Embedding without an iframe

[Tom_Keysers]

It would be really great to be able to embed the views with the option to alter them. I know you could build your whole custom front-end through the API with all the functionality you can think of, but the basic layout of the embedded iframe views are already so functional that it can quickly be overkill to entirely build your own front-end.

I’m thinking of javascript plugin to embed your view with much more settings (than given with the iframe embed) and also events and callbacks so you can alter the embed through custom coded javascript, while starting off from the standard embedded front-end.

Are there any plans in doing such a thing? Or am I missing something and is there already an other option besides embedding via iframe or using the API?

[Stuart_Brameld]

might be worth looking at @Chester_McLaughlin’s airpress plugin https://wordpress.org/plugins/airpress/ (if you use wordpress). he is literally just about to start a piece of work for me that will use the datatables framework to render airtables content “natively” on a wordpress website.

[Tom_Keysers]

Thanks for the suggestion @Stuart_Brameld, but the airpress plugin still is a custom method using the API and rendering the front-end via a third party plugin (datatables in this case).

What I’m thinking of is: instead of using a plugin like datatables, an airtable js plugin which renders the exact same front-end as the embeddable iframes do now, but with customization options and callbacks to be able to alter it. Not only for a grid view but also the gallery etc.

[Stuart_Brameld]

Hi Tom, understood, that makes total sense.

[Shawn_Nelson]

Have you finished the project? I’d love to see the result. I’ve been using Airpress, but would like to see it more fully developed or more natively integrated.

[Shawn_Nelson]

Have you had any luck on this, Tom?

I’d love to see the result. I’ve been using Airpress, but would like to see it more fully developed or more natively integrated.

[Tom_Keysers]

Hi Shawn, I decided not to give it go, for the exact reason I opened this thread in the first place – I believe it would be overkill to entirely build an own front-end, in my case.

It’s, at least for the moment, a relatively small application, in which I just give the visitor a specific embedded view based on the category that is chosen and the account type which is logged in. This embedded view can be unloaded and replaced by choosing another category.
Ideally I would enhance the functionality of this app, but as stated, that requires me to interact with the front-end of the views, and for now it would be overkill to build it from scratch.

[Stuart_Brameld]

Hey guys, I’m been really busy with other projects but as an example of what Chester helped me do with airpress:

https://www.digitalelite.co.uk/website-design/website-review-tools/
https://www.digitalelite.co.uk/website-design/landing-page-tools/

both above use datatables, obviously formatting was specifically for my requirements. has column sort/filter/order etc.

https://www.digitalelite.co.uk/tools/ - this is pushing data from airtable into algolia for type-ahead search.

Thought might of be interest,
Best
Stuart

[Alex_Wolfe]

Very cool, thanks for sharing! Been wanting to see an actual implementation of this.

[BenInDallas]

@Stuart_Brameld, it looks like all three of the sites you pointed to here are employing Wordpress, the AirPress plugin, and jQuery DataTables to display Airtable data on a web page. That’s super cool, and in line with some experiments I’ve been wanting to try. Like @Tom_Keysers, I’m interested in creating new interfaces to display airtable data. In my case, I want to make user-specific dashboards/landing pages, and printable reports listing multiple records.

One question: It looks like all your examples are sending data one-way (from Airtable to the web page). Have you experimented at all with interactive pages, that would allow the user to edit the Airtable data FROM your page? Both DT and AP separately claim to have that ability, but I haven’t seen an example. Thoughts?

[Stuart_Brameld]

Yes spot on re Wordpress, AirPress & DataTables. DataTables fitted my requirement specifically.

I haven’t done anything with allowing users to edit airtable data from the front-end, not something I needed at all. I’d definitely recommend reaching out to Chester though if it’s something you’re after, I’m not a developer but I’ve hired many, and he was superb.