Over the last two weeks, we have been working on improvements to the platform. In this blog post, you can see a simple list of what has been changed, updated, and/or what bugs have been fixed. Read more about the release notes here.
Pages
New features
Unified component styles
Value: As a business technologist, I want to have a unified component styles feature, so that I can style my components exactly to my needs.
You can easily add any CSS property to a Betty Blocks default component (both key and value). Styling states of the component (like on hover) is not possible yet.
You can save a group of CSS properties as a 'style' and you can apply this 'style' to multiple components.
As a low-code developer, you can add unified component styles as a feature to a custom-developed component as well.
Impact: New components dragged on the page will have this feature enabled by default. As a user, you don't have to do anything in addition. In the component options sidebar, a new tab will appear named 'styles'. This will only be the case of components present in the Betty Block default component set. Not for custom-developed components.
Components present on a page before this feature has been released, need to be replaced or updated.
Read more about this feature in this product-changes blog post or read the documentation.
Improvements & fixes
Partial editor
Value: Editing a partial inside Pages has been enhanced to address an issue that occurred when reloading the browser during editing of the partial. Previously, if a user reloaded while editing a partial the sidebar main navigation options would appear disabled. As a result, users had to close and reopen the partial edit mode to re-enable these options. This issue has now been resolved.
Impact: Users do not need to take any additional steps to benefit from this.
Create new interaction error
Value: Interactions has been enhanced to address an issue that occurred when creating a new interaction on a component that was saved to the block store and pulled into an application and used on a page. Previously, if a user created a new interaction on such a component the user received a fullscreen error. This issue has now been resolved.
Impact: Users do not need to take any additional steps to benefit from this.
Up next
Commitment to Quality Improvement
Value: As a leading platform vendor, we prioritize delivering a high-quality product. To ensure this, we continuously monitor our defined quality key performance indicators (KPIs). Recently, some KPIs for the page builder have shown a trend that falls short of our targets. We are actively addressing this.
Impact: Users do not need to take any additional steps to benefit from these improvements.
Page variables in the display logic option
Value: As a business technologist, I want to use page variables inside the filter rules (left and right-hand side) of the display logic option, to create a show or hide conditional logic based on application data provided via variables instead of data components.
Advantages of using page variables over data containers inside display logic:
Simplified conditional UI development: Page variables are accessible everywhere on the page, which streamlines the process of creating conditional UI development.
Page variable request information properties: The addition and availability of Is loading, Is success, and Is error request information items simplify the configuration of the conditional logic and saves time.
Impact: Users do not need to take any additional steps to benefit from these improvements.
Timeframe: Public release July 2024
My Betty Blocks
New features
User provisioning
Value: User Provisioning, ensures user accounts are created, given proper company and organization permissions, and updated when logging in via SSO.
Impact: When configured for the company this impacts all users logging in to the Betty Blocks platform by managing their access and permissions. For more information read the dedicated release notes.
Storage usage
Value: Company members with the view company overview permission will be able to view the storage usage per application and total accumulated storage within the company so that they can prepare for any extra costs or review their usage.
Impact: The information will be added to the global information and within the applications table within the company overview.
Improvements & fixes
Migrating action functions via export/import
Value: Applications no longer break when using the migration tooling resulting in manual migrations.
Impact: Migrating applications between different clusters either in the Cloud or different On-Premise instances now includes action functions that have been installed via the Block Store.
Login provider
Value: When creating new applications our classic environment will have our new login provider enabled by default so that we can provide a more secure and performing login.
Impact: Users who log in to the back office and web blocks when using internal Betty Blocks authentication will see an updated design when logging for newly created applications.
Merge performance
Value: Merging applications was slower than normal due to high storage usage in a database, this has been manually cleaned to improve average performance from 7 to 4 minutes.
Impact: All merges being done between applications, sandboxes, and branches.
Merge history breadcrumbs
Value: When using the breadcrumbs in the merge history it now includes the application, so that it's easy to navigate back to the applications details page.
Impact: Users that navigate to the merge history of an application.
Up next
Page validation check before merging
Value: As a user performing merges, I want to ensure that application changes are free of validation errors so that the merge output at runtime matches the design time configuration.
To achieve this, we will enhance the merge flow of sandboxes by adding an extra validation check for errors in your Pages. If an error exists, the merge flow will be blocked. This approach aims to:
Reduce out-of-sync sandboxes: Ensure that the pages at runtime consistently match the configuration defined during design time after merges.
Improve customer satisfaction: Minimize errors related to invalid page metadata, leading to a smoother user experience and higher satisfaction for our customers.
Impact: Users do not need to take any additional steps to benefit from these improvements.
Timeframe: July 2024
Migrate to Grafana as Monitoring/Logging platform
Value: Aligned with the observatory growth plan for the Betty Blocks Platform.
Impact: No impact on any customers.
Timeframe: July 2024
Merge performance
Value: Prevent merge performance issues due to faulty clean-up mechanisms.
Impact: All merges being done between applications, sandboxes, and branches.
Timeframe: Upcoming 2 weeks.
Education
New content
Component learn documents
To assist new users in getting a better understanding of our components, steps, and models, we are creating documentation on all individual ‘sub-blocks’.
These can be found on our docs environment or via the following links:
New users can now learn in detail what our native CRUD, authentication & HTTPS steps do
Unified component styling
We have created a new guide that supports users in learning the new component styling feature.
Improvements & fixes
Working with application settings
Value: Updated the application settings article with the recommended icon and background image sizing.
Working with application settings - recommended image size
Up next
Building block learn documents
Value: As a business technologist, I want to know how to use each building block to unlock the full potential of the Betty Blocks platform when building applications.
We have currently covered the components, are halfway through the native action steps, and will follow with the models segment.
Essential path v3
Value: As a business technologist, I can learn the latest business technologist essentials by following a video learning path.
Within the upcoming 2 weeks, we are working on recording the essential path
Testhub
Value: as a Betty Blocks platform trainee, I can test my skills via a Betty Blocks-supported test environment, and get graded on level-based tests.
We are currently working on integrating the test environment into our learning flow and rounding up the admin segment in which the education team can create and manage new tests and exams.
Platform roadmap
Want to know more about the upcoming features and functionalities of the Betty Blocks platform? Visit the platform roadmap of our community where you can find most of the topics that we are currently working on and are planning to work on. Let us know your thoughts by upvoting the topics you believe are the most valuable!
That was all for now. Your feedback allows us to continuously improve the Product. So please, let us know what