We are constantly working to improve Anvil. Here you will find a summary of our changes, updated regularly.

November 2024

  • Released version 1.2.0 of our M3 theme (beta). For a full list of details of what’s included in this version, take a look at the forum announcement.
  • Released version 1.13.4 of the App Server. Learn more about this release here.
  • The Toolbox component search has been improved. Component search now uses fuzzy search, which makes it more flexible (e.g., typing “data grid” will now return the DataGrid component).
  • Improved “Jump to Definition” functionality. Using cmd/ctrl+click on imported names now jumps to their original definition. This works for imports across Python modules.
  • Fixed a bug where Alerts weren’t rendering if the Form used as the content was a layout.

October 2024

September 2024

  • Fixed bug which defaulted Image components to a fixed height.
  • Fixed bug with importing Stripe in the designer.
  • Fixed race condition with Anvil Alerts which caused an issue with the initial focus of login forms.
  • Adds support for multiple icon sets in component’s icon property.
  • Renamed FlowPanel “spacing” property to “gap”, with backwards compatibility.
  • Made it possible to configure which branches of third-party dependencies can be depended on.
  • Business Plan’s Persistent Server capabilities now start immediately rather than taking a while to kick in.

August 2024

  • It’s possible to depend on a particular branch of another app, as well as tagged versions.
  • When returning Media from an HTTP endpoint, we now provide the filename to the browser. This means that downloaded files now automatically get the right name and extension.
  • Anvil X Tableau integration now avoids errors in the designer.
  • Fixed slowdown when attempting to access nonexistent columns in Data Tables.

July 2024

  • Open-source Anvil App Server v1.12.2 has been released.
  • Auto-formatting for HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files is now supported through Prettier.
  • Organisation admins on Business Plans with Extra Server Resources can now manage their number of developer seats via the account management page.
  • Fixed a TypeError bug reporting that replaceAll() is not a function
  • Custom Packages can now be installed on the Free plan

June 2024

  • You can now sign into your Anvil account using GitHub.
  • You can now use the quick switcher to jump between all types of tabs, for example settings, app sessions and the users service.
  • In Anvil Enterprise, it is now possible to customise the number of lines of log output that are stored for each App session.
  • Implemented performance improvements that make the Anvil Designer much faster when working on large apps with lots of custom components.
  • Fixed a bug where updating container properties in the Properties Panel would cause the selected component to no longer be selected, making updating properties difficult.
  • Fixed a bug with global search on minified single-line javascript files that would cause the page to crash.

May 2024

  • Respond to any path within your app’s domain with @anvil.server.route. The decorator makes your function callable over HTTP and takes a path as an argument.
  • You can now build page routing into your app using @anvil.server.route and a FormResponse object. anvil.server.FormResonse('MyForm') lets you serve a client-side Form as a response to an HTTP request. Watch this space for more updates to page navigation in Anvil apps.
  • Open-source Anvil App Server v1.12.0 has been released.
  • When installing packages in the Python 3.10 environment, if the build fails due to a timeout, there is now a message to tell you that the build time limit was exceeded.
  • Significantly improved performance when editing Forms that have a lot of components.
  • The quick switcher remembers recently opened tabs so it’s easier to switch between the tabs you’ve been using.
  • Fixed a bug that caused the Anvil Designer to blow up if you hit enter after renaming a Slot.
  • Fixed a bug that caused anvil.http.request to fail if certain query parameters were used.
  • If you escape the quick switcher without making a selection, the Editor will refocus so you can continue editing.
  • Fixed a bug that made the Users table unusable if the table had too many rows.

April 2024

  • The Anvil Editor now has Ruff linting and formatting. See the docs for more information.
  • Improved performance for direct SQL access to Data Tables
  • You’ll now see a warning if you register two @anvil.server.callable functions with the same name.
  • Double clicking on a component in the component tree will allow you to rename it.
  • Image components now have an alt_text property, which is helpful for screen readers, search engine bots or if the image fails to load.
  • All Data Tables are included as tabs you can jump to from the quick switcher
  • Opening a nested Form will now always open it in a new tab.
  • In the new Designer, it is now possible to set a Form’s item type from the Properties Panel, which is useful for autocompletions.
  • The email service now prioritizes the app name set in App Settings over the name in the app’s YAML.
  • Fixed a bug that displayed a warning about a missing form_show event when using a Form with a Layout
  • Fixed a bug in Google, Microsoft and SAML login where the modal would remain visible after login if they are triggered manually and not from an interactive event
  • Fixed a bug where hitting “Run” would run the app before changes had fully saved
  • Fixed broken autocompletion when adding data bindings in the Properties Panel
  • Fixed a use of syntax that breaks browsers from before 2023
  • Fixed global search so that it navigates to the correct line in a Form instead of the top line
  • Fixed a bug that created a copy of a tutorial app in the accounts of certain users

