What's new in Swift Release 24 in November?
Swift Release 24 – November features the following capabilities:
We are thrilled to present the latest release notes for Nov 2024. Swift now has even better features that brings custom data management, advanced customization, and enhanced visual control over widgets. Manage data directly within the platform, streamline workflows, and simplify debugging—all designed to make automation more efficient and enjoyable.
Read on to discover the highlights of this release and unlock new possibilities for your app development journey.
Swift Objects
Swift has introduced a significant enhancement allowing users to store and manage data directly within Swift using Swift Objects.
This feature is especially valuable for organizations looking to capture and manage internal data without relying on third-party applications. Now, users can create custom data structures (Swift Objects) and seamlessly integrate them into their applications, forms, and workflows, making Swift a more versatile platform for handling internal business data.
Key highlights of this feature
Swift Objects act like database tables and store structured data within the Swift platform. They can represent a wide range of data, such as employee records, customer, or inventory details etc.
- Custom Creation: Users can request Swift Management to create specific Swift Objects (e.g., Employee Data Object).
- Universal Accessibility: Once created, these objects can be used across applications, centralizing internal data management within Swift.
Swift Objects can be easily integrated into Entry Forms and List Forms for simplified data input and display.
- Data Channel Selection: In Custom Entry Forms, users select a Swift Object as the data source and map fields (keys) like Employee Name or Email for data entry.
- Drag-and-Drop: Users can drag and drop these fields into the form, customize it, and save data directly into the Swift Object.
Each Swift Object is defined by keys—fields holding specific pieces of data, such as Employee Name, Email, and Phone Number.
- Custom Keys: Users can define and add new keys directly within the form, offering a flexible structure for data.
- Automatic Mapping: While importing the Entry Form the Fields in forms are automatically mapped to the corresponding keys in the Swift Object, ensuring seamless data management.
Once the form is submitted, the data is saved directly into the corresponding Swift Object, eliminating the need for external databases.
- Internal Data Management: Ideal for businesses looking to store and manage internal data like employee records directly within Swift.
Users can retrieve and display data stored in Swift Objects using Custom List Forms.
- Automatic Population: The List Form automatically populates with stored data, making it easy to manage and review the data in a table or card format.
- Real-Time Access: The data entered in Swift Objects can be easily accessed and displayed for ongoing management.
Swift Objects allows users to manage all internal data within Swift, removing reliance on external applications or databases.
- Flexible Integration: While Swift Objects are fully internal, they can also integrate with third-party systems, ensuring that users can manage data both inside and outside Swift as needed.
Swift Objects also enables advanced data manipulation and visualization.
- Dynamic Dashboards: Build interactive dashboards, visualize data with charts, and use grid components to display data in an organized format.
- Seamless Integration: Swift Objects can integrate with third-party systems like JD Edwards, SAP, or Salesforce, offering flexible data management.
How to Implement
Creating a Swift Object:
- Swift Object Provision: Get your Swift Objects provisioned as per your use-case.
- Custom Form Integration: Once the object is created, it will be available in your environment, and you can start using it in your Custom Forms.
Building Entry Forms:
- In the Custom Entry Form builder, select Swift Object as your data source.
- You will see your Swift Object listed under the Channels Select it and start building your form by dragging fields from the object into the form.
- Map form fields to the corresponding keys in the Swift Object (e.g., map “Employee Name” field to “Employee Name” key in the object).
- Add a button to save the form data into the Swift Object.
Retrieving Data:
- After saving data into the Swift Object using the Entry Form, you can retrieve it with a Custom List Form.
- Select your Swift Object in the List Form settings to display the stored data.
- The list will automatically populate with all entries from the Swift Object, allowing you to manage and view the data easily.
Additional Functionality:
- Use Charts and other components to visualize and analyze data stored in Swift Objects.
- Grid Components can also be used to display the data in a tabular format, and users can interact with the data as needed.
Why is this beneficial for you?
- Custom data structures for efficiency and flexibility.
- Manage data entirely within Swift, with no external databases.
- Easy integration into forms, workflows, and third-party apps.
- Drag-and-drop form builder with automatic key mapping.
- Visualize data with charts, grids, and dashboards.
- Simplified processes, enhanced security, reduced complexity.
- Customizable and scalable to meet business needs.
Swift Objects offers an easy, flexible way to manage business data, allowing you to create custom data structures, design workflows, and access or display information seamlessly within the Swift platform. It’s a powerful tool for handling employee, customer, and internal records.
Enhanced Widget Customization
With this release, business analysts can now personalize dashboard widgets, including the option to hide the progress bar and modify its color to suit their preferences. With these options, you have full control over the appearance of your widgets, allowing for a more personalized and professional look in the end-user application.
