When constructing your front-end with Betty Blocks, pages frequently incorporate Forms. These forms link to action steps that dictate the behind-the-scenes processes, such as creating a new record or updating an existing one.
Action syncing ensures that Forms and action steps remain aligned. When you alter a Form, like adding or updating an input field, the linked action steps automatically adapt to these changes. This synchronization removes the need for manual adjustments, allowing you to concentrate on the visual and interactive elements of your application development.
Action step synchronization
With Action Syncing enabled, the moment you make this change in the Page Builder, the corresponding Create or Update action step updates itself to include the new field. There’s no need to dive into the action step and reconfigure it manually.
This synchronization happens automatically for new Create or Update components added to pages and for templates that include these components. While Action Syncing flows effortlessly from forms to action steps, it’s important to note that the connection is one-way: changes made directly to an action step won’t reflect back on the form.
What changes are synchronized?
Action syncing ensures that updates to forms are reflected in connected action steps under specific conditions:
When adding new form inputs:
- Property-based inputs: Value mappings are updated in synced action steps.
- Non-property-based inputs: No updates occur in the action steps.
- Property-based inputs within layout components (e.g., rows, columns): Value mappings are updated.
- Manually added value mappings: These remain untouched, ensuring your custom configurations are preserved.
When removing existing form inputs:
- (non) property-based inputs: the value mapping of action steps with syncing enabled is updated by removing all the assign rows where it was used
- Inputs removed via layout components: Value mappings are updated.
- Inputs used in multiple mappings: All instances are removed from synced action steps.
Non-synchronized form changes
Older forms can utilize this feature by manually enabling synchronization for each action step. Users can also sync multiple action steps to the same form or disable synchronization whenever needed. The platform provides real-time feedback and synchronization status, ensuring clarity throughout the development process.
A pop-up appears in your page builder when working with a non-synchronized form, letting you know updates are available.
Future enhancements on action step synchronization
We are planning to enhance the action step syncing with the following future features:
- Toggle syncing per action step: Enable or disable form change syncing for individual action steps, making it possible to apply this feature to older forms.
- Batch activation: Turn on form change syncing for multiple action steps simultaneously, streamlining the process.
- Modifying input property option: Automatically sync action steps when modifying input property options (e.g., switching from property X to Y or clearing the property).
- Real-time sync notifications: Provide clear syncing status updates to users in the page builder when making form changes, such as adding or removing inputs.
These future updates aim to provide greater flexibility, efficiency, and transparency in managing action step syncing.