🆕 Mini Apps by ProcFu - Now available for Tape

[Stefan]

A huge thank you to everyone who requested this integration—and, of course, to those who made it possible! We’re super proud to partner with Andreas Hüttenrauch, the founder of ProcFu.

Tape is now available as a data source in ProcFu for building custom apps.
ProcFu MiniApps let you transform your Tape data into fully functional web apps without the need for heavy coding. For more advanced needs, you can customize these apps with your own code.

What can you build with Tape and ProcFu MiniApps?

• Client portals
• Internal tools
• Mobile apps
• and more…

Get started: visit Tape’s integration gallery to see how you can connect ProcFu MiniApps → click here

[Jason]

For those who need a little inspiration on what can be done with MiniApps:

I’ve created a short video to demonstrate how ProcFu can simplify complex challenges in Tape.

In the video, I showcase three example solutions:
A Support App – Streamlining issue tracking and resolution, providing a user portal.
A Visitor Sign-In Form – Complete with a signature field for added functionality.
A Receipt Upload and Tracking System – Helping to manage expenses with ease.

These examples only scratch the surface of what’s possible with ProcFu. It’s an incredibly versatile tool that can help you build solutions tailored to your needs.

If you haven’t yet explored what ProcFu can do, I hope this video sparks some inspiration!

Tape and ProcFu

I should say that in the receipt example Tape is handleing the data extraction.

[Stefan]

Thanks so much for sharing! I really appreciate you taking the time to provide this—it’s always great to receive such valuable input for the community

[andreas-globi]

Great work @Jason.

I can’t wait to see what else you guys come up with.

[Jason]

Thanks, @andreas-globi and thank you for such a great tool that makes things so easy

[ScottA]

Happy to see you here @andreas-globi! Thanks for ProcFu! Amazing tool

[ScottA]

Dumb question maybe… how do we connect Tape to ProcFu and start using it?? I’m not seeing any workflow block for ProcFu.

[RobertForster]

Hi @ScottA
I found it by clicking “Click here” at the top of this post under “Get Started.”
On the new page, I hope the description under “How to use” is what you’re looking for.

[andrew.cranston]

If you’re referring to the Chrome Extension that lets you create a “Procfu action” (which is really just an HTTP action in PWA with all of the headers, URL and parameters pre-filled), I would assume this doesn’t exist yet and probably won’t until some kind of API exists with Tape’s automation tool. But that doesn’t mean you can’t call Procfu from Tape’s automation tool, you would just have to populate all of the HTTP parameters manually.

Procfu is obviously designed to work mostly with Podio and PWA but it does have other uses, some that are useful even outside of any kind of low-code solution (we’ve used Procfu from our own custom coded applications plenty of times).

While Tape does have an oAuth integrator tool, Procfu also has powerful actions with apps like Google, Notion, Sharefile, Xero, and it’s much easier to authenticate with Procfu and then call these actions rather than having to code all of these API calls from scratch.

[ScottA]

Thanks @RobertForster - I missed that link. Much appreciated.

Thanks @andrew.cranston - I actually forgot that I loaded that Chrome extension and that was a requirement for Podio (its been so long ago). We use ProcFu a LOT with moving docs to Google Drive and manipulating them, stacking, deleting, creating whole folder trees, etc. Unsure how I lived without it before. So, was super happy to see that its connected… I just need to put the pieces together. Thanks for the info.

[ScottA]

@andrew.cranston as far as ‘populating the HTTP parameters manually’ I assume you mean putting all this info below into some coding block in Tape automation? Is there an example of how to do that anywhere that you’re aware of? I am not a coder… but I excel at copy/paste/edit. Thanks.

[andrew.cranston]

It’s pretty much the same, please see attached screenshot. In the headers you would put your token where I’ve blacked mine out and then URL parameters, just like PWA. It’s still best to formulate all of your variables into tokens and then drop them in here so they’re URL encoded properly (and actually Tape makes it even easier to do that because you can formulate multiple variables at once in a single execute script action) but the basics are the same.

Looking at your example, I realize that some of what Procfu is good at is still tied tightly to Podio and perhaps in the future, accounts can be made for Tape apps and fields. For instance, again looking at your example, I could see a new script called something like ‘tape_files_to_google’ where instead of supplying a Podio Item ID, you’d supply a Tape Record ID and the field ID that contains the files. For these types of things, I recommend going into the Procfu Users forum in Podio and creating feature requests.

In spite of that Podio specificity, I still think there’s a lot of power and potential here, however there’s another roadblock in the way at the moment.

@Tim @Leo In order to call Procfu functions from outside of Podio, you have to either whitelist the IP addresses of where the calls are coming from, or the hostname of the source. It seems this list is out of date: IP Addresses | Tape Developers Is it possible to get this list updated so that @andreas-globi can auto whitelist them in Procfu? I did a couple of test calls but I’m seeing IPs that are not on the list. I know your list says not to rely on static IPs but this is sort of how Procfu security works and I’m hoping the list doesn’t update itself that often.

[Tim]

Thanks for bringing this up @andrew.cranston - indeed the list was “a little” outdated. An update was just published, the page does now contain an up-to-date overview of the Tape servers.

IP Addresses | Tape Developers

Happy to see this vivid discussion - and the new Procfu+Tape integration in action!

Cheers
Tim

[ScottA]

Thanks everyone… Loving Tape every day that passes! Keep up the great work.

[DigiTom]

I’ve been following the discussion here—really interesting!

Do you think it’s possible to use this on a mobile phone to update data in Tape? For example, changing a task’s status (category field) from “In Progress” to “Done” or creating a new record directly on the mobile phone and syncing it with the Tape data?

[andrew.cranston]

Absolutely!! Not only that, you can actually iFrame mini apps into a calculation field in Tape, and that calc field will actually show up in the mobile app also! While Tape is still figuring out their mobile app, Tape + Mini Apps can definitely bridge the mobile gap if employed properly.

[LuPas]

I’ve had a look around and find “Bridge the Mobile Gap” very interesting!

If I’m understanding it correctly, you need to create a separate ProcFu Mini App for each Tape app, like one for Tasks, another for Contacts, etc. My use case would involve making small changes to data on the mobile app. For example, updating the category field of a Task, adding a Contact (relation field), or creating a new item in Tasks.
Does anyone know if there are any good guides or tutorials available for Tape users? Thank you!

[andrew.cranston]

You don’t need a mini app for each Tape app. You would use Mini Apps to build a comprehensive application that accesses data in selective ways, and instead of using Podio, you use Tape.

Perhaps this might be useful as a starting point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FObPL1Tv8Lc

You could also check out the Procfu Users forum on Podio.

[DigiTom]

Thank you, @andrew.cranston , for sharing the video!
There’s one thing I haven’t quite understood yet: why is it called ProcFu Mini Apps? The website only mentions ProcFu. Are Mini Apps specifically designed for mobile apps, or am I missing something? Thank you!