Stacker Customers

the way i’ve been able to do it is have a URL field in airtable that’s a formula field with the id as a URL parameter. So <https://mywebhook.com?recordID=recAirtableID>

<@U01QZMEN0CD> cool idea…does that bring the user to a blank webpage though?  I have an “Automation” form submission where the user selects an automation, tweaks settings, and submitting the form pings a Airtable script that sends all necessary info to the webhook (record id, base id, client id, etc)

would be a cool idea to have single click “quick automation” buttons

it does. i use integromat so a low priority to-do is to draft a better <https://www.integromat.com/en/help/app/webhooks|webhook response>

and it may be just to autoclose the tab it creates

the way I’ve done it is to have a stacker button that marks a record in Airtable which AT automation picks it up and using AT scripting to run a webhook in that automation action.

Thanks <@U01QZMEN0CD> and <@U01CSQEE31S>, appreciate it. Might go down the sexy webhook response page.

Hi Steve, if you send the details of your workspace to <mailto:support@stackerhq.com|support@stackerhq.com> we should be able to apply the correct subscription to it.

are you inviting them to your “workspace” or a customer access app? anyway the way I see it, since you’ll need their email eventually to set them on stacker, is to make an airtable form (or equivalent) and send that around as a “sign up sheet”, then email them all once you have the addresses to invite them to stacker

Thanks for the response <@U01QZMEN0CD>. It’s for “Customer access”.

We have tried the Airtable-form solution but did not like it because it required too many manual steps. I was hoping to find a good fully-automatic solution. :thinking_face:

Ah, the best I’ve been able to come up with is to send automated <https://stacker-customers.slack.com/archives/CSMQ6CB7Y/p1632500215210000|registration links> Another possible solution is to make a customer with a default set of permissions, fetch their one time login link, and then share that. You’d probably want to make a method for them to either add themselves (i’ve been able to make a “Users” stacker section for self-administration, but there is trust to my users in my case) or be satisfied with a default user browsing your app

Thanks <@U01QZMEN0CD>!!! We will explore that option (cc <@U02K2RAPB8A>)

As Rui said - currently the best UX we have to work with is:

Airtable Form to add new user to the user table -&gt; Airtable script/zapier trigger to wait 30 mins to make sure the user has synced to stacker and send email person with link to your stacker app login/account creation.

Having a better onboarding process relies on the user table being more decoupled from Airtable. The Stacker team are working on this now - its a well known issue/limitation. I recommend you go with the above approach until the shiny new one is finished.

Thanks <@U02BB8HKA0Z>! (cc: <@U02K6JP82QL>)

image.png

Hi Ellie, Please send the details of the app you are having this issue with to <mailto:support@stackerhq.com|support@stackerhq.com>

Hey Luke, the sync time from Stacker to either data source is 15 minutes (both AT, and Google Sheets). With Fast Sync, the sync time is 5 minutes!

Hi Krithika is fast sync back up and running? I was paying for this, but it got switched off

I think that yes, it does keep you logged in. I believe it’s a feature. Sadly, not a configurable feature AFAIK.

Regarding a solution, the only one that comes to mind is using “Incognito Mode”

Thanks for your response <@U02K2PK331Q>. much appreciated.

<@U02G1V7KTB6> I often had this issue in "kiosk" style environments and it was always a challenge for a lot of apps. Pretty much the best route is as Francisco said, and is incognito mode on any of the browsers. In an AD environment we usually set this up via Group Policies and applied to the walk-up or kiosk style machines. I believe you can set Chrome to delete stuff on exit as well to clear caches, etc.

cheers <@U02FV73C0DT> - the Kiosk environment is very much an accurate description of our use case. I will just have to be conscious of browser setup each time when launching. thanks for your advice

I had exactly the same issue, just @ you in the thread, seems no way to resolve right now :disappointed:

Screenshot 2021-10-28 at 6.03.59 PM.png

Hi Ruchika, We have phased out customer access in the new user model, please have a read through the docs - <https://help.stackerhq.com/fundamentals/workspace-users/app-users>

<@U012WD5EDE0> when did this happen:sweat_smile: it still works in my other apps

Recently, hence you have both. Sorry about that, there should have been an update to let you know!

<@U012WD5EDE0> Is the changelog getting updated with these changes? I wasn't aware either, but it looks like the last update to that was the 15th. We rely on that for changes, but I've noticed there are a number of things that have changed and are not reflected there.

<@U012WD5EDE0> I just build and about to launch a new app with customer access, should I hold off and update to v2.0? What are the advantages to v2.0?

