Apps

Pages that read and save data, collect entries, and can run a workflow from a button.

An app is a set of pages that reads data and saves it too. Where a dashboard shows what is there, an app is also where people add to it: log an inspection, update a status, set a target, attach the files a job needs.

When to pick one

Pick an app when people will work in it, not only read it. If the main thing is entering, editing or acting on records, it is an app. If the main thing is looking at numbers you come back to, it is a dashboard. If it is one written answer, it is a report.

The choice is a starting point, not a lock. An app is built and edited the same way as a dashboard, so you can add charts to an app, or entry to a dashboard, by asking.

Build one

From Create

Open Create, set the picker under the prompt to App, and describe what people need to record and what they should see. Leave it on Auto and Flitch reads the request and picks for you. See Create.

Or from the chat

Describe it in Chat. The assistant builds it in the thread, and a card follows the build until it is ready to open.

Collecting entries

An app collects through input tables. Say what people need to record and Flitch creates the table, gives the page the controls to fill it in, and starts it empty. You do not have to ask for one by name.

People add, edit and delete entries on the page, in the editor and on the published version.
Every change records who made it and when.
Deletes are recoverable, and an edit made against an entry someone else has already changed is refused rather than overwriting theirs.
Entries are never anonymous: on a published app, people must sign in to enter anything.

An input table is a dataset like any other, so a dashboard can chart what an app collects.

Running a workflow from a button

An app can carry a button that runs a workflow: press it and the page shows each step as it runs, then re-reads the table the run fills. An app can also collect the files a run reads.

The workflow has to opt in with the From the app trigger. Ask for the workflow while you build the app and it is made alongside it. See From a dashboard or app.

What it shares with dashboards

An app is built, edited and shared exactly like a dashboard:

Editing: the chat sidebar, the inspector and the settings tab. See Update.
Versions: each change is a version you can restore.
Publishing: the same visibility options and the same view.flitch.io link. See Publishing.
Library: it sits in the Library beside everything else your space has built, and can join a collection.