AMA Custom Blocks Contest Edition #3 - Releasing your block

[Michelle_Valent]

The Custom Blocks contest deadline is approaching! Do you have questions about releasing or debugging your block? We’re hosting our third live Ask Me Anything (AMA) session in this thread on Wednesday (6/24) at 11am PT.

Billy Littlefield and Tim Deng from our platform engineering team will be ready to answer any development questions you have.

We’ll be picking 3 questions at random to win a $40 Amazon gift card. Any solutions offered by the community will be included in the draw as well. You can even start posting your questions now, and we’ll be answering questions live from 11am - 11:30am PT on Wednesday. See you there!

[Tim_Deng]

kuovonne:

It looks like the .block folder lists remotes, including base app ids. I’d rather not include my app ids in a public git repository.

However, this folder is not included in the .gitignore file by default.
What are the implications of adding this folder to the .gitignore file?
How hard will it be for someone to re-create my custom block if I add this folder to .gitignore?

Adding your .block folder to your git ignore will prevent it from syncing to your git remote, but it’ll still be on your local computer. If you’re the only one working on the custom block and you only use one computer, this isn’t an issue (otherwise, everyone else collaborating on your block will need the same app and base IDs). If you’re concerned about other users, ignoring your .block folder should be fine! They can choose “Remix from GitHub” when creating a custom block, and it will automatically create a .block folder for them.

[Billy_Littlefie]

kuovonne:

When invoking a custom block from a button, is there a way to tell when a button has been pressed again? I can tell if a button for a different record has been pressed because I can compare the current record with the previous record, but I would also like to be able to tell if the button for the same record has been pressed again.

Use case: the user presses the button to start a wizard, which progresses through some screens. If the user presses the button again, I would like to start the wizard over again from the beginning

Ah, interesting use case. With the useRecordActionData hook, the data always will be the latest press, so you wouldn’t register a separate click. I think you can register a callback directly, though, using registerRecordActionDataCallback which should execute the registered callback on every push (even if its the same button).

I wonder if there’s value in providing a timestamp or ID in the action payload to distinguish between these clicks using the hook.

EDIT: Another solution here would be to use a usePrevious hook, e.g.

function usePrevious(value) {
	const ref = React.useRef();
	React.useEffect(() => {
		ref.current = value;
	});
	return ref.current;
}

This way, you can compare the value returned by useRecordActionData() for subsequent presses. Even if the same record is clicked, the object returned by useRecordActionData on a subsequent button press will be a new object compared to the value cached by usePrevious.

function MyComponent() {
    const buttonData = useRecordActionData();
    const lastButtonData = usePrevious(buttonData);
    useEffect(() => {
        if (buttonData !== lastButtonData && buttonData) {
            // perform logic for button press
        }
    }, [buttonData, lastButtonData])
    
   // ... rest of component ...
}

[Billy_Littlefie]

kuovonne:

How do you recommend showing a <Loader scale={0.3} /> while doing a fetch ?
Do I use state to keep track of when the fetch has been sent, and then change state when the response is received? Is there an easier way?

I think that’s the most logical way – barebones example:

function MyComponent() {
    const [isLoading, setIsLoading] = useState(false);
    
    function fetchTheThing() {
        setIsLoading(true);
        
        fetch('example.com').then(response => {
            // do stuff with response
            setIsLoading(false);
        })
    }

    return (
        <Box>
            {isLoading ? (
                <Loader />
            ) : (
                <RestOfApp />
            )}
        </Box>
    )
}

[Billy_Littlefie]

kuovonne:

It appears that in order to have a remote release of a block, the block author needs to be a collaborator with creator permissions in the target base. Can you confirm this?

Is there a way to install a custom block without the developer being a creator?
Does the block remain after the developer/creator is no longer a collaborator?

Correct, currently only creators can create, release, and install blocks in a given base. It’s not currently possible to install a custom block without creator permissions. If the developer/creator is removed from the base, the block will remain. Releasing, publishing, and sharing blocks is something we’re thinking about for the future in order to reduce friction for both the developer and consumers.

[Tim_Deng]

And that’s a wrap! If you have any further questions, you can always find us in the custom blocks beta forum. The winners for this week are @Yuriy_Klyuch, @kuovonne, and @Kirill_Madorin!

With the contest deadline fast approaching (July 6th), we’ll be hosting our last AMA in the custom blocks contest series next week with a twist! Instead of AMA, we’ve got a fun “AYA” format planned. The post will be up EoD Friday and will be open until 6pm PT on Thursday, July 1. We’ll be giving out Amazon gift cards to three of the most insightful posts. Stay tuned!

[Billy_Littlefie]

Kirill_Madorin:

Hi

I’ve just finished a very first version of Image Annotation block. Here is a demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O6hSDny2TA . Could you give me some feedback on what to improve before releasing it?

And some more quesitons:

1. Is it possible to specify not only fields, but also field values in RecordQueryResultOpts? For example, to get only records which have a specific value in a specific field?
2. How can I create a table with a field that will be linked to another table? What options should I use when calling 'base.unstable_createTableAsync`
3. Is it possible to import a css file in the component? Can I extend the build/dev configs somehow?
4. Do you provide some tools to log errors in Custom Blocks or it will be better to use something like Sentry for now?

Exciting to see your block in action! I’ll have to refrain from providing feedback now, assuming this is an entrant in the current blocks contest. Happy to answer your questions, though!

1. It’s not currently possible to specify field values using RecordQueryResultOpts, but if you create a view in the main product that performs this filtering, you can select records from just that view.
2. Unfortunately, linked record fields are not included in the current scope of metadata writes (along with formulaic fields) - some work still needs to be done on what that API looks like.
3. You can’t currently configure the build, but CSS can be loaded using loadCSSFromString or loadCSSFromURLAsync.
4. We don’t currently provide any built-in tooling for error logging. In theory, you could log errors to an “Errors” table in the base, but that may not be the best approach depending on your use-case.