We've got some exciting new features for you this month! The update took place during the evening of the 25th May. For a full list of changes in v2.47, please visit the Alloy Changelog.

New Item Form Expressions Builder 🧱

Item forms let you customise how a user can enter data when they create or edit items of a particular design/interface. You decide which controls appear on the form (e.g. show a Checkbox control for this Yes/No attribute) and how they behave (e.g. make the control "Required" even though the attribute isn't).

You can now use expressions to make your item form dynamic and reactive to user input!

What's an expression? Well, it's a sequence of values and functions that produces a final output.

Each control on the form has several configurable properties. If you set a property to target an expression, it will be set according to the expression's output, which can change depending on how the form is used (e.g. make the control "Required" only if another control is populated).

While some of you have been experimenting with writing expressions manually via the Alloy API, we're proud to announce the new Item Form Expressions Builder!

This lets you define an expression visually, by adding nodes to represent different values and functions, and then linking them together in a logical sequence. On first use, a handy tour will highlight the key areas and walk you through a simple example. For more detail, check out Alloy Help.

Expressions unleash the full power of item forms. Therefore, we're thrilled to make them accessible to a wider audience, and look forward to seeing them being used in innovative ways!

New join types in the Report Builder 🖇️

In the Report Builder, you can define a Join data source to combine the data from two AQS data sources (or other Join data sources) that share at least one column header.

Previously, the joined data would only include matching rows. For each row in the first data source, the value in the shared column (Defects in the example below) is compared to all the rows in the second data source. For every match, a combined row is created in the Join data source.

Those of you familiar with SQL will recognise this as an Inner join.

However, there are now other join types to choose from when configuring your Join data source!

A Left outer join includes the matching rows, along with all the rows from the first data source. As these extra rows have no matches in the second data source, they contain no values for those columns.

A Right outer join is the same except reversed, so all the rows from the second data source are included instead of the first.

A Full outer join includes all rows from both data sources! As with the other outer joins, non-matching rows will have blank columns on their opposite side.

Set workflow parameters ⚙️

Last month, we announced a new feature initially for Alloy API users: the ability to define and set parameters for manual workflows. This lets a workflow take input from the user that triggers it, providing a whole new degree of flexibility.

Following that, it's now possible to specify values for workflow parameters in Alloy Web. If a user triggers a manual workflow with one or more defined parameters, a window will appear to let them select each parameter and enter a value (see below).

For now, workflow parameters can only be defined via the API. However, this ability will also come to Alloy Web soon!

New Close Project workflow ✅

We've added a new Close Project manual workflow to all customer projects.

This provides a quick and easy way to close all the tasks in a project by setting their Status attributes to a chosen value (using the new workflow parameter feature mentioned above).

For those of you with projects containing hundreds of tasks, this will surely be welcome news. 😊

Edit the colour and icon of any item 🎨

If the Context property of an item is Core or Module, it can't be edited (except for any custom attributes your organisation has added to its design). This ensures that important items remain consistent for everyone.

However, we do like to offer customisation where we can!

Therefore, you can now edit the Colour and Icon properties of any item, regardless of its Context. 

You can also set the Name and Colour of any basemap.

Optimised item header on iOS 🦲

Nowadays, iPhones come in different form factors and screen shapes. Up top, you've got your classic "rectangle" (iPhone SE), the distinctive "notch" (iPhone 14) and the new "island" (iPhone 14 Pro).

Additionally, some models display a thin grey bar at the bottom, to serve as a reference point for gestures such as app switching. In Alloy Mobile, this could obscure the dots in the minimised item header (that indicate when multiple items are selected).

Therefore, we've optimised the item header to display correctly on all iPhone models, whether it's positioned at the top or bottom of the app. The dots can no longer be obscured and a white bar now indicates that you can drag the header upwards to see the selected item's details.

Stacked assets on Android 🥞

As you perform a round using Alloy Mobile, you may find yourself needing to select from one or more overlapping assets (e.g. to record when a bin hasn't been put out).

Previously, only the top asset would be selected, unless you spent time zooming in far enough for the assets to appear separately (and then zoom out afterwards).

Now, the overlapping assets will be listed in a standard item picker, making it easy and quick to select the correct one.