Yeah, I was just reading through the docs as well and not sure how this works with roles. For example, our apps haven't launched yet as we are still building but reliant on the default Admin and then User role that came with Customer Access (that's all we needed), if that is changing and no longer available, then moving to the plan with roles is too expensive for us and we'll have to scrap the months of work so far.

<@U027FF5T0C9> Would you be able to assist with this Customer Access user change as well? It's all a little unclear what's happening here and how the changes affect folks, what abilities they bring, how they affect the default Admin/User role, and what the process is to getting to v2? Since the roadmap doesn't appear to be updated with recent changes, it's unclear what's happening with Stacker at this time. Thank you!

<@U012WD5EDE0> uh oh .. there really needs to be better communication on the changes. How does this impact the existing apps? 
How different is it from the earlier user setup? It seems quite different, especially the fact that there can't be two different user tables:thinking_face: I've pitched Stacker to a new client with some of these assumptions.

<@U027FF5T0C9> +100 to all that <@U02FV73C0DT>  raised. This is very concerning.

Screenshot 2021-10-28 at 5.59.31 PM.png

<@U012WD5EDE0> I have followed the steps as in the link you shared, however, I don't see any users in the list, even though there are users in the Airtable table.

<@U012WD5EDE0> Im with <@U01QZ40HRFW> Stacker need to up their game on production change tracking &amp; Comms.

Let me be super clear on the implications of this: if stacker release changes into production like this that either break our apps or introduce significant delays to building solutions (as we have to learn new stuff before we are ready), then the value prop of using Stacker will be off and we will start moving to a platform exit strategy rather then our current platform onboarding strategy. ie we will migrate back onto simple hand built react apps.

No hard feelings, we have a small team of seniors and don’t have the capacity for dealing with poor version/release management.

In this case we already migrated to using V2. And it was painful. But its in the back mirror. However I still find stacker comms and versioning sub-par.

Most other Saas platforms have a changes update in the app that tells you what has happened that you need to be aware of. Minor changes are just in a notification feed and Major are in the notifications feed and in a Modal when you login next time.

Something like this is absolutely necessary for any kind of software tool.

I'm in the middle of my transition to the new Stacker from Stacker Classic, and am having a very difficult time working through all the changes. Now I'm not even sure if I'm on Version 1.0 or Version 2.0. Was Stacker Classic Version 1.0, or have I missed a whole step?
I love all of the new features that have been added recently, and still see huge potential for this platform, but agree 100% with the others that are finding it hard to figure out what has all changed, and how it impacts our current apps versus new apps, etc. To make it worse, some of the support materials refer back to the old version, while others refer to the new version.
Now we're talking about Version 2.0 instead of Stacker X and I'm not even sure when Version 2.0 came about, what that means for the app I'm building, how I go about inviting app users, how app users differ from workplace users, etc. I'm going to continue trying to work this out, but I have to say, what was once a very easy platform to build with and navigate has become 5x more difficult to use in the past year.

Regarding the app users link and "Customer Access", does this mean that I now have to take an additional step to remove access for a user beyond removing them from my Airtable base? If so, that's not ideal, especially given the lack of access in Airtable to information about who has registered with my Stacker portal.

Looks like V2 has some advantages but I’m also right in the middle of build a new app on Stacker X (currently using Classic) so now not sure exactly what I should be doing, especially as took me ages to get my head round all the customer access stuff :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Hi All, Thank you so much for the feedback here. There definitely needs to be more updates on features that are being released, I will be passing all this feedback onto the team. 

With regards to customer access and the new user model - If you have set up customer access and are happy with this then it will remain as it is, we are not forcing the new user model. However if you do want to trial it let me know, I can get that enabled for you.

<@U02BB8HKA0Z> - Changes update in the platform would be great and something we would like to work towards. 

<@U017BRF2AMU> - If you still need additional help with your setup, please contact support and we can set up a call to help you set up.

<@U01QZ40HRFW> - I have replied to your query on the issue raised through support.

If you do have any further questions, please email <mailto:support@stackerhq.com|support@stackerhq.com> or DM me!

<@U017BRF2AMU> I've used permissions for this. In roles I just use a single role for all users, however I construct roles using permissions. So, I would have a Director Permission (condition being access to records they are a director for), Shareholder permission and so forth on all tables. This way there is some consistency in understanding the Roles/Permissions structure for the app.

Thanks <@U01QZ40HRFW>. This is what I did in my Stacker Classic app as well. It has worked well, but I'm trying to transition to the new Stacker and have been hoping to upgrade at the same time to take advantage of some of the more powerful features. I thought that roles would make it easier, but I think it just complicates things in my case.

