Components

What is Ink?

The Ink component pack is the next generation of Skuid components. Flexible, responsive, scalable, and accessible, Ink brings crisp, modern themes to the Skuid page with components that are designed to make it quicker and easier for app builders to create intuitive and engaging user experiences.

Ink is not an “update” to Skuid’s original components, but a totally new component pack. While many Ink components share a name and purpose with their counterparts in the original component pack—for example, the Table component—be aware that Ink components, even those similarly named, have unique properties and functionality.

Warning

Components from the Ink component pack are not interchangeable with those from the Original component pack.

What are Skuid components?

Think of components as the building blocks of a Skuid page, drag-and-drop elements that define the function and visual structure of your app. Adding components to the page allows users to interact directly with the data the page connects to through Skuid models and data sources.

Different types of components do different things: some manage the way the page is laid out, some display data on the page, and some add elements, like images or charts, that help visualize data. In the Composer’s Elements pane, Skuid’s components are organized into categories based on the component’s function:

You can use any model in the Models tab to add components in this manner.

Add components to the canvas

Add from the Elements pane

Click the Components icon in the Elements pane to present a list of components divided into the four categories. Clicking a component within each subset provides a brief description of the component’s functionality in the Properties pane.

Add components to your pages by doing one of the following:

  • Click on the component from the Elements > Components pane, then drag and drop it into the desired position on the Skuid Page.
  • Double-click the component from the Elements > Components pane. This will add the component at the bottom of the canvas. (You can reposition components by clicking and dragging them to a new location.)

Add from the model

There is an additional way to add a Table or Form component to a page:

  • Double-click a model and, in the Create Component dialog box, select Table or Form, then click Create Component.

You can use any model in the Models tab to add a Table or Form in this manner.

Once selected, Skuid adds the desired component to the page, populated with all the fields included in that model. Move fields around, delete fields, set up columns, and configure the component as needed.

Cut, Copy, Paste, and Clone Components

To save time building new pages, you can cut, copy, paste, and clone components within a Skuid page. These features are especially useful when:

  • Quickly creating multiple components with nearly identical properties.
  • Moving components between a page’s main area in the canvas and interior elements, including drawers, modals, and panels.
  • Collaboratively sharing or debugging component configurations by sharing XML.
  • Building highly stylized container components, such as Wrapper and Grid, that you want to use multiple times in a given page.

Using Cut, Copy, Paste, and Clone

Each time a component is cut, copied, or cloned, all selected models, fields, Action Framework actions, and modified properties carry over to the new component.

To use cut copy, paste, and clone functions, select a component anywhere in the canvas and use any of the following shortcuts:

  • Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + C: Copy the component’s XML
  • Cmd/Ctrl + C: Copy the component for pasting within the canvas
  • Cmd/Ctrl + D: Clone selected component
  • Cmd/Ctrl + X: Cut selected component
  • Cmd/Ctrl + V: Paste a copied or cut component

Note

A dashed border will momentarily appear around a selected component to indicate it has been copied.

Cloned components are automatically inserted into the canvas below the original component. Pasted components appear below the currently focused position in the canvas. These components can then be repositioned by dragging and dropping, or modified based on their standard properties.

Components nested within container components (like the Wrapper) may also be copied or cloned.

Note

Only whole components may be cut, copied, pasted, and cloned. Pieces of components—such as tabs or buttons—cannot be cut, copied, pasted, or cloned.

Component properties

Each component has properties that allow you to select how the data in the component displays, how and when data renders, and the visual appearance of the component.

Once a component has been placed, clicking the component within the canvas will present component properties in the Properties pane of the Composer Palette. To adjust each property, click on the corresponding tabs within the Properties pane. Doing so will present each component’s editable features.

All components offer a rendering property tab to give you full control over when certain components—and pieces of data—appear in your Skuid app.

Beyond rendering, properties differ from component to component, based on primary functionality. For information on component-specific properties, please refer to the documentation content for the individual component.

Using the Component Reference Guide

Skuid’s component reference guide is designed to give you all the information you need to understand how components operate and when to use them.

Throughout this guide, each individual component section is accompanied by an overview of the component’s core functionality, the basic and advanced properties that you can adjust, and an explanation of the component’s primary usage.

The usage descriptions outline some of the most common use cases for components. Use these to familiarize yourself with component functions and their applications within your Skuid apps.