Create data formatter

OBJECTIVES

Create your first data formatters.

PREREQUISITES

Click here to see what you'll need to get started!

In this tutorial, we'll guide you through the creation of various formatter examples.

Download the Starter Project

To begin, download the Starter Project, which includes:

integerToImage_Images and textToImage_Images folders that contain images (to use later for formatters that include images)
A Task Management.4dbase file (with a ready to use mobile app project)

CUSTOM FORMATTER STARTER PROJECT

You're now ready to create your first formatters!

Create the formatters folder

First, create a Task Management.4dbase/Resources/Mobile/formatters folder.

Formatter folder

Integer formatters

Integer to string

Create an integerToString folder in the formatters folder you've just created.
Then create a manifest.json file in the integerToString folder.

Formatter folder

Let's look at the contents of the manifest.json file:

{
   "name": "integerToString",

   "type": ["integer"],

   "binding": "localizedText",

   "choiceList": {"0":"UX designer","1":"Developer","2":"QA","3":"Product Owner"}
}

name: the name of the formatter
type: the 4D format type you want to use
binding: can be localized text for strings or imageNamed for images
choiceList: mapped values

Integer to image

Create an integerToImage folder in the formatters folder you've created.
Create a manifest.json file in the integerToImage folder.

Formatter folder

Then create an Images folder in the integerToImage folder. You can add the images from the integerToImage_Images in the StarterProject.zip to this new folder.

Formatter images

Let's look at the contents of the manifest.json file:

{
    "name": "integerToImage",

   "type": ["integer"],

   "binding": "imageNamed",

   "choiceList": {"0":"todo.png","1":"inprogress.png","2":"pending.png","3":"done.png"},

   "assets": {
      "size": {
         "width": 40, "height": 40
      }
    }
}

name: the name of the formatter
type : the 4D format type you want to use
binding: can be localized text for strings or imageNamed for images
choiceList: mapped values
assets: adjust the display size (width and height)

Text formatters

Text to string

Create a textToString folder in the formatters folder you've just created.
Create a manifest.json file in the textToString folder.

Formatter folder

Let's look at the contents of the manifest.json file:

{
    "name": "textToString",

   "type": ["text"],

   "binding": "localizedText",

   "choiceList": {"FRA":"France","MAR":"Morocco","USA":"United States","AUS":"Australia"}
}

name: the name of the formatter
type: the 4D format type you want to use
binding: can be localized text for strings or imageNamed for images
choiceList: mapped values

Text to image

Create a textToImage folder in the formatters folder you've just created.
Create a manifest.json file in the textToImage folder.

Formatter folder

Then create an Images folder in the textToImage folder. You can add the images from the textToImage_Images in the StarterProject.zip to this new folder.

Formatter images

Let's look at the contents of the manifest.json file:

{
    "name": "textToImage",

   "type": ["integer"],

   "binding": "imageNamed",

   "choiceList": ["image1.png","image2.png","image3.png"],

   "assets": {
  "size": {
   "width": 40, "height": 40
        }
    }
}

Dark mode support

Whether your device is in dark or light mode, whether you're working on iOS or Android, you can easily use the custom data formatters containing images. The pictures will be adapted depending on the phone's color mode.

Tintable color

To optimize the color contrast of your black and white images on your app depending on the color mode (light or dark), you can set the images as follows, with the "tintable": true code line:

{
   "name": "textToImage",
   "type": ["text"],
   "binding": "imageNamed",
   "choiceList": {"car":"car.png","plane":"plane.png","bus":"bus.png"},
   "assets": {
     "size": 54, 
     "tintable": true
     }
}

Here is the result in light mode and in dark mode:

drawing drawing

Optimized color pictures

To optimize the color pictures displayed on your app and adapt them to your color mode, you need to have two pictures: one for the light mode, and one for the dark mode suffixed with _dark, as follows:

drawing

{
   "name": "textToImage",
   "type": ["text"],
   "binding": "imageNamed",
   "choiceList": {"car":"car.png","plane":"plane.png","bus":"bus.png"},
   "assets": {
     "size": 54
   }
}

Here is the result in light mode and in dark mode:

drawing drawing

Open mobile project

Open the Task Management.4dbase with 4D and go to File > open > Mobile Project... to open the Tasks

Next, go to the Labels & Icons section in the project editor. All of your formatters are available for the different field types you previously defined in the different formatter manifest.json files:

Select the integerToString formatter for the Job field
Select the textToString formatter for the Country field
Select the integerToImage formatter for the Task Status
Select the textToImage formatter for the Manager

Text formatter

Build your 4D for iOS app

Build your 4D of iOS app and you'll see that your data formatter is well applied depending on the credit limit.

Text formatter

Click on FORMATTER FINAL below to download the completed formatter template folder.

FORMATTER FINAL