March 2024

  • Improved UI building with Layouts: Layouts streamline UI design by letting you create reusable page structures that can be shared across multiple Forms. Layouts make it easier to build page navigation and consistent design. Read the announcement post and find out how to use them in the documentation.
  • Fixed a bug where you could tab through and focus on components underneath an alert.
  • There is now a search box in the Toolbox for searching for components.
  • When running your app maximized, you can now drag the maximize button to a different location so it is not blocking important parts of your app’s UI.
  • Fixed a bug where an image component’s height could get set to undefined during initialisation.
  • Fixed a bug where you couldn’t scroll when dragging a file in the App Browser.
  • Fxed a bug where stale values were not clearing in the event bindings panel.

February 2024

  • You can now maximize a tab in the Anvil Editor. Double click a tab in the tab bar or press Alt + Shift + Z to enable Zen Mode.
  • Switch between files without using your mouse. Press Cmd + P to open the Quick Switcher, then press Ctrl + P again to cycle through files. This is especially useful when in Zen Mode.
  • If you have a lot of nested Forms and Packages in your app, you can collapse them all by clicking the three dots menu next to “+ Add Form” and choosing “Collapse All”.
  • You can now use HTML to customize the automatic emails sent from the Users service.
  • New shortcut: Cmd + click on a file to open it in a new tab.
  • Fixed a bug where clicking on “View logs” in a background task wouldn’t open the corresponding session in the logs.
  • Add better placeholder images for Image, Plot, and GoogleMap components.

January 2024

  • It is now possible to set up recurring error digests emails for published apps. This allows users to be alerted of errors in published environments without the need to check the App Log Sessions regularly. Learn more in our documentation.
  • The icon for a component is now displayed next to its name in the Properties Panel.
  • Apps now reload when your current git branch moves underneath you. If you’re editing a branch in the editor and someone else moves it, the editor will reset to the new location of the branch.
  • Added support for syntax parsing and autocompletion for Anvil inline theme color syntax.
  • On theme.css files, colors are now displayed inline in a little square box. This works for both arbitrary and Anvil theme colors.

December 2023

  • When using the New Designer, you will now see a new Data Bindings section in the Properties Panel of forms with data bound properties in their components.
  • Updating a Scheduled Task no longer causes it to lose track of when it was last run, as it previously did. Now the information will be retained unless the task name is changed.

November 2023

  • Custom Component Improvements: We’ve made custom components easier to build. Find out more in the documentation.
  • Edit HTML forms inline even when they are a theme asset.
  • Display a more helpful error when trying to clone an app that will put your Data Table rows over your limit.
  • FileLoader components now have an open_file_selector() method, which lets you open the file selectorfrom code.
  • Double clicking the separator in Split View resets the window sizes to 50:50.
  • If you’ve clicked a component in the Toolbox, you can press esc or click “Add Component” again to cancel the selection.
  • Fixed a bug where it was easy to override an app secret if it was set right after renaming it.
  • Fixed a bug where deleting code items would fail if the item had not been open before.

October 2023

  • New Designer Release: The new drag-and-drop Designer is out of beta. Major updates include:
    • Smoother drag and drop
    • Easier to access the Toolbox on smaller screens
    • A new Component Tree section
    • Inline editing and the new Object Palette
    • Renaming a component now renames its event handler functions
    • It’s now possible to add multiple roles to a component
  • Added support for edit and preview modes for SVG assets.
  • Improved Tab Dragging: You can now drag items from the App Browser onto the tab bar. We’ve also added suport for dragging after the last tab header.
  • Improved loading spinner: The Anvil loading spinner now matches the primary color of the app’s color scheme.
  • Users on a paid plan now have more options to manage their subscription managers from their My Account modal.
  • An app’s ID is now easily accessible from the app’s General Settings.
  • We’ve released version 0.2.0 of the Pico Uplink.

