In this article we are going to look into next big feature which was introduced in AgilePoint NX v7.0 release which is Form based application which is also commonly known as Form as a Service (FaaS) or Data Driven Apps. This has been the most awaited feature in v7.0 where you could create standalone data driven applications which do not need a process model.
Most applications today are form-based and do not involve workflow. AgilePoint NX 7.0 includes Forms as a Service (FaaS), which enables citizen developers to easily create form-based applications. Data in form-based applications can originate in any SQL database (Oracle, My SQL, MS SQL Server, etc.), AgilePoint NX’s inbuilt data entities, Salesforce entities, or SharePoint entities.
Enterprises can rapidly replace hundreds of custom and non-portable UI-based apps, such as InfoPath apps. Non-technical users can build future-proof apps, which are not tied to any platform, device or channel and can be embedded in mobile apps, web pages, other form pages, portals, SharePoint apps, Salesforce apps, and more. Here are few key features
- Build data-driven apps fast with a drag-and-drop approach to app design.
- Unlike other products which only allow creating apps on top of their data entities, AgilePoint allows creating apps on top of the inbuilt data entities but also on top of other data sources, such as custom
databases, Salesforce, SharePoint Lists, etc. - Powerful lookup functionality, enabling data to be brought into the form from multiple third-party systems without coding.
- Automatically generate responsive applications that can run on any device with your data model.
- Customize business entities and tailor the user experience to specific roles with a drag-and-drop designer.
- Define role-based custom views for consuming data with customized search support.
- Create rich and powerful custom widgets (portlets), which can be embedded in the portal pages.
Lets see how to design a new form-based application on top of already designed entity in Salesforce.
Please note that I had recorded this video when this feature was in beta version so some of the labels and icons would have changed since then but the concept of designing such app remains the same. At the time of posting, this feature is already in GA.