Data Sources

Data Sources let you create and maintain data sets for use in Screens. Examples of these are a list of choices, a product catalog or a list of contacts. 

You can use Data Sources in Choices questions across any number of your Forms. Data Sources are also used as the backing data for other Screen types.

As an example, you could have a Contacts data source which you expose as a Listing type screen. This would have its own icon on your app start screen.

Data Sources save time by centralizing your data sets in one place. They also automatically update any changes you make to any Screens that the Data Source links to. 

The platform will ensure that mobile app deployments of these linked Screens will also seamlessly update.

If you have any technical personnel, you can even update your Data Sources through the integration API. This opens up the ability to integrate with your existing systems. Changes to database tables or lists within your existing systems automatically update into your mobile app.  

For example, you may have a catalogue of products that you maintain in your inventory software. By hooking up the integration API, any inventory changes could automatically flow to your app users in the field.

Data Sources let you create and maintain data sets for use in Screens. Examples of these are a list of choices, a product catalog or a list of contacts. 

You can use Data Sources in Choices questions across any number of your Forms. Data Sources are also used as the backing data for other Screen types.

As an example, you could have a Contacts data source which you expose as a Listing type screen. This would have its own icon on your app start screen.

Data Sources save time by centralizing your data sets in one place. They also automatically update any changes you make to any Screens that the Data Source links to. 

The platform will ensure that mobile app deployments of these linked Screens will also seamlessly update.

If you have any technical personnel, you can even update your Data Sources through the integration API. This opens up the ability to integrate with your existing systems. Changes to database tables or lists within your existing systems automatically update into your mobile app.  

For example, you may have a catalogue of products that you maintain in your inventory software. By hooking up the integration API, any inventory changes could automatically flow to your app users in the field.

Aside from simply specifying the data type and position of a Data Source column, we provide more advanced options which influence how rows will display in various screens and filtering scenarios.

These additional options are accessed via Data Source -> Rows page in the secure website - simply click the “cog” icon seen in the column headers.
This will open the Advanced Column Settings dialog.

The dialog contains powerful options such as:

Referring Data Source

Lets you specify another Data Source which contains the set of possible values that can appear in this column.  When you define a Referring source, the Filter screen in the app will automatically display those possible values as a drop down list of options instead of defaulting to text entry.

Conditional Display Rules

This unlocks a whole new level of display customisation for Data Source values.

You can define rules that make column values appear in different colours and text styles based on a formula result.

For example, you might have a Status column that has three possible values – Good, Bad and Ugly.  Defining rules for these will let you display those Status values in different colours to emphasise their meanings.

These rules can be leveraged on Mapping screens to colour pins, in Listing screens to vary the data value display and are also automatically applied in Form screens when you use a Choices field with List of Choices display style.