September 2023

  • Make HTML slots in your custom components accessible for internal use only with anvil-slot-internal. This means that you will be able to use the HTML slots while creating your custom components but not when those components are dropped from the Toolbox into the app.
  • You can now sync the Anvil Editor dark and light modes to your system settings. Simply select “System” in the Look & Feel preferences. The “System” option will also be the default for those opening the IDE for the first time.
  • You can now change the vertical alignment of FlowPanel components with the vertical_align property.
  • It is now possible to delete an app’s clone link. Doing this disables previously shared clone links to the app.
  • You can now see the total server import time for each of your app’s sessions from your App Logs. If your import time is greater than 100ms per server call, you will also be able to see it from your Running App Console.

August 2023

  • GitHub Integration: The new GitHub Integration allows you to keep your Anvil app’s source code in a GitHub repository. Connect your Anvil apps to a GitHub repository or clone an existing repository into Anvil and make use of GitHub’s version control and code management tools. Anvil takes care of keeping your app in sync with the GitHub repository. All Anvil users can connect to public repositories for free. Upgrade to a Business Plan or above to connect to private repositories. Find out more in our documentation.
  • New Data Table Editor: The Data Table Editor has a new look and a few added features for a better user experience, including:
    • More rows are loaded when scrolling the a Data Table
    • JSON editor for simple object type columns
    • You can hide columns from view
    • Double clicking the column separators will autosize the columns
    • It’s now more difficult to delete your data
    • You can expand text and simple object type cells for easier editing
    • Date and time type columns now support timezone offsets
  • Toggle the Sidebar menu as an overlay: You can now toggle the sidebar menu so that menus will pop out as overlays. This helps save space on small screens.
  • Use Anvil Plotly templates on the server: Your Plotly plots built on the server can now match your app’s theme. We now support Anvil Plotly templates on the server just like we do on the client.
  • Reload server consoles and keep your command history: When an app changes, you can reload your server console and preserve your command history

July 2023

  • You can now see the build limits for custom package installation in the My Account modal of the Anvil Editor. Build limits are per app.
  • Previously, in an app with multiple databases, all databases would be expanded in the App Browser, making it difficult to navigate all your databases. Now, the Default database will always be expanded and the App Browser will remember the expanded/collapsed state of all other databases.
  • If you clone an app template with a corresponding tutorial, a link to the tutorial will be available from within the Editor.

June 2023

  • Introduced the dom_nodes API in HtmlTemplates: This allows you to access HTML elements by name from your Python code. Learn more in our documentation.
  • When an anvil app is visited by a web crawler, direct HTTP calls to the server are now supported, instead of calls to the server over a websocket.
  • Fixed a bug where it wasn’t possible to search through code in Split View when jumping between ItemTemplate and Form.
  • Fixed a bug where email quotas weren’t displaying properly for dedicated users.
  • It is now possible to add safe inline style attributes to the HTML in RichText components, such as margin and padding. See the full list of safe styles in our documentation.
  • A Minimap is now available on the Editor’s Code View, which allows users to see all the code in one file at a glance. This feature can be toggled fom the Look and Feel tab of the My Account modal.
  • The Editor Help Tab now has a search bar, so users can now search the knowledge base from within it.
  • Users can now also access some learning resources directly from the Welcome page of the Editor.
  • The Ctrl/Cmd+F search panel has been improved: It now includes the number of search results and a “Select All” button.
  • Improved support for Plotly on Basic Python 3:
    • The go.Figure constructor now works as expected.
    • Added support for Figure.update_layout().
    • More sensible errors are now raised for Figure.add_trace(), Figure.update_traces(), Figure.for_each_trace()
  • Improved the Schema Mismatch page: More specific migration options are now allowed and the tooltips are now more descriptive.

May 2023

  • On Windows machines, the Ctrl+Shift+Z shortcut should now correctly redo actions.
  • When placed near the bottom of the window, the DatePicker component no longer drops down below the window height, it drops “up” instead.
  • The 3 dot context menu for asset files now includes “Replace…” and “Copy Asset Path”.
  • Improved autocompletion match emphasis: it now gets highlighted rather than underlined, which makes it easier to see.
  • Improved the way background tasks are displayed: you should now see the module name with each available background task, and if it’s part of a dependency the package name will also be included.
  • Added support for getting table names using list(app_tables).
  • New Help Tab: The Question Mark button in the Editor now opens a Help Tab complete with resources for beginners and guidance on where to go for help.
  • Fixed an error where Enterprise installations in environments with limited network connectivity could hang on startup.
  • Custom Packages are now supported for single-site installations using docker-compose.
  • Files in your app assets with a .wasm extension are now served with the correct Content-Type header.