Thanks for the response <@U02BB8HKA0Z>. Unfortunately, I don't think that the separate app route will work for me, practically speaking, as it would mean setting up and maintaining way too many separate apps. Alternatively, I could set up hundreds of different roles, but that would leave me with the same problem.

I think the best I may be able to do is to make the roles apply to the navigation items only, so that each user is able to access the navigation with their broadest applicable role, and then use record based permissions to show and hide fields.

<@U017BRF2AMU> yeah I hear that on the too many apps or roles. There are several things in Stacker that you wish were just a bit more programable. This is one of them.

Using roles with navigation and creating different protected routes is my chosen first approach. This works fine with List views, but you can only have 1 Detail/Update &amp; Create  view per domain (unless Stacker changed this :crossed_fingers:), when this happens you’ll need to use it on field groups and text sections.

One last idea - what if you just relate a user profile to corporation and then restrict the data they can access based on that relationship.

Then use roles to differentiate between Director and Shareholder.

So it will only 2 roles and won’t make the rendering rules crazy. AND you have probably already defined the relationship between these user profile to the company.

edit: this is a much better idea then the other two, if it were me I’d do it something like this.

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions. I appreciate you taking the time.

Create a view from the table associated with the record of Company. Have it display only a single record, and enable roles/permissions so that users see only the dashboard belonging to their company. On that detail page, have a link to a related column or some view that lets you add a record to the sheet that houses your upload form. Stacker will autogenerate the links that’ll prefill based on the company, as long as you navigate from the company detail page to the form. You’ll also be able to see the URL that is used for that form, and theoretically display that in a button banner.

Ok, so let me see if I understand this.

So use a Banner button to navigate to the upload-documents page. Stacker will autogenerate the company part of the form? Do I need to have that Comapny Name field displayed on the form? Or will it add the company name when I “upload” the document and pushes to airtable?

The critical part is having the upload form being 'invoked' from a page that is generated from the Company table

Ok, so:
1. remove the “Upload Trip Sheets” from my navigation bar. 
2. Add a button on the Company Detail page instead. 
3. Make the link for the button go to the form for the upload trip sheet page, do I need to pass in a parameter with the URL? `autofill__company_name=whatever` ? Or will Stacker do this for me regardless?

You shouldn't need to pass the parameter if the arrangement is set up in the way I described, but I perfectly recognize that my instructions were not super clear lol

If it's setup 'correctly' then when someone hits "Add new" you should see the company autofill in the resultant form

Haha, no that was super helpful. I will see if I can get that working. I actually like that setup better anyways. They don’t need to see the documents that they’ve uploaded, once it’s uploaded, they’re done.

<@U01QZMEN0CD> I’ve gone through this and something is not quite clicking. Is there anything I need to do in Airtable to get it setup right? Or is it all done in Stacker?

`On that detail page, have a link to a related column or some view that lets you add a record to the sheet that houses your upload form.`

This part is confusing me. When you say “have a link” is this a button? If so, what kind? An action button or a banner button? I’ve tried both and nothing seems to work. I was sent an article on Stacker about this and they suggested I added a new column, using a formula create a URL with the company record. I’ve done that and now I don’t know what to do with that. How do I turn a stringified formula into a button?

<@U01QZMEN0CD> Ignore that. I FINALLY got it. My goodness. haha. Thanks for the help.

Screen Shot 2021-11-02 at 2.35.19 PM.png

Screen Shot 2021-11-02 at 2.35.05 PM.png

That shouldn't be the case <@U02G1V7KTB6> – talking it out with the engineers!

That will be solved in the next few weeks!

How do you get the horizontal menu? Mine is vertical. I’ve searched through the settings, thinking it would be either in the Navigation tab or appearance but I was wrong.

<@U02K8PM2TJB> Customer Access &gt; Appearance &gt; Navigation Bar Position (Top)

Haha. Ok, next question, where is Customer Access. I swear I’m not this hopeless. Haha. I’ve looked and looked. I see two settings section: workspace settings and App Settings but don’t see Customer Access

<@U02K8PM2TJB> <https://stacker-customers.slack.com/archives/CSMQ6CB7Y/p1635424503040300> :wink:

I see. So does that mean I can’t have the horizontal nav bar? They don’t seem linked in my mind but I guess maybe so.

Hi all, so far the Navigation Bar has been available for Customer Access but it will soon be available for whole apps. Customer Access won't be available any more for new apps.

If there are Number fields with default values, they don't seem to get set when creating a new record through Stacker. Any one else see this issue?

