FieldFX Mobile 2018 Updates

Field users who keep their device online after they close Mobile will be returned to the exact same screen the next time they open the app.

You can now use the emptyValue attribute with the formatPercent report helper to control null values for percentages.

LiquidFrameworks has added support for the <background> XML element in FX Reports. The <background> element inserts a repeating background image into the <template> element. You can use <background> to add a watermark in the main area of a report. For more information about the <background> element, visit XML Elements in FieldFX nline Help.

Field users no longer have to click into a row of the Ticket Grid in Mobile to see which fields they can edit. The Locked status of a field can now display in the Ticket Grid in Edit mode. If you check Locked Description, Locked Discount, and/or Locked Price/Markup to activate read-only for the field(s) as part of adding or updating a single price book item in FieldFX Back Office, field users will see which fields are locked directly in the Ticket Grid:

You can now use record types on the ticket log when editing log entries. Each record type will support different layouts.

We have updated the lists of jobs, tickets, and quotes tiles in Mobile using the React library. We have also added support for ES6 syntax and better linting. These enhancements significantly improve performance and reduce memory consumption and leaks.

On November 8, at 10:28 a.m. CT, we promoted FieldFX® Mobile v4.0.1.4201 from the Beta channel to the Sync V4 channel. Our automated systems detected an unusual number of redirects to the login screen. As we were examining this data, a customer submitted a support ticket. At 11:30 a.m. CT, we rolled back the update.

After the rollback, we continued to see users caught in a loop on the login screen. We released several small hot fix builds to add logging in keys areas to help us identify the problem. Clearing local storage and/or revoking the user’s authentication resolved the problem for users.

From a user perspective, what happened was that a small subset of users was redirected to the login screen. When they would successfully login, they would briefly see the Mobile app then be immediately redirected to the login screen. This loop would continue while their coworkers were able to continue working unaffected. We even had users report that they had two devices, one working properly and one was stuck in this login loop.

Before we get into the technical explanation, we need to explain a little background. When promoting any channel, we always deploy the latest version of our server code. The server is not very complicated; its main function is to hand out the proper version of Mobile when a field user logs in or requests a sync. The reason we keep the server updated is because it contains the shell that our Mobile application uses to bootstrap itself in the browser. We have found that it was important for all users to keep current with the latest changes to the bootstrap code.

The Mobile development team recently updated one of our build tools. This build tool takes our human-readable source code and creates a machine-friendly bundle. This tool is important because the bundle that it creates maximizes the number of browsers and environments that we can support. It is tools like this that make it possible for customers to continue running versions of Chrome that are several years old.

When we updated this build tool, it made a change to the bootstrap code that we did not notice. It added “use strict;” as a line to the top of the file. This strict mode is actually a very good thing when intentionally implemented. But, it was a problem for us when it was accidentally implemented. You can read more about strict mode here: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Strict_mode.

There is one final piece to What Happened. The individual browser is responsible for getting the latest bootstrap code. It is supposed to check the server and download the latest whenever it changes. The reality is that each browser will download changes to the bootstrap code based on complex criteria. The browser does this caching to try and speed up web browsing. During the 62 minutes this strict bootstrap was available, only a fraction of users downloaded the new code.

Part of the job of the bootstrap code executes is downloading the main portion of Mobile and executing that code. When strict mode was enabled, it created a race condition. Depending on how the race condition turned out, it might change the way that execution took place. However, it very often did not change the way it executed. This made it much harder to replicate.

When the bootstrap code downloads and executes the Mobile code, it also saves the Mobile code to local storage so that it is available offline. One effect of enabling strict mode is that it will turn some warnings into errors. One outcome of this change is that, in some circumstances, the attempt to save to local storage will generate an error when in the past it was creating a warning that did not apply to our application.

There are several reasons why we missed this in testing:

We have already made several improvements to prevent problems like this from recurring:

On October 25, 2018, at 9:00 a.m. CT, promoted FieldFX® Mobile v4.0.1.4200 from the Sync V4 Beta channel to the Sync V4 channel. Shortly afterward, we noticed a few users across a small number of customers were experiencing errors when trying to upload picture attachments. The errors were sporadic and, initially, we could not see any pattern in the errors.

Finally, we were able to identify the common contributing factor for all these errors, which was running Mobile on older iPads. We were then able to identify the specific problem and apply a hot fix to Mobile v4200. The fix was released on November 1, 2018, at 9:00 a.m. CT in FieldFX Mobile v4.0.1.4201, which also contains all the new features, enhancements, and bug fixes of FieldFX-Mobile-4.0.1.4200.

When field users created jobs in Mobile on older iPads, and added a file attachments before syncing the jobs to FieldFX Back Office, the file attachments would attach without the correct file extension. The incorrect file extension prevented the image preview from working correctly.

