Help needed for creation of custom control

1

Hello,

I’m currently trying to create my own control and add it to AppStudio.

I already

  • created my own toolbox folder and configured it in AppStudio preferences
  • made a copy of the original “Toolbox.json” file (and removed unnecessary categories or added my own control category)
  • set up a trivial control with static (literal) “_htmltemplate” and saved the associated “.json” file in a subfolder of my own toolbox folder

After restarting AppStudio, everything worked as desired.

But now I would like to add my own (JS) code and let “_htmltemplate” invoke a function - and that fails because AppStudio does not find the file I mentioned in “_requiredfiles”!

The actual error message I get in the IDE whenever I try to add my new custom control to a form looks like

AppStudio-ErrorMessage
AppStudio-ErrorMessage.png840×424 44.7 KB

with varying paths depending on what I’m currently trying…

PS: everything works fine if I specify the full absolute file path in “_requiredfiles” - but that’s something I would like to avoid and use Toolbox-relative paths instead.

Is there a list of AppStudio variables with some explanation? (e.g., what is the meaning of “_nsbdir”? is it the web apps folder? or that of the toolbox folder(s)?)

Or even better: is there an explanation of how to add one’s own controls?

Thanks in advance for any help!

With greetings from Germany,

Andreas Rozek

2

It sounds like you’re making good progress. Did you see this document?

https://wiki.appstudio.dev/ToolBox_Files

3

Reading your other questions on the forum, I see you have indeed discovered that document.

For _htmltemplate to call a function, that function needs to have been loaded already. _requiredFiles is a list of the files which need to be loaded.

If you run your app in Chrome and do View Source, you can see how it is loading the additional JavaScript.

4

I should have been more precise with my question:

given a folder X, which has been configured as a “Toolbox Path” in AppStudio “Preferences”, what is the proper way to reference a file Z located in subfolder Y of X such that AppStudio is able to copy that file during the design/build process?

  • “_requiredfiles”: [ “{_nsbdir}Y/Z” ], or
  • “_requiredfiles”: [ “{_nsbdir}toolbox/Y/Z” ],

will all fail.

Just to be complete:

  • the author’s modified version of X/Toolbox.json is found and respected,
  • additional *.json files in subfolders of X are found and respected

but neither any *.js nor *.css file is.

PS: I’ve been able to use a URL for “_requiredfiles” (referring to a file served by a web server) which shows me that my JS is correct - but now I would like to refer to a local file. How can I achieve that?

5

The path in _requiredfiles should be where the file is found at run time. If it’s in the top level of your project, Z.js should work fine.

6

…but the AppStudio toolbox also contains (.png, .js, .css) files (some of them in subdirectories) which are “required” by other .json files - how do they get copied to the project? This happens automatically, and I would like to exploit that mechanism for my own custom controls.

7

Better tell me more about what you’re trying to do. I’ll be able to give more specific advice.

Feel free to email me directly.