List of release notes 2024.16

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

Improvements & fixes

Component control bar

Value: The component control bar has been enhanced to address a user interface issue that occurred when using the ‘jump to parent’ button. Previously, when opening the jump to parent button the menu had a white background color and was unreadable. This issue has now been resolved.

Impact: Users do not need to take any additional steps to benefit from this.

Action input variable option

Value: The page builder design time has been enhanced to address an issue that occurred when editing an action input variable from the page builder. Previously, users encountered a full-screen error if they clicked the edit button for an action input variable that had already been deleted. This issue has now been resolved.

Impact: Users do not need to take any additional steps to benefit from this.

Page settings

Value: The sidebar’s menu for page editing has been enhanced to address an issue that occurred when opening the page settings. Previously, clicking on the page settings tab failed to open the settings correctly when the component tree menu item was positioned on the right-hand side. This issue has now been resolved, ensuring the settings open as expected regardless of the component tree's position.

Impact: Users do not need to take any additional steps to benefit from this.

Page compile validation

Value: The page compile validation feature has been upgraded to catch missing action references during compile time. Previously, users could compile their pages even if a component (e.g. Action button) had a missing linked action, leading to unexpected behavior during runtime. This enhancement ensures that all action references are validated, providing a more reliable and error-free application experience.

Impact: Users do not need to take any additional steps to benefit from this.

Component selection inside a wrapper

Value: The wrapper component has been enhanced to address an issue that occurred when selecting components within an unlocked wrapper inside a dropzone. Previously, it was impossible to select these components and access their options in the sidebar. This issue has now been resolved, allowing you to easily select and modify the components as needed.

Impact: Users do not need to take any additional steps to benefit from this.

Adding empty wrapper components

Value: The wrapper component has been upgraded to enhance your workflow when adding new instances to the canvas. Previously, new (empty) wrapper components were added in a locked state by default. Now, empty wrapper components are unlocked by default when dropped onto the canvas, allowing for quicker and more efficient modifications to the wrapper content.

Impact: Users do not need to take any additional steps to benefit from this.

Up next

​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 its respective category. That also means a new category 'widgets' is added next to components and partials in the sidebar.

Timeframe: ~4 weeks

Commitment to Quality improvement

Value: As a leading platform vendor, we prioritise 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.

Data

New features

Commitment to Quality improvement

Currently we are improving the quality of the data segment by improving our internal processes and code bases. All to service the builders on the platform better and give them a better builder experience.

Up next

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

Actions

New features

Commitment to quality improvement

Currently we are improving the quality of the actions segment by improving our internal processes and code bases. All to service the builders on the platform better and give them a better builder experience.

Up next

​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

My Betty Blocks

New features

Page validation check before merge

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: Minimise errors related to invalid page metadata, leading to a smoother user experience and higher satisfaction for our customers.

Improvements & fixes

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.

Updated design for application logos and backgrounds

Value: Change the look and feel of the application logo & background to be able to distinguish applications and sandboxes easier.

Impact: All applications & sandboxes where no logo and background is configured.

Unable to resolving conflicts

Value: Fixed a bug where the checkbox to resolve a conflict could not be selected.

Impact: Unable to resolve conflicts when merging branches

Up next

SSO via Internal Authentication

Value: Can now use SSO in combination with the Internal authentication, so that runtime pages can be accessed via said login.

Impact: Have SSO enabled on a company level and use Betty Blocks internal authentication on pages.

Timeframe: Begin August.

Migrate existing applications to new Login Provider

Value: In the upcoming months we’re going to migrate existing applications from our current login provider to our new login provider to increase the security and compliance of our login provider.

Impact: When logging in to the platform will be via an updated design, similar to the design when logging into My Betty Blocks. When SSO is configured on the application level we will reach out to be able to change to the new login provider.

Timeframe: End August and begin September

Education

New features

Understanding the learning journey for platform personas

Value: At Betty Blocks we want to help users of different technical levels to move towards the level of application development they aspire to. This article will help them see the steps they can take and some tools we currently offer to get there.

How to learn about the platform, the business technologist journey

Improvements & fixes

Added the 'Get array element' expression

Value: Added a new custom expression to the expression step reference, allowing users to get a specific element from an array.

Updated the survey builder article

Value: The Survey builder article now has a segment about the custom actions used, allowing users who have made use of the survey builder article to improve the processing of big surveys.

Improve the Action step functionality article

Value: new visuals and links to the previously created learn documents have been added to the Action step functionality article to improve readability and navigation flow.

Added the validation error feature

Value: The Sandbox reference now explains the new validation error feature that can appear while merging, allowing users to understand and how to solve the error.

Improve docs readability and navigation

Value: We updated about 30 articles to fit in a better segment, and improved their titles and subtitles, allowing users to get better and more fitting results when using the docs.bettyblocks.com search engine.

Up next

The Betty Blocks augmentation guide

Value: Producing a guide for technical developers that will cover the minimum requirements of augmenting with Betty Blocks.

We have used a timeframe to focus on improving the experience of the beginning low/no-code developer, and have heard many wishes from advanced developers to provide them with guidance on augmenting their SAAS/data tools with Betty Blocks, with a technical and easy access implementation guide.

Timeframe: End August and begin September

Platform copywriting quality

Value: Improve the copywriting used within the Betty Blocks platform resulting in easier navigation on the platform.

The education team has done research on our language usage and is going to work on improving the grammatical inconsistencies and ensuring unified phrasing and key term use within 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.

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!

Visit the platform roadmap

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