Although the FieldFX code for such attachments is written correctly, there is a defect introduced in iOS 9 to Apple’s file API that cause the errors we were seeing. iOS 10 included a fix for this defect, but attaching a file will still occasionally fail and iOS will not correctly report the failure to Mobile.

We did not catch this in testing because it only occurs on older versions of iOS.Even then, it only happens occasionally.We perform the vast majority of our manual testing on iOS 11, iOS 12, and iOS 12 Beta, so we had little opportunity to catch this in manual testing.

Unfortunately, we could not have caught this in test automation.It is impossible to automate a file or picture attachment for testing purposes.It is also not possible to automate physical iPads running iOS 9 or 10.

This is a difficult scenario to directly resolve.Knowing that this defect still exists in older versions of iOS means we will be extremely sensitive to any changes in how we handle files.Over time, this vulnerability will disappear as customers move to more modern versions of iOS.

encourages our customers to stay within 6–12 months of the latest iOS version.Not only does this give our customers the best experience, but it also helps us to provide a more complete level of test coverage.

LiquidFrameworks is pleased to announce the arrival of FX Mobile Field Updates, an Admin Tool you can use to streamline data entry by field users and increase the consistency and accuracy of your company’s data.With FX Mobile Field Updates, you can configure and maintain:

Instructions for accessing and configuring FX Mobile Field Updates from FieldFX^® Back Office are available FX Mobile Field Updates Admin Toolhere.

As part of FX Mobile Field Updates, we have added the following Custom Metadata Types:

To facilitate FX Mobile Field Updates, we also added the following managed sObjects:

Finally, we added support for the $Contact global variable to FieldFX.

LiquidFrameworks has added support for the applyTemplate report helper. This report helper applies Handlebars expressions to the contents of a designated value. It is considered to be an advanced report helper.

We changed the default sort order of Quotes to Last Modified Date to make it more convenient for field users to pick up where they left off.

On October 11, 2018, at 9:00 a.m. CT, LiquidFrameworks promoted FieldFX® Mobile v4.0.1.4168 from the Beta channel to the Sync V4 channel.

Immediately after lunch, one of our developers discovered, and began investigating, a sharp spike in error messages being reported by Mobile. At 2:15 p.m., one of our customers reported a problem with child FX Forms. We were able to connect the sharp spike in error messages with the customer reported problem and identify the core problem.

Our developer fixed the problem overnight and our QA Team verified the fix on Thursday morning.

The fix was released on October 12, 2018, at 9:30 a.m. CT as #FieldFX® Mobile v4.0.1.4170.

The FieldFX® Mobile v4.0.1.4168 update contained code to set the job relationship on all records related to a job. This change provides a significant speed increase and will be important to the upcoming Auto Sync feature.

Unfortunately, this change had an unintended side effect that broke child FX Forms on the Ticket level. Because child FX Forms on the ticket level do not have a direct relationship to the Job, the Mobile code was unable to set the Job relationship. This caused Mobile to display an infinite spinner when the field user attempted to create one of the child forms.

We missed this in testing because:

In addition, our customers using the Beta channel do not have child FX Forms attached to Tickets, so they did not experience any problems to report to us.

LiquidFramework’s Development Organization is constantly striving to improve our quality through refining our process.

Independently of, and prior to, this problem, our QA Team implemented peer reviews of all test plans. In a related process improvement, our developers began to peer review all changes to test automation code. Had either of these process improvements been in place when this bug was introduced, we could have prevented this defect.

This defect took our Development Organization roughly 19 hours after the problem was first reported to fix and we are not satisfied with that resolution time. We continue to work toward fixing our internal gaps and have identified additional process improvements that we are implementing immediately, including better hand off between team members and better overnight communication.

In addition, we continue to encourage our customers to have a few experienced field users on the Beta channel.

Liquid Frameworks recently added the FX Header to the existing navigation of Quote and Ticket Item Grids. When configured for Quotes, the FX Header can display data fields from the Quote object. When configured for Tickets, the FX Header can display data from the Ticket and/or Job header levels. For example, the FX Header makes it possible to display a rolled up summary field that calculates the Ticket’s or Quote’s total amount.

Implementation of, or changes to, custom settings will now take effect on the next full or incremental sync, even when metadata caching is activated. This provides your company more timely control of the impact of custom settings to your Field Users.

Field users often need to add multiple attachments to tickets as documentation. After syncing, you can now view which files you have already attached to a ticket by their file names and the time you attached them. This new capability will help you avoid attaching duplicate documentation.

