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.

Dropzones in wrappers

Value: As a business technologist I can easily see where I can drop components in locked wrappers, both on the canvas and the treeview.

Impact: When building with wrappers and dropzones, you can now more easily identify where you can drop components in locked wrappers.

If you hover over a locked wrapper component on the canvas that contains components marked as dropzone, there's a blue overlay showing where you can and cannot drop components. In the treeview, the components marked as dropzone are always visible, no matter the locked state of the wrapper.

Wrapper inside locked wrapper no longer selectable

Value: When you lock a wrapper the expectation is that you can not edit or select anything inside that wrapper unless it's marked as a dropzone. Betty Blocks now meets that expectation.

Impact: Nested wrappers are now only selectable on the canvas if they are inside an unlocked wrapper, or inside a component marked as dropzone in a locked wrapper.

Resolved ice-cream error in pages quick menu

Value: Resolved an error in large applications with 50+ pages which, when users clicked the load more button in the pages quick menu, caused a full screen ice-cream error requiring the user to reload the page.

​Saving a wrapper as a widget

Value: As a business technologist I can save a wrapper as a widget or component.

Impact: When this is released the wrapper component will contain a 'Save as' option that allows builders to save their wrapper as a widget or component. After saving, the new widget or component is visible in their respective category. That also means a new category 'widgets' is added next to components and partials in the sidebar.

Timeframe: ~4 weeks

In the last two weeks the team focussed on quality improvements of the data domain of the platform.

Replacing the current cloud storage

Value: We will be replacing our current cloud storage provider with Wasabi Technologies as our subprocessor for cloud storage. This change is part of our continuous efforts to optimize our services and ensure we leverage the most efficient and secure solutions available.

Impact: No action is required nor expected from our users. This transition will be seamless, and we are doing everything to minimize the impact to our services and are expecting no downtime during the migration.

Create a nested schema models structure in the Data IDE

Value: As a business technologist, I can create a nested schema model structure by creating has many and has one relations between schema models.

Impact: Previously you were not able to use a nested schema model structure where this was required to build your use case. With this new feature, you are able to build this yourself within the Data IDE. This feature will be released together with the usage of nested schema models as an action output.

Timeframe: End of August

Value: We have released a new version (v1.1) of the function "Delete All Records" in the Block Store. This new version includes the feature for deleting more than 200 records at once based on a filter, so optionally not ALL records from the model.

Old setup Earlier you had to fetch the total count of records, calculate the number of batches, loop through these batches, calculate the offset in each loop, get the collection of records based on this offset and delete the record.

New setup With the function "Delete All Records" you can now easily delete more than 200 records from a given model with just a single step. Define the filter (in Data API/GraphQL syntax) and the variables which you want to use based on the selected model. Variables can be exposed with curly braces in the filter option. Make sure to always use spaces in the filter objects itself, else these will conflict with the curly braces. It's the same filter option as in the "Data API Request" function from the block store, see the attached screenshot for an example.

​Use of nested schema models in Actions

Value: As a business technologist, I can use nested schema model properties in the output of an action step.

Impact: Instead of a text output at the end of your action, you will now be able to select a schema model and its nested properties if available. Enabling less advanced configuration for business technologists.

Timeframe: End of August

Native building block documents

Value: To assist new users in getting a better understanding of our components, steps, and models, we are creating documentation on all individual ‘sub-blocks’.

All of the data items now have an in-detail article on their use, finishing learn documents for all native sub-blocks.

Nesting in your schema model

With the new addition of being able to create single-sided relations between schema models, our schema model documentation has been updated and now explains the types and use of theses relations

Improved the model permission article

Our model permissions overview now shows the updated imagery and includes a basic guide on using them, action permissions are also included. you can find the updated article here.

Platform copywriting

In our research to continuously improve, we also look at the copywriting used within the Betty Blocks platform. Our technical writing expert has crafted new guidelines for our product department.

A uniform and inclusive platform copywriting will increase feature recognition and enhance the user's platform experience.

Essential path v3

Value: As a business technologist, I can learn the latest business technologist essentials by following a video learning path.

The new essential path has been recorded and is in the hands of our editor right now, we expect to be able to update you with a new path by the beginning of August.

The business technologist learning journey

Value: As a business technologist, I can learn about the business technologist learning journey and determine how long it will take to reach the appropriate level for my business cases.

We are currently researching the median learning line of our business technologists, and are working on providing our BT's with a guideline to learning the Betty Blocks platform.

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. We expect to release this application together with the new essential path.

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!

Visit the platform roadmap

That was all for now. Your feedback allows us to continuously improve the Product. So please, let us know what