Allow for PDFs to show Loops nested in Loops

Sara Kaplow, Community Manager

January 24, 2018 19:21

From Bernie Guzman:

Allow for reports to show Loops nested in Loops. Tables should just add another row when necessary and just populate those necessary columns.

In this case, column B could represent whether there are multiple C and D Items or ones of varying measurements.

For example, (3 - 30ft. Pipes) in a single row or (2 - 5ft Pipes, 1 - 12ft pipe, 1 - 8ft pipe) in 3 rows under two columns.

This feature would be worth serious money to my company. It needs to be easily viewable in a pdf format and if we could embed loops inside loops and have it appear on the same grid in app, that would be phenomenal. Please give this consideration.

Comments

13 comments

Sara Kaplow, Community Manager

January 24, 2018 21:32
From Sarah Brewer:

"Loops with more than one screen are not yet supported in the PDF Designer" - is this being worked on? Or is there a work around? It is frustrating my PDF is multiple pages long, and is not attractive. Glad it is for internal use only, and does not go out to our customers.
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Sara Kaplow, Community Manager

January 25, 2018 16:14
From JB Haller:

I would like to be able to use the PDF designer for apps with advanced loops.
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Emily Martinez

May 09, 2018 16:43
I am also interested in this function - I have separate checklists for 5 different TYPES of equipment, so it is a loop contingent on the user choosing the equipment type. But I want the checklist they use to print on the work order.

thanks, Emily
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Tara Rodgers

November 07, 2018 14:47
We also would like to loops within loops be supported with PDF designer.
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Pierre Pienaar

November 09, 2018 09:49
We also have that same issue hopefully our cries will be heard.
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Kevin Pullen

September 19, 2019 03:38
Very frustrating that your example of how to create a loop within a loop fails to mention that you cannot produce a PDF output in either Standard or Designer but that in one's app it tells you to switch to Standard which, of course, still does not work! What was the point of providing that example??

Now that I am more familiar with the app, it appears that there are many requests for "improvements" but nothing seems to happen, even after two+ years. Can you provide an indication of just exactly what improvements you are working on and when we can expect them please?

Also, this forum appears the only way to try and raise questions as direct emails remain unanswered. Am I missing something here?
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Chip Phillips, Community Manager

September 20, 2019 15:12
Howdy Kevin,

Thank you for this feedback! We understand that not being able to use Advanced Loops within the Designer PDF is a point of frustration.

We don't have a roadmap that we can share, as the features being actively considered fluctuate with user feedback and needs.

However, I can assure you that items from the Community and other feedback get reviewed on a regular basis (we're actually coming up on our roadmap planning in a few weeks).

Being able to use Advanced Loops in the Designer PDF is not directly on the roadmap at this time, but we do recognize the challenges that this feature would solve and it is being actively considered by our Development teams.

You mentioned that your direct emails have been unanswered. For technical questions, we would recommend submitting a ticket through our Help Center. Our Support team is happy to help out with any troubleshooting needs you may have!

The Support team can also be reached via phone, at 703-436-8069 ext. 3, from 8am to 8pm EST.

If you have already reached out to Support using the ticketing system, but have not received a reply, could you please provide me with the ticket number from your inquiry? I would be happy to follow up with them directly on your active ticket.
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Kevin Pullen

October 20, 2019 07:06
Thank you for your comments Chip.

The loop within a loop deficiencies and the limitations of seemingly not being able to enter a conditional screen based on a field within a looped screen, or use a field mirrored from a looped screen, etc, along with other noted "problems" with a grid screen, seem to be a priority for a number of your users but which, after 2 years or so, they are not on the "road map". Granted, you cannot address every user's needs but you cannot even advise users of likely improvements in the near future? Extremely frustrating. A potentially great app somewhat let down by significant deficiencies which, apparently, are unlikely to be addressed any time soon.

I am trying all sorts of tactics to try and get around these deficiencies but without much success to date - the end result is a clumsy user interface.
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Sara Kaplow, Community Manager

October 21, 2019 14:43
Hi Kevin,

I understand the frustration here.

With the mirroring and conditions out of a loop screen, those are requests that are really difficult both from a technical but also sort of a logical standpoint. Because loops aren't fixed - that is, the system doesn't know how many rows you're going to have, nor what (in most cases, unless you're using pre-populated grid) what is going to appear in that loop, it's really tricky to figure out how you'd do anything based on a field within the loop. Should the condition or mirror happen for the first row or the last? And sometimes the last row might be the 4th row, and sometimes the 44th. That's the complexity specifically with that functionality.

On this specific issue (advanced loops in the builder), doing that requires us to do some boring (but significant) platform upgrades to the PDF Designer. I know it's something the team wants to do, but there are other things currently taking priority (some of which are features that people have been waiting on for a while).

Overall, we're hesitant to say definitively what is or isn't on the roadmap publicly, because it changes. We review requests (both internal and external) on a quarterly basis, which leads to re-prioritization. There's also a lot of work that has to happen just to keep things running. It's not exciting, but things like platform updates, the new billing system that's in progress, and security maintenance are crucial. We've spent a lot of this year on those things, and that has meant less feature-y stuff.

Hope that gives a little bit of insight into the process. Again, I know it's frustrating and I will continue to pass along your thoughts to the Product Team.
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Mike Goodman

January 23, 2020 16:49
Once again I am limited on what I can do in Canvas because I can't use nested loops in the PDF designer. This is a must have. I need to collect all of the subcontractors on the job and each of their employees and nested loops would make this very easy. Now we have to use a single loop and re-enter the company info again for each of their employees.
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Chip Phillips, Community Manager

January 24, 2020 14:56
Howdy Mike,

Thank you for taking the time to share this use case. Our Product Managers are in the early stages of planning for a complete overhaul of the PDF Designer. Detailed feedback helps us surface the hurdles that users encounter and emphasize what updates would be most helpful.

Do you typically work with the same subcontractors across multiple jobs? If so, a potential way to streamline would be to use reference data with the company information for each subcontractor. That way, you could pick from a list of subcontractors and auto-populate the different pieces of company information from the CSV file.
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Andrew Musgrave

June 15, 2021 09:01
Hi. I realise this thread is over a year old since the last post. has there been any significant progress made on showing loops within loops on designer PDF's?

thanks.
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Lauren Sunday

June 15, 2021 16:39
Hey Andrew,

I don't have an update on this particular request but Custom PDFs are an option for when an advanced or nested loop is needed on the PDF. The product team is busy making the overhaul that Chip mentioned above and I will see if including this update is on the roadmap.
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