We have added the FX Header to the existing navigation of Quote and Ticket Item Grids. When configured for Quotes, the FX Header can display data fields from the Quote object. When configured for Tickets, the FX Header can display data from the Ticket and/or Job header levels.

We have implemented a maximum default attribute of 1600 pixels when another maximum value has not been set. This new control prevents you from creating packets too large to upload.

Customers often setup ticket copy so that certain ticket item fields are not copied. For example, customers will often prevent labor start and stop dates from being copied. When a ticket is copied, these fields are required so the Mobile application will present a screen for the user to add these required fields. With the introduction of this new feature, the Mobile application will now present these ticket items in the same order in which they exist on the ticket.

This feature offers limited support for record types in ticket logs. You can now use record types on the ticket log when creating new log entries. Each record type will support different layouts during the creation of a new record. However, we do not yet support displaying different layouts for record types during the edit or display of existing ticket logs.

You can now use the webcam on Windows devices to attach photos to FX reports.

You can now hide all of the pages related to jobs in FieldFX Mobile. This gives you the ability to hide job information for users who only need to view and update tickets.

The Sync Job Crews feature has been enhanced to control the price books that sync to FieldFX Mobile. This enhancement means that a price book now only syncs to FieldFX Mobile if you have a price book assignment for that price book or the price book has Global Price Book selected.

Improved Sync Engine performance by reducing the time taken to perform the pre-sync check.

Improved Sync Engine performance by reducing the number of API requests used during Incremental syncs.

The Report Viewer now displays instantly when you select Reports on the sidebar in an FX Form. This saves you from having to select the Add Report button and makes generating reports easier.

A warning now displays when you attach a file to a record and try to log out before the file has synced. This alerts users that the files will get deleted should they log out.

Improved performance by optimizing how lookups load data.

Improved performance by optimizing how geolocation fields load data.

You can now use the following attributes in XML templates for PDF reports:

You can now use the style attribute to apply multiple styles in XML templates for PDF reports.

When you use the Image Capture feature to attach an image to a PDF report, you can now select to attach images that are already attached to the parent record. This saves you from having to attach an image multiple times.

When you use the Image Capture feature to attach an image to a PDF report, the image now gets added as an attachment to the parent record. This gives you the ability to view images included on PDF reports from the attachments list in a record.

Improved performance by optimizing how authentication works during incremental syncs.

FX Logs now shows details for syncs that didn’t finish.

Improved performance by optimizing how UNABLE_TO_LOCK_ROW errors get handled during syncs.

The new filterBy helper for FX reports gives you the ability to filter records using a formula.

You can now include roll-up summary fields on tiles.

The sync diagnostics have been enhanced to make it easier to determine what records downloaded during the last sync.

Improved performance by optimizing how report templates sync.

Improved performance by optimizing how bad requests are handled during syncs.

Improved performance by optimizing how FieldFX Mobile updates to a new version.

Improved performance by ensuring that metadata is always downloaded when FieldFX Mobile updates to a new version.

The Job Search, Ticket Search, and Quote Search pages have been enhanced to make locating records easier.

Clearer error messages now display when a sync upload error occurs because a record was deleted.

Improved performance by optimizing how validation rules run.

Improved performance by optimizing how data loads and displays on tiles.

The Ticket Item Wizard has been enhanced to make adding ticket items easier. Now, when you do a keyword search and only one item displays in the search results, a new Quick Add button displays on the item.

Select the Quick Add button to add the item to the ticket. The wizard then stays open so you can add more items.

When you select inside a numeric field on a touchscreen device, the numeric keyboard now displays by default.

You can now re-use images on PDF reports. To take advantage of this new feature, you need to add <image> and <images> elements to the XML templates for your PDF reports.

Improved error handling for PDF reports.

The Reports tab has been enhanced to make using reports easier. Now, when you select Reports on the sidebar:

The Ticket Item grid has been enhanced to make updating ticket items easier. Now, when you select multiple items, a new Update button displays at the bottom of the grid.

Select this button to display a menu of available options.

Choose an option on the menu to edit, copy, or delete the items as necessary.

The Quote Item grid has been enhanced to make updating quote items easier. Now, when you select multiple items, a new Update button displays at the bottom of the grid.

Select this button to display a menu of available options.

Choose an option on the menu to edit, copy, or delete the items as necessary.

You can now enter a URL as the source for an <image> element on a PDF report.

This gives you the ability to embed images from external sources on PDF reports.

The Pre-Sync check now determines whether you have the following:

This means that:

The Report Viewer now displays instantly when you select Reports on the sidebar. This saves you from having to select the Add Report button and makes generating reports easier.

Improved Sync Engine performance by optimizing how report templates sync.

Improved Sync Engine performance by optimizing how Audit Log data syncs.