CogBlog

Branding & Buttons - Cool Customization Features

by Sarah Franklin

We have recently delivered features that allow custom buttons on forms and some basic branding of applications.  Custom buttons have been requested from many of you, and I recommend that you check them out.  The feature allows you to place a button on a form and then connect it to an action. You can connect the button to the standard actions (save, delete, etc.) or you can connect your button to any custom action you created.  I immediately added it into my project management application to display a button to send an email to the project team.  I was surprised how much more productive I am using the application from the addition of one little button! 

Basic branding has also been a popular request.  Now, you can upload a logo for your application that will display in the upper right of the application.  This feature is really cool for partners who develop apps that they want to sell, and incorporate their own branding.  Also, it is great for companies that just want to show their own logo to their employees.  As a side note -- you can also set a default application in an account, and directly reference your application via a url.  Very cool for funneling people directly into your app. 

Read up on the release notes for even more new features -- and let me know if the custom buttons and branding work for you.

Coghead iPhone App: The Making

by Sarah Franklin

The script reads the same every week for CSI – something bad happens and then some really smart people figure out “who done it”. Shows like CSI and Law & Order demystify forensics, making ordinary people feel that they could actually go out and investigate crime. My goal in the next few minutes is to help you understand the details behind a fully branded Coglet implementation and make you realize that any tech savvy business person can use Coglets to create a rich, dynamic web site backed by Coghead.

I will use the Office 2.0 iPhone provisioning process as an example. As many of you know, ITRedux is giving away an iPhone to all eligible attendees of the Office 2.0 conference. Ironically, Apple made the acquisition of the iPhones less than simple, as they had to be ordered one at a time, instead of in a bulk quantity of 500+. Ismael Ghalimi from ITRedux approached Coghead to help them automate and manage critical parts of the process. We, of course, said yes. Read on to learn how we did it...

You Asked, We Delivered

By Sarah Franklin

We take your feedback to heart, and use it to shape the features which are introduced into the platform. Issues surfaced in the beta program are given the highest level of priority (even higher than those submitted by the CEO). In our latest product update, we delivered the following features based on your input:

• lblaivas: Is there a way to make a field protected/not editable on condition?

Now there is -- with "Conditional Styling". This newly added feature allows authors to easily confiure applications to behave differently based on user behaviors. Very cool...

• jcohan: How do I create a combo list that is driven by the selection of another combo list?

I don't know what is more impressive, the fact that this can be done, or that it only took engineering one week to turn this request around (yes, including dev, test, and promotion to prod). This feature has come in quite handy to users looking to filter lists down by state, county, city or manufacturer, product, color.

• szpiro: Is there a way to integrate with other applications?

All applications in Coghead can communicate with each other through actions. We expanded this functionality to the forms as well! Now, users can browse records from any application in their account. Quite helpful if you are looking to maintain different applications, yet use the same information without duplication.

For the full list of recently added features please visit this forum post (updated periodically):

• New Features in Coghead >>          [Requires Login]

Please keep up the great work, and keep all of the feedback, issues, bug reports, etc coming on the forums...