Key highlights of this feature
- By default, each widget that is dropped into the dashboard will have a progress bar visible on the end-user application.
- However, there may be instances where you don’t want to display the progress bar. To accommodate this, we’ve added a checkbox that allows you to hide the progress bar.
- The checkbox is enabled by default, meaning the progress bar will be visible initially. If you prefer to hide it, simply uncheck the box, and the progress bar will no longer appear in the end-user application.
- The progress bar is initially set to a default blue color.
- To give users more flexibility, you now have the ability to change the color of the progress bar.
- To customize the color, simply select the desired color from the available options, and it will reflect on the end-user application.
- Once the widget is placed, you can adjust the text styling. For both the main text and small text, you have the options to:
- Make the text Bold or Italic.
- Adjust the Font Size.
- These text style changes will be applied directly to the widget and reflected in the end-user application.
Radio Button Control IDs for JD Edwards
With this release, business analysts can now enhance the functionality of JD Edwards forms by assigning separate Control IDs (or AIS IDs) to individual radio button options within the component library. This new feature streamlines the management and integration of radio button options, offering greater flexibility and efficiency in customizing JD Edwards forms.
This feature makes it easier to handle radio button options in JD Edwards forms and ensures that each option is correctly referenced with a unique ID, making the integration process more efficient and accurate
Key highlights of this feature
- When adding a Radio Button component to a form, users now have the option to enable Control IDs for each radio button option.
- This feature is only available for JD Edwards forms, ensuring that the Control ID functionality is specific to this type of form. It is not available for other forms such as Rest APIs or Database forms.
- After enabling the Control ID option, you can populate each radio button with a placeholder and value.
- For each option, you’ll have the ability to enter the Control ID (or AIS ID) that corresponds to that option in JD Edwards.
- When JD Edwards is selected as the channel, you can populate radio button options with their respective Control IDs (or AIS IDs) for each option.
- Each radio button option can now have its own placeholder, value, and a distinct Control ID.
- These Control IDs are used to reference specific radio button options in JD Edwards, ensuring consistency when interacting with the form or channel.
- Once the radio button component is added to the form, you’ll see a checkbox labeled “Enable Control IDs”. This checkbox is visible only when JD Edwards is selected as the channel.
- By checking this box, you activate the ability to assign Control IDs to the individual radio button options.
- When this option is enabled, you’ll be able to input the Control ID for each radio button option that you define.
Simplified Workflow Debugging
With this release, business analysts can now benefit from two powerful new features in Flow Builder: the ability to clone integrations for easier reuse and the option to view URLs in workflow logs for better tracking of dynamic URLs used in integrations. These enhancements simplify workflow management, making it more efficient to reuse integrations and offering greater transparency when troubleshooting integration-related tasks.
These two features make it easier to manage integrations and ensure accuracy when dealing with dynamic URLs, ultimately improving the workflow development and debugging process.
Key highlights of this feature
- Previously, if you created an integration and needed to replicate it for another use case, you had to manually recreate it from scratch. This was time-consuming and inefficient.
- Now, we’ve added the ability to clone or duplicate any existing integration. With this new option, users can quickly copy an integration and make adjustments as needed, saving time and effort.
- This feature is especially useful for power users working in the Flow Builder, allowing them to reuse integrations without having to configure everything again.
- When working with integrations, especially those involving dynamic URLs (e.g., from webhooks or internal events), it’s often important to verify that the correct URLs are being triggered.
- To aid this, we’ve introduced the ability to view the dynamically created URLs within the workflow logs.
- This feature helps users verify if the dynamic ID or URL values are being passed correctly during the workflow execution.
- The URL will be displayed in the input section of the logs, making it easy for you to track and troubleshoot any issues related to URL parameters or values.
Enhanced Conditional Data Visibility for FBF
With this release, business analysts can now leverage enhanced data handling in FBF forms, enabling multiple conditional rules for customized formatting based on specific conditions. This feature allows for dynamic, responsive forms that adjust automatically to user-defined criteria, offering greater flexibility and control in data presentation and processing.
It simplifies the creation of highly customized experiences for financial analysts and developers without manual adjustments.
Key highlights of this feature include:
Multiple Conditions per Field:
- One of the most powerful enhancements is the ability to set multiple conditions on data. Previously, you could only set one condition per column or field. Now, with the addition of plus (+) and minus (-) icons, users can set multiple conditions to fine-tune how data is displayed. For example, you could define that if an Order Number equals 5 and another condition such as Order Number less than 4 is also met, different formatting (like color changes) or hiding cell or row can be done.
- This multi-condition setup ensures greater flexibility when working with complex forms, especially in situations where various parameters need to be considered at once.
