Upcoming Updates - August 2022

Hi all,

Greetings from the Zoho Creator team! Today we've got news for you on some exciting updates. And rest assured— there’s more to come!

In this post, we'll be going over the upcoming features and improvements for this month as mentioned below. A few of these will be available immediately and the rest are planned for release in the coming weeks.

• Enabling dark mode for Android apps
• Introducing presets
• Customizing display titles for forms
• Launching a revamped UI for customer portals
• Announcing strict validation for the max length field property
  
  

In addition to the above, Creator 4 will be deprecated, and all the accounts still using it will be automatically upgraded to Creator 5 by August 31, 2022. Scroll down to know more!

Dark mode for Android

One of our most requested features is finally here: Dark mode!

Dark mode, which is currently supported in our iOS apps, has now been extended to Android apps as well. We have carefully designed every component and screen to have an overall balanced color scheme for your mobile apps. Dark mode will be automatically enabled based on your default system settings and has the following benefits:

• Reduces power usage by a significant amount (depending on your device's screen technology)
• Improves visibility for users with low vision and those who are sensitive to bright light
• Makes it easier for anyone to use their devices in low-light environments
  

Presets - panel configuration reusability

You can configure aggregates to be displayed on page panels. Currently, if such a configuration needs to be reused on a different panel on the same page or on a different page, it has to be manually reconfigured. With presets, the aggregate configuration can now be saved and used across apps in your Creator account, thereby preventing repeated manual configurations. The created presets will be available as a dropdown inside the panel element.

Presets are required in cases, where a configured aggregate value needs to be displayed in more than one panel, like if a user needs to display the Total Profit value in their dashboard, both as an actual value and as a percentage value. In this particular case, the user will have to manually configure the Total Profit value in two panels and choose a different Show As value (Actual in one panel and Percentage of a number in the other panel) in each panel. Using the preset capability, users can save the configuration and reuse it in different panels with only the Show As value being different.

Introducing different display titles for forms

Interacting with forms can become more meaningful when we have contextual information about the actions performed by users. We've introduced form titles that'll enable you to assign different customized titles to the forms displayed when a user is performing the following tasks:

• While adding record - The title that will be displayed when a user accesses the form to add a record.
• While editing record - The title that will be displayed when a user is editing an existing record.

By default, the form title for while adding to the form and while editing the form actions will be the same as the form name. Learn more

Revamped UI for customer portals

We're happy to announce the rolling out of a major refinement to the customer portal UI (​sign in​, ​signup​, and ​reset password​ pages).

Portal users will now be able to use a one-time password (OTP) for signing in to your customer portal. Along with Google and Facebook, ​federated login​ can now be set up to allow users to sign in to the portal using their Apple IDs.

These refinements have been designed to ensure compatibility with upcoming features that we are working on. Although the feel and appearance of the new UI will be different from the existing one, we have ensured that it doesn't affect any of your existing portal functionalities. We'll have a separate detailed post on the changes for existing users once the feature is ready to go live.

Announcing strict validation for the max character length field property

In reference to ​this post​, starting from August 31, 2022, maximum character length validation will be implemented strictly across Creator. If a record is added via Deluge, API, or email input, the maximum length property will be validated for all your form fields. This validation ensures that all the records added via various inputs undergo a thorough check for their field characters to ensure they're on par with the predefined character limits that you set, thereby minimizing error handling. After this update, errors might be shown in the following cases:

(i) Existing forms:

While editing/updating a record in an existing form, the maximum length property will be validated for all fields in that form.

(ii) Workflows

• On validate: Following this update, during the execution of the on validate script for a particular record, the maximum length validation will be strictly performed for all the fields that are associated with the script, and an appropriate error will be thrown.
• On success: Following this update, during the execution of the on success script, an exception will be thrown for varchar fields (email, single line) when a new record is successfully submitted to the database or when an existing record is updated or deleted from the database. In the case of number fields, the values will be truncated upon successful submission.
  
  

(iii) APIs

While adding/updating record values via API requests, the maximum length property will be validated for all fields.

Additionally, if a record is added via ​email input​, the maximum length property for all the fields will be validated. As an admin, you can minimize errors by suitably adjusting your character limits. We also assure you that we've taken all necessary measures to ensure that the transition is seamless, with minimal impact on your end.

Upgradation to Creator 5

The majority of our users have already ​migrated to Creator 5​ from the previous version (Creator 4). As the final step of this process, we'll be automatically migrating the remaining accounts using the older version to Creator 5 by August 31, 2022.

As you all know, ​Creator 5​ empowers developers to customize traditional web-based apps for smartphones and tablets, opening up new possibilities and ensuring an all-around smoother experience. You will be notified via email prior to the migration and this will not affect the data in your existing Creator apps.

We hope this announcement serves to be helpful in planning your upcoming projects and apps. We'd also like to thank you once again for your loyalty and continued support. Please don't hesitate to reach out to us at ​support@zohocreator.com​ if you have any questions or concerns, or need assistance.

That's all for now!

Thanks,
The Zoho Creator Team.

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