April 2023

  • You can now easily copy the pathname of an asset by clicking the “Copy asset path” button after selecting an asset.
  • You can now see your invoices in the Billing tab of your account management page.

March 2023

  • Immediately rename Data Tables, Forms, Packages and Modules as they are created, leading to a smoother development experience.
  • To delete an app, you must now type in the app name to confirm you want to delete it.
  • The Account Management page now shows quotas and has a billing tab.
  • Client-side Plotly has been made much smaller to import (230kb -> 22kb).
  • Plotly has been migrated to version 5.
  • With Accelerated Data Tables, you can control which columns are accessible from a view.

February 2023

  • Autocomplete improvement: When using add_event_handler(...) on an Anvil component, it will offer the correct set of event names in the first argument, and it won’t automatically add the function call parentheses to the second argument.
  • The Account Modal now has a copyable link to allow invite developers to join via licence key.
  • “Code Snippets” and “Designer Toolbox” show/hide are now independent of each other, and the preference will persist on the browser.
  • Fixed issues causing spurious “DB Schema mismatch” messages.
  • App Logs containing emojis and other unusual characters are now displayed correctly.
  • Clicking on a global search result now scrolls line of code into center of screen, and not at the bottom.
  • Users are now able to manage their account subscriptions at anvil.works/manage.
  • When trying to upload an excessively large app logo, users now get a warning and offer to resize.
  • Server REPL output is now stored in the logs.
  • Fixed issue where passing a filename argument to mpl_util.plot_image() would result in an error.

January 2023

December 2022

  • New Data Files Service: We’ve made it easier than ever to attach large files to your app and use them on the server side with the Data Files service. It’s especially useful for machine learning models, large datasets and data that stays constant.

October 2022

  • Strict Transport Security (HSTS) is now available on custom domains
  • You can now opt in and out of the Anvil newsletter from your account page.
  • We’ve released a new version of the Uplink, restoring compatibility with newer versions of numpy. You can run pip install anvil-uplink --upgrade to get the latest version.

September 2022

  • Plotly Templates: You can now change the look of Plot components using new templates. This means you can now use all the pre-set Plotly templates or create your own. We’ve also added three new templates to match our new themes.

August 2022

  • You can now upgrade and switch plans in the Beta Editor from your Account settings.
  • The App List on the Editor’s landing page can now be resized by dragging, so that apps with long names are no longer truncated.
  • The ID of a currently running Background Task can be accessed within the task by reading anvil.server.context.background_task_id.
  • You can now get a temporary URL for a media object with anvil.media.TempUrl(media_object).

July 2022

  • The new Pico W Uplink: Anvil now makes it almost magically simple to connect a Raspberry Pi Pico W to a web app. With the new Pico Uplink, you can securely connect your Pico to the internet and control it from a web interface.
  • Split view is now resizeable: drag the code view screen to see more or less of the design view.
  • Code snippets are better than ever: you can now see more relevant examples and show only the named components in your Form.
  • New and improved syntax highlighting for all code files.
  • Autocompletion now works in HTML, CSS and JS files as well as in the Running App Console.
  • Using the Beta Editor is now even faster.
  • It’s now easier to see errors when you’re running your app in a separate tab. A red box will appear telling you that there’s an error.

June 2022

  • Self-service Package Installation: It’s now even easier to take advantage of Python’s rich packaging ecosystem in Anvil. This month, we launched self-service package installation, bringing the full flexibility of pip install to your apps and allowing you to install packages yourself-you can even directly edit a requirements.txt
  • Anvil apps load faster by reducing how much a browser has to download to open an app.
  • You can now re-order tabs in the Beta Editor by dragging them.
  • We’ve made multiple alerts easier to read by adding backdrop overlay.
  • We’ve ended support for Internet Explorer. For more information, check out our announcement here.

May 2022

  • Accelerated Tables: We have just completed a full rewrite of the Data Tables back-end, bringing faster searching, fine-grained control over fetching, fewer round-trips to the server, and much more. The Data Tables API hasn’t changed, but the background implementation is now much smoother. Learn more here.
  • Your apps can now have multiple nested alerts.
  • You can receive invoices automatically by email – just open up the Account page in the Beta Editor.
  • You can disconnect a running Uplink script using a Python function call: anvil.server.disconnect()

April 2022

  • Files in the Assets Section now have a new toolbar that drops down from the left, allowing you to easily rename or delete them.
  • When using Run in New Tab to develop, hitting the refresh button will now reload the tab rather than replace it.
  • print statements got