Yes, you can do that. If you check the URL it follows a format using the record ID. You can have a formula field to generate the URL and use that.

<@U024WBD010S> just a note, the URL can be different when you view from "Preview As" and when you view when "Logged In As User".

Thanks.
This works when the user is already logged in.
My question was - if I can use the no-password mechnism (with which the user has a token in the url), and have a link to a specific record in the app

<@U024WBD010S> No, not a Stacker team member :see_no_evil:

Would love more information on this, <@UMTMCG109> <@U027FF5T0C9>! Here are a couple specifics:
• how much access to our data we would have 
• the interface used to upload / edit data
• whether it would integrate directly with automation services like Integromat
• how we would get around losing Airtable's external capabilities, formulas, etc

+1 on the questions raised by <@U01JV1M8PS8>

Thank you all for your interest here!
• You would have complete access to your data using Stacker Tables
• You'd be able to upload CSVs and use the current interface to add and edit data (in Fields), plus inline editing of fields
• It should be able to work with automations, we are working on that
• We will integrate more and more capabilities such as formulas
We are giving beta access to a few users with the understanding that this is still very much in progress, if you are interested let me know and we can sort something out!

<@U01QZMEN0CD> in terms of 'Who should sign up' – this could benefit anyone currently using Stacker, either in tandem with their data sources or as a single source of data. You would be able to centralize data more, plus there will be no syncing time as you might imagine, so that will make the experience faster. :zap:

Oh, interesting. Is there any issues with using Stacker Tables along side other data sources?

Nope, you could use multiple data sources including Stacker Tables!

I don’t have any immediate uses that I can think of but I always like to try out the new features, so if appropriate could I be added to the list? :slightly_smiling_face:

<@U027FF5T0C9> Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions, it’s extremely helpful to get a better idea of this upcoming feature. I would love to be part of the beta! 

One final question, would these tables be immediately synced, bypassing the 5 min sync issue? Thanks!

That's correct <@U01JV1M8PS8> – there would be no need to sync as all data will be hosted by Stacker!

Sweet, thanks <@U027FF5T0C9> . Would you say this is the main solution that stacker is working on to avoid this limitation, or are there other solutions being worked on as well? Just curious, thanks!

Our engineers are always working in the background to improve performance, I am not sure the sync time can be bypassed but we are also thinking about it from a UX point of view (ie. making it easier to sync data when added).

In terms of Stacker Tables, I am going to be running some usability testing related to the creation and editing of fields using Stacker. *Would anyone be interested in participating?* I would send you a prototype and a survey to leave feedback – which would heavily inform the designs. :pray:

Great. Just for you to know, I've been using <@U0146FKFCKE>’s refresh solution quite a bit, the one that forces a single record to update and pull fresh data from Airtable. 

(And please count me as interested in participating in the prototype, thanks!)

I would be interested as well! Curious to know what are the security protocols when it comes to storing data on Stacker itself?

In terms of security, the the data is stored in the same place as the cached data we load from Airtable, with the same security enforced <@U01CSQEE31S>

Thanks <@U027FF5T0C9>, do we have documents on how security is enforced for the cached data?

You can have a read here, hopefully this is of help: <https://www.notion.so/stacker/Security-Practices-at-Stacker-ca219236638a436e952a0639854cf534>

Will it soon be possible to add submenu (layout) pages independent of the table that they belong to (only regarding navigation)? I find myself building too complex workarounds.
Example: Layout A of Table A as submenu item of Table B.

Hey Helen, could you send over a screen recording to <mailto:Support@stackerhq.com|Support@stackerhq.com> so I can take a look? Thank you!

Hi was there a solution to this? ((cc <@U012WD5EDE0>  this is the issue I was asking about)

I’m getting the same issue. I can no longer drag a card to a non-visible status.

The basic rule with this is that if the update happens in Airtable, it'll take 15 mins to sync back to Stacker. A way out of this is to trigger an update in Stacker to "refresh" the record. This way the Airtable updates will be immediately synched.

For e.g. If an automation in Airtable creates a record and it is linked to the record you are viewing in Stacker, the linked field will not show the newly created record till 15 min sync is done.

Action/Event originated on Stacker = instant
Action/Event originated anywhere else = 15min

thanks <@U01QZ40HRFW> <@U02BB8HKA0Z>.

So the workaround that <@U0146FKFCKE> created was to create a ‘Sync’ button, when clicked updates a checkbox immediately in stacker, which in turns triggers a refresh of the record to include the values created in airtable as a result of automations etc. Is this correct? Does this reliably refresh all values when triggered?

