Documentation Mailing Lists FAQ Roadmap - Questionaire Responses for AA CAMP 2004

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1. Main problems and annoyances you encounter when using ActionApps
Relational functions are limited

The "related items" feature enables us to build relational data structures - allowing us to approach related slices as though they were joined tables - almost. This opens up a whole new space of app development potential. But going down this enticing road always leads to obstacles...

Take Slice A and Slice B. A can be "joined" to B by storing Item IDs from B as a value for some field in A.

Using aliases, it's possible to begin mimicking an A-B "table join" -- by drawing related content from B (any field) while outputing records from A. This relatonal logic lives entirely in the aliasing -- and so is always "display logic."

But we cannot perform *operations* (e.g. sort, conds) on the foreign values from B while outputting items from A. The only B value accessible to *operations* on A is the Item IDs (abitrary and meaningless) from related items in B.

This is brutally difficult to describe without diagramming -- which I will be pleased to do in CT :) A solution? I'm not sure. But I think this could be revolutionary.

2. Features suggested for future development versions of ActionApps

3. Comments About Usablility

4. General future development suggestions

Submited by:
John Hall

Jun 3 2025

APC ActionApps is a free software content management system initiated by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) APC - Internet and ICTs for social justice and development