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Feature Showcase: Formula Builder

Eugene, a developer at Appenate, has chosen our Formula Builder Tool as his favourite feature to share with you this month.

About Eugene: A self-proclaimed pizza connoisseur and unofficial shampoo model, this generous human regularly grows his hair to donate for wigs that are given to cancer patients.

Having coded between the front and back end of our software, Eugene can appreciate the finer nuances of our platform. He explains why he thinks this feature is worth highlighting:

“It’s like the Swiss Army Knife of tools. It even includes well known Excel functions and exposes system variables cleanly. It really makes data manipulation a lot easier.

The Formula Builder tool takes simple data collection forms to another level by unlocking the powerful potential to compute and manipulate user inputs rapidly. If you are familiar with Excel, you’ll be able to apply your knowledge to optimize your Appenate forms.

We’ve outlined two examples that can be found within our app catalogue to illustrate how they can be used to take your forms to the next level.

Order Entry Form

This form allows users to capture new orders from clients and has used functions to run calculations and modify text.

  • The sum function totals up all the line items based on their quantities.
  • Concatenate to build up a summary line for an order that includes the product description, quantity and price.
  • To finish it off, the sum function totals up the proposed costs.
Detailed Timesheet Form

This is an advanced version of a timesheet form, allowing users to enter multiple time entries to a single job or day.

  • It utilizes the concatenate function to put together a string: start date, end date, entry date and entry total.
  • It automatically calculates the difference between dates or times on a specific job.
  • To finish it off, the sum function totals the number of hours worked.

Top Tip: Save time by using our very extensive Formula Cheat Sheet, which can be found in our platform’s Knowledgebase. In this cheat sheet, you’ll be able to run through all the possibilities you haven’t yet thought of to automatically manipulate your incoming data. Save time by keeping it on hand to see if there’s a formula for what you’re building.

In a nutshell, a lot of time and energy can be saved for the user completing the form as well as the employee processing the data in just a couple of steps with this nifty tool.

If you have any questions about this tool or want to know more about it, contact our customer success team or sign up for a free trial.