This refreshes the values of only the record that had the check box. If you wanted to pull in changes in other records, from same table or different tables, as part of this then that won't work

<@U02G1V7KTB6> As Ruchika said, it’s reliable for the current record only, not for other records.
It’s still very useful in some cases, although doesn’t cover all my needs.

Cheers guys. I will play around with it and find the edges.

I'm finding that figures in charts represented as a number (sum of fields) update on a browser refresh, however the same fields are bound to 15min sync when rendered in a highlights widget - see image (field = Live Actions). What's the deal there?

<@U02G1V7KTB6> it could be stacker use a different data pipeline for rendering that stuff/State management life cycle. Given the Refresh Action Button -&gt; Checkbox is a community workaround it wouldn’t surprise me that this was at odds with other Stacker features.

I think the expectation that when the AT record in Stacker is updated (doesn’t matter how/when it happens)
Then all components that rely on that state should update/rerender. Including Highlight Sections

<@U027FF5T0C9> This sounds like a bug in the implementation of the highlights section

Thank you for flagging <@U02BB8HKA0Z> – will investigate!

Hi Jules, there isn’t a way to edit the login page at the moment, you can vote for the feature - <https://stacker.canny.io/feature-requests/p/edit-the-login-page>

Screenshot 2021-11-04 at 08.57.50.png

Screenshot 2021-11-04 at 08.58.00.png

Hi Nick, you can move the action button, click edit layout -&gt; actions tab, then choose the options in the dropdown.

<@U012WD5EDE0> Thanks. Can this action be a navigation action? Or is it strictly a those edit form pop up actions. 

It’s only available on the edit layout.

Ok. So I can’t make an action button be a navigation link? Gotcha. Thanks

Screen Shot 2021-11-04 at 2.13.21 pm.png

Hi <@U02D8J70D9P> I swear it used to show in the UI, but <@U01QZ40HRFW> is right it no longer does (or didn’t, but I thought it did!)

<@U012WD5EDE0> is this a deprecation or will it be coming back?

This has always been the case, it was the same in Stacker classic, nothing has changed.

what are you trying to accomplish? for this type of feature i generally have a computed column in airtable using record_id(). You can probably compose the stacker URL using that as well.

Pasted File at November 5, 2021 8_55 PM.png

<@U01QZMEN0CD> I have a javascript page that loads in the iframe that allows my team to look up a Google My Business record from a list of the pages we manage. They select the corresponding GMB record from the table and click save, and I want to be able to pass over the record id from the record the user is viewing in Stacker, but since the javascript file is hosted on our company server, I'm getting an error from Chrome when I try to access the current URL from the embedded code. (see screenshot)
<https://www.loom.com/share/cb1d72a89ea04d5ba600c4de1d0fca05|Here's a Loom explaining>.

hmm two thoughts: stacker folks can probably install a script on your installation, maybe that could do it? secondly, would it be possible to pass the record info into the URL for GMB? I'm not familiar with it, but if you could then you can use airtable formulas to pre-construct the GMB url such that the resultant embed only brings up the related business

<@U01QZMEN0CD> Good thoughts. Thank you! I'll reach out to Stacker about installing the script. The info we're looking up from GMB is only accessible via Google's API. I can't get to it publicly which is why we're querying the pages that we manage to then pull the location id's. I don't know of any other way to get at the data.

Hi Francisco, SSO is not available yet, if you are interested I can add your name to the list? please can you DM me your email address?

<mailto:francisco.quiroga@uc.cl|francisco.quiroga@uc.cl>

Hi Luke, Don’t think this is possible, there’s lots of moving parts to the Kanban board.

What is Stacker’s thoughts about *Airtable* announcing *Interfaces*?
<https://www.airtable.com/guides/collaborate/getting-started-with-interface-designer>

Hi Joseph, please can you send details of this issue to <mailto:support@stackerhq.com|support@stackerhq.com> include. your app details and some screenshots/video of the issue, we can then best troubleshoot.

Hi Chris, there isn’t at the moment, but if you want to vote for the feature - <https://stacker.canny.io/feature-requests/p/admins-to-be-auto-notified-when-user-comments>

When the the Comments and Notifications functionality is enabled:
1. Does a user who types @... get a list of every user in the instance who they can tag? This potentially a big privacy leak...
2. Are email notifications meant to be sent when you tag a specific user or any time a comment gets made for anyone who is following that thread? 

where do you see the option to integrate Google Data Studio?

Hi Sean, Yes it has moved, we are trying to get a better system in place so that there is one place to go to for information and changes. It’s still in progress, apologies for the transition phase at the moment.