Feature request: quickly add multiple new records

[jolinwarren]

[Sorry for three posts, but I thought it better to split them out by topic instead of lumping them into one.]

I often need to add multiple new records in sequence. So I add a record, fill in the details, and then want to add another record. Currently in Tap Forms, after adding the first record, I have to go back to the record list and then tap the add button or tap the arrow button and then tap ‘New’. Both take two taps What I’d like to do is have an add button in the new record screen so with one tap I can create a new record. I know it sounds like a small thing, and it is, but Bento has this and it was really convenient for me.

A related issue is that when creating a new record, you can’t go back or forwards to browse other records. The new record doesn’t seem to exist in the list of existing records until tapping the back button. Future edits of the record allow swiping backwards/forwards to other records. It would be more useful if a new record was automatically placed right after or before the most recently created previous record. I sometimes create a new record, fill in a couple of details, then want to check a previous record to before filling in the final details. Currently I have to go out of the record to get back to my list of records and then back into a record view. I’d like to be able to just swipe through to get to a previous record’s view. This is also something that was convenient about Bento (it has a persistent set of back/new/forward buttons on the record detail screen and new records are automatically placed at the end of other records).

By the way, these are only two of four things that were better about Bento, compared to a huge list of things that are far superior in Tap Forms, so I’m not recommending Bento or being down on Tap Forms. Just noting a couple of little things that I’d apparently got used to and found convenient. (For reference, the other two features in Bento but not in Tap Forms are collections and smart collections of records. And it sounds like Tap Forms will eventually support the latter, which is the most useful anyway.)

[Brendan]

Hello Jolin,

Thanks for the suggestions. One thing that’s different between Bento and Tap Forms is they don’t use a tab bar interface. They have that row of buttons at the bottom for doing various tasks (such as adding a new record). I could change Tap Forms to work that way on the record edit screen which would provide more space for more buttons. But then if you wanted to get to other areas of the app you’d have to back-out to the list view of records before being able to do that. I’m not sure which is better. For now that’s why I have the action menu with all those other commands you can perform on the record details screen.

I’ll look into the swipe issue.

Thanks,

Brendan

[jolinwarren]

I understand what you’re saying about the tab bar, and I can see there’s a problem with trying to crowd too many icons in the top right. In my case, the ‘favourite’ and ‘lock’ buttons are less useful than a ‘new’ button would be (I have yet to use the favourite or lock, but can see that I might in the future). I wonder if it would be possible in a future version to allow one to specify which one or two buttons would appear in the top right of a record detail screen — with the others remaining in the action menu. It might not be worth the coding or complexity for you, but just an idea.

[Brendan]

I agree that it might be more useful to move the lock button to the action menu. Although given the grid of 9 icons, there’s no more room for another button there either without adding another row or shrinking the icons. Or maybe moving the Cancel button. It’s nice to have the favourite star right in the toolbar because not only is it a button, but it’s also an indicator of whether or not the record you’re viewing has been favourited or not.

[jolinwarren]

That makes sense about the favourite star. I hadn’t thought about the fact that it’s an indicator (probably because I haven’t yet used it — I’m sure I will appreciate it one day!).

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