Finally, here is one other small (but fun) addition:

The LCD Graph widget now works alongside other widgets on the screen.

IR remote emulation support is here!

Now you can record and replay IR commands right from your AppBlocks Flow. This gives you control over aircons, dehumidifiers, TVs, and other equipment — pretty handy for building automation, indoor agriculture, and many other applications.

Data Table fields now support enum options in dropdowns. Instead of seeing 0, 1, 2, you can label them LOW, MID, HIGH — or anything else that makes sense for your project — and your users will see these labels in the UI.

Finally, HTTP Request blocks can exceed 255 bytes. We had this unfortunate limitation for years, and now it’s gone.

We recently took on a challenge: to transform an automated dosing system into a fully functional, all-in-one hydroponics system. This system was built for an agricultural trade show—to highlight the features and ease of use of AppBlocks + TPS.

Heya, Folks,

It's been a while since our last dispatch, so it's only fitting that we return to actively working on the Blog with a post called "A Simple Serial Dispatcher." Apologies for being silent for so long—we've been super busy cooking up a massive update to the AppBlocks platform. This is a scope-changing thing for the entire project, so stay tuned for further announcements. As for now, let's talk about that "dispatcher."

Greetings, Folks,

You already know that the AppBlocks platform facilitates fast, code-free, visual development of IoT and Industrial Control applications.

Following this release, we now have two distinct components under the AppBlocks umbrella: the AppBlocks Designer (ABD) and the AppBlocks Cloud (ABC). The AppBlocks designer, formerly AppBlocks, facilitates fast, code-free, visual development of IoT and Industrial Control applications. The AppBlocks Cloud takes the AppBlocks concept even further by enabling the management of devices deployed in the field.

Heya, Folks,

Tibbo has just released Tibbit #62, a two-channel 1-wire/single-wire interface module.

Requiring only 2- or 3-wire cables and supporting long cable lengths, 1-wire digital temperature sensors offer a reliable, cost-effective solution for building automation, precision agriculture, industrial control, and other applications requiring multipoint temperature measurement. Where temperature and humidity sensing is called for, installers can opt for single-wire DHT11 and DHT22 devices.

Tibbit #62 features two identical individually configurable channels. Each channel can accommodate up to sixteen 1-wire sensors or a single DHT11 or DHT22 sensor.

We've already implemented comprehensive Tibbit #62 support in the AppBlocks platform. As the walkthrough above shows, adding 1-wire/single-wire functionality to your project only takes a few minutes. AppBlocks automatically generates all the code required to support 1-wire and single-wire devices, including an HTML configuration page for discovering and assigning 1-wire sensors wired to a TPS device. This web interface is an indispensable tool for connecting, removing, and servicing the sensors in the field.

You can now create workspaces for your team to collaborate in projects.

Workspaces consist of an owner, participating members, and applications that belong to the workspace.

All members can view and edit applications that belong to the workspace. Changes, however, are last write wins so we advise only one user make changes to the application at any point.

Heya, Folks,

AppBlocks now supports creating application snapshots. Each snapshot represents a complete copy of your project as it was at the moment of the snapshot creation. Snapshots are stored in the AppBlocks cloud. They are a bit like GIT commits.

Snapshots are saved under your project's version names. The current version of your project is shown next to your project's name. It comes from the General page of the Features tab.

Project versions are in the SemVer format — major.minor.revision. You can freely advance versions, but you can't go back. For example, if you already have a snapshot bearing the version of 1.2.3, your next version could be 1.2.4, 1.3.0, or 10.10.10, but not 1.2.2 or 1.1.3.

To create a new snapshot, click the version link and select Create Snapshot. The version first displayed in the dialog comes from the General Page. You can edit it on the General Page, or right in the dialog.

After a snapshot is made, the current version number will be incremented. For example, if you saved your project as 3.14.20, the current version will be advanced to 3.14.21.

To view all available snapshots, click the version link and select Snapshots.

You can revert to the project state of any given snapshot by clicking the View button for this snapshot.

Snapshots are read-only. To branch off of any a snapshot:

• Switch to viewing the project state for this snapshot
• Copy the JSON file (Menu > Configuration, then copy the entire text)
• Go back to the current state (Version > Snapshots > (Current Version) View)
• Paste the JSON file (Menu > Configuration, paste the entire text, then click Load)