Thank you for your willingness to test the new Composer. It is still very much a work in progress. Skuid has a bunch of nooks and crannies we are working hard to get right. So you won’t get frustrated when testing, we’ve outlined where we think you can test well, and where there is still work planned, in each of the major areas of the new Composer.
As we continue to deliver new capabilities in the coming weeks and months - we will update this document.
1. Components and component properties.
This is ready to test.
New features include:
- Different views of component list. (and we’ll make your selection sticky before too long)
- New arrangement of component properties in the right hand sidebar.
Some of the more nested component property areas are still getting some polish. This includes:
- Form field validation properties.
- Search definition (for tables, decks, lists, and filter sets) - especially for Salesforce models.
2. Model configuration.
This should mostly be ready to test. It represents a complete overhaul of interfaces for defining fields, conditions, actions, etc.
We know these features are not complete.
- SubQuery conditions on Salesforce and SQL models.
- Defining reference fields in UI only fields or metadata overrides.
3. Actions.
This area has a LOT of change. This community post provides more details. Its still getting some polish. Please test the creation of new action flows (what used to be called action sequences).
- We are still working on the connection of components and model actions to the specific action flow that they should use. We expect the normal sequence to start from a component and want to quickly create a new action flow for that component. That’s not possible yet. But its coming soon.
4. Display Logic.
This is another completely new area. We are now allowing the definition of independent logic rules that can be associated with as many components and scenarios as you want. Reusability FTW! Please do test the creation and editing of logic statements. Please test the new visual condition logic builder .
But much like actions:
- We are still working on the connection of components to specific logic statements that should be used.
5. Javascript Resources.
This area should be completely ready to test.
6. Page canvas and Index.
This should all be ready to test. New features that you should be looking for include:
- Using the index to navigate around a big page.
- Wayfinding in the canvas using the stacks that appear when you click on a component toolbar, or the breadcrumbs at the bottom of the page.
- Incorporation of design system styles into the page
- More WYSIWYG treatment of component margin, grid arrangement, etc.
We know some areas still need work.
- We intend to give you ways to adjust viewport width, toggle logic condition statements, replace merge syntax with placeholders, etc - so your build experience is even more realistic.
7. Surfaces and context.
A new concept in the Composer is “surfaces” - where modals and panels will now be configured independently from the actions used to trigger them. We hope this will make them much more discoverable, and reusable. You should be able to create new modals and panels and interact with them in the canvas index, and connect the new surface to an action.
We know we still have the following challenges:
- Quickly creating a new surface from the action used to expose that surface
- Allowing the builder to define the model row context that should be used in the modal or sliding panel (Context conditions).
Once again. Thanks for your testing, please add comments here, or start a new post in the community if you are confused about how things should work in the new Composer.
8. Other items.
A few other areas of the new composer we are still working on.
Field Picker. In about 50 places throughout the composer - you can choose a particular model field. We use a single “Field Picker” control for this interaction, and it has A LOT of variation. We have designs to complete rebuild that field picker, and this will be why choosing a field right now will field underwhelming, or broken…
Custom Components. These currently don’t work in the new composer. A fix is coming.