linked.

To ensure that reports are linked to the Item they report on, when creating an Item Data Source in the Report Builder, be sure to check the option to Link report to item?

Task Assignment Current Date

We have been hearing some great feedback recently about the Task Assignment view, we also have a lot of great suggestions on how to make it a bit more user friendly. One of those changes present in this update is a small marker highlighting the current date, hopefully making it a bit easier to orientate where you are on the planner. 

 Alloy Community

If you have ever wanted to connect with other Alloy users, we have recently set up a great place to do just that! Alloy Community is a place for users to discuss how they're using Alloy, ask for help, get support with issues and to discover more information about Alloy's uses. Anyone can sign up to post and it is routinely contributed to by a lot of the people involved in building Alloy.

If you haven't had a look yet, why not check it out?

Alloy Community