Hello,
Why is it impossible to export a Retool Form to a JSON similarly to any Retool app/module/workflow?
Can you please enable it?
Thanks,
Pierre
Hello,
Why is it impossible to export a Retool Form to a JSON similarly to any Retool app/module/workflow?
Can you please enable it?
Thanks,
Pierre
Hello @Pierre_S!
I think this would be a reasonable feature request I can make for you!
Curious about the use case, as with exporting any other Retool app/module/workflow is that when another Retool user is looking to build such a tool they have an 'import' option which makes sense mirroring the originally build app.
But for Retool Forms, the Form is either auto-completed based on a Resource's database schema, or filled out manually. Are you thinking you have other users who do not have access to a Database Resource, that need to have a Retool Form with the same fields and datatypes?
The Retool Form's submit functionality is meant to upload the form data to the database with the matching schema, so if the user cloning the Form does not have access to the database with the corresponding fields (example age:number, name:string, buyer:True) then the form might not be super useful
I will fire the FR for you now, but would love to hear more about the users who would import the JSON for a Retool Form
Hello @Jack_T,
Thanks for creating the FR so quickly, it's much appreciated!
I suggested this feature as Iām developing templates that I sell on The Retool Guy, a collection of Retool courses and templates. Since my upcoming template includes a form, I needed the export functionality to allow users to easily import it among other assets and start using the template right away.
I hope this brings clarity to my request!
Thanks again and I look forward to seeing this feature go live!
Hello @Pierre_S!
Thank you for those additional details in your last post, super cool website.
I am sure there is a ton of demand for Retool templates for specialized needs and use cases that will only be growing!
Unfortunately I do not have any updates on a timeline for being able to export/import Retool Forms it is being grouped together with several other feature requests for Retool Forms that our eng team will hopefully be tackling soon.
I will keep you updated on any news I hear on this ticket. In the meantime, I was thinking about how you could leverage the current functionality.
Given that a Retool Form can be built from a resource/DB table, the next best option for the short term would be sharing a pre-built DB table (with Retool DB as setting up a third party DB would be much slower and cumbersome to connect to a resource) with the schema set to fit the template.
Then giving the user the instructions on generating the Form
Will post in this thread with updates on the Feature Request!
Hi @Jack_T !
Thanks for your response. I actually considered the option you suggested but unfortunately, generating a form from a database doesn't allow to add custom components such as file drop zone etc. This limitation might be another feature request haha.
Looking forward to updates!
Best,
Pierre
Hi @Jack_T ,
Do you have any update on the above? I tried to enable the feature on one of my Form but I couldn't find it.
Thanks!
Pierre
Hi @Pierre_S,
I just checked the ticket and it looks like it was unfortunately moved to the 'not prioritized' category
I wish I had better news, but for now, the best option for sharing a Retool Form for someone will be via sharing access to the DB so that the From builder can create a Form from the DB schema.
I understand this is not what you want to hear as it does not fit your use case of having a JSON file that can be included in a template.
The best work around could be step-by-step instructions on setting up a Retool DB table or creating and hosting a Postgres DB, along with creating the schema. As this is valuable knowledge that user might not know how to do and they could benefit from this information.
Also, if they have a Form with no DB/schema to upload their data to, a sharable Form won't be of much use. As users will have to create the DB table at some point, so it almost makes more sense to work backend(DB) up to frontend(Form) as opposed to the opposite way. As the Form builder will reduce the risk of human error with column names/types matching exactly to the DB schema.
I also face this issue. Thanks for sharing answer.
Thanks @Jack_T for getting back!
It's quite disappointing indeed but it's okay, if this get done at some point please let me know.
Also, as previously mentioned I unfortunately can't build a form from a db since this method doesn't allow to add custom components such as file drop zone. If you have a fix for that, it would be amazing!
Thanks,
Pierre
My apologies, I wish we were better able to help.
We do have a file drop zone component that is native to Retool! Check out the docs here, it should cover most needs for drag and drop uploading of multiple files so you don't need a custom component for such
I also face this same issue. But nobody answer.
Hi @hulazphila,
Is your issue that you are not table to export a Retool Form schema?
As I explained above this is unfortunately not possible, given that the forms are generated by code executing off of a database schema or being built manually via user interface.
If you have a different issue, feel free to create a post and someone from our team will get to it as soon as we can