Support dev branching

Let’s call a cat by its name: Glide is a development framework.

And as a development framework, one thing cruelly missing is source control branching.
Now that I have users for my public app, I am always afraid to make changes, because they are immediately reflected in the users’ hands.

The first feature I would need is a way to “stage” my changes, allowing me to change (and break) my app while making sure my changes are not published yet. And on the other way, I’d like to be able to revert my changes back to something that works after things get too wild. It’s the premise for a source control branching mechanism.

And if the Glide magician manage to implement this feature, it means that Glide is not far from supporting branches (and history) in app development.

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You can currently do uninterupted Upgrades already.
Here’s how.

Once you have version 1 completed copy your app and spreadsheet to version 2.

work on version 2 up to completion.
When you are ready to deploy version 2. switch the glide names around. Give version 2 app, the name of version one app,

There you have your first upgrade without interrruption.
The data from the old spreadsheet can simply be copied or appended to the new spreadsheet for continuity without anyone losing data.

You can also have a “Standby” version of your app that lets your users know that their app is currently in upgrade mode, and will resume shortly.

So if your app name is “Michael’s App”
Make a copy called “Michael’s app v2”
Work on Michael’s app v2
change Michael’s App name to “Michael’s App” V1
Change Michael’s App V2 to Michael’s App
The key really is in the name you give to your app, not in the app itself.

Thanks for being solution-oriented, butt there are problems with this solution and that’s why I posted this feature request.

First I’m paying the pro fees on my app, and since the fee is per-app it means the secondary app will lose features. (I wish the fees were per account but that’s another subject)

Second, if I copy the sheet too, I will loose in-between user entries during the switch.

Second-bis, if I don’t copy the sheet and only duplicate the app, I can’t make changes to the sheet’s structure otherwise I break the other app.

Bottom-line we need something a little more sophisticated.

4 Likes

I’m sure by asking for More sophistication you are willing to fork out more money.

We have to work together not to encourage glide to charge us unnecessarily for things that we don’t really need all across the board.

I think if you need that you should pay for it by buying two pro user account one for your version one and one for your version two.

You can cancel your other pro account as soon as you upgrade so that solves your first problem…

Last month Fidelity Bank app was going through an upgrade and they didn’t let anyone add any information while they were migrating. That solves your second problem.

You are in control of your users and you can forward your app page temporarily to a message saying, “we’re upgrading your app stay tuned, we’ll be back in 5 minutes”… Because that’s how long it takes to do the upgrade.

The problems you presented has been solved its a matter of whether or not you are willing to accept the solution. And even if glide gave you a push button option to do this for you without any effort on your part a problem will still be found, it would be the cost.

You can upgrade your app seamlessly now at anytime by

  1. temporarily purchasing a pro account

  2. forwarding your app to a temporary page,

  3. complete your name change and then forward back to your app.

  4. Do your upgrade the last day of your account cycle so that your new account starts where your version 1 ends. This way you only have 1 or 2 day overlap.

  5. You will have all pro features

  6. It does not cost any more money

  7. Your users will respect the notification instead of being surprised by a new app.

Heck you could even use the forwarding page as an opportunity for training and onboarding for the new app

  1. Cancel your pro subscription for the old account.

  2. Sit back and glide,

  3. Send a $100 gift card to lighted candle for all the sleepless nights.

2 Likes

Great idea for those running pro level apps with real users. :+1:

:+1: thx

I need branch too.

To make the money part less messy it would be a great add-on if the account was awarded to “pro” features, and as a user you can tie that ‘licence’ to an app. So when you buy pro you get 2 licences. One for live, one for dev. Or something in that fashion.

1 Like