How to Use this feature:
- Applying Multiple Conditions to a Form Field:
- Navigate to the desired form field (e.g., Order Number).
- Click the plus (+) icon to add a new condition.
- Define your first condition, such as Order Number = 5.
- Then, click the plus (+) icon again to add additional conditions. For example, you could add a second condition like Order Number < 4.
- Select the color or formatting options to apply to fields when these conditions are met.
- Use the minus (-) icon to remove conditions when they are no longer required.
Conditional Form Transitions & Data Passing
With this release, business analysts can enhance user experience by leveraging conditional rendering and data passing between forms based on user actions. This feature is ideal for scenarios where form data is dynamic or dependent on API responses, ensuring smoother transitions and seamless workflows.
The enhancement simplifies process flow, improves data consistency, and enables conditional form transitions. It also allows API response data to be passed between forms, streamlining data handling for users.
Key highlights of this feature
- Users can set up conditional logic that triggers a form transition when an action is performed. For example, after clicking a button on Entry Form 1, the form can automatically transition to Entry Form 2 or List Form 2, based on the condition specified. But now the response of entry form 1 can be parsed and passed to entry form 2 which makes more robust flow.
- This functionality improves the flow of multi-step processes, especially in situations where you need to navigate between forms based on user input or actions.
- Previously, data could only be passed from one form to another if the fields were directly available in the current form. However, with this update, you can now pass data dynamically from one form to another after performing an action (e.g., clicking a button).
- For example, if Entry Form 1 collects employee details (such as employee name, title, and department) and the action on that form triggers a REST API call, the response from that API (such as the employee’s unique ID) can be automatically passed to Entry Form 2.
- This means that data fetched after an action (like from an API response) can be seamlessly transferred and made available in another form, without needing to manually re-enter the data.
- In addition to passing API response data, users can now set up conditional rendering rules on form fields that are populated based on the response. This allows for dynamic form behavior, where certain fields might be pre-filled, disabled, or shown/hidden based on the response data.
- For example, if the API response includes an employee ID or department information, that data can be used to populate fields in the next form automatically.
How to Implement
- Create a button or action element on your form (e.g., in Entry Form 1).
- Apply conditional logic to specify that after clicking the button, the system should transition to another form (e.g., Entry Form 2).
- Define conditions based on your needs, such as navigating based on the success of an action or API response.
- On Entry Form 1, collect data such as employee name, employee title, and department.
- Trigger an API call or perform the action that needs to fetch additional data (like an employee ID).
- Once the response is received from the API (e.g., employee details including a unique ID), pass that response (such as the employee ID) to Entry Form 2 or another form in the workflow.
- This data will automatically populate the corresponding fields on the next form, reducing manual data entry and ensuring consistency.
- Ensure that the API call (REST API, for example) sends back a structured response, including any relevant data like employee ID.
- In the response handler, map the received data (like employee ID) to the relevant fields in the next form.
- Use the response data to dynamically adjust the form’s state, such as pre-filling fields or triggering additional actions based on the API response.
- After receiving the API response, set up conditional rendering rules that make certain form fields visible or hidden, or populate them with the response data.
- For instance, if the API response includes an employee ID, this ID can be displayed in a specific field or used for validation purposes in Entry Form 2.
Wrapping Up
This release brings a host of exciting enhancements to streamline workflows and data management.
Swift Objects enables businesses to create custom data structures, manage internal data, and integrate seamlessly with Custom Forms, improving data handling and visualization. Widget customization offers greater control over dashboard elements, allowing users to hide or customize progress bars. For JD Edwards users, unique Control IDs can now be assigned to radio button options, enhancing integration accuracy.
Additionally, new capabilities like cloning integrations and viewing dynamic URLs in workflow logs simplify integration management and troubleshooting, centralizing data and improving the user experience within the Swift platform.
Let’s keep optimizing, innovating, and succeeding together!
Thank you for being a part of the Swift community. Here’s to optimizing your processes and achieving success!
With 💙 from Swift
Your feedback is essential in driving us forward, so please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts with us; and stay tuned for more groundbreaking features as we evolve!
The ability to create “disposable” experimental processes and apps opens up the untapped potential of the enterprise to address business problems with an unprecedented agility and positive innovation energy.
How Swift provides the game-changing capability?
Most low-code, no-code platforms evolved as the next-phase of the original development tools, built a decade or two ago, and still follow the same development mindset in their DNA. Although they’ve tried their best to make them easy for the business analysts and the users, majority have fallen short.
To bring about the real paradigm shift and benefits of a low-code/no-code platform, a grounds-up rethinking was required to work at a meta-data level, and incorporate at the core of the architecture, the latest and greatest advancements in web and mobile technologies, integration, security, analytics and cloud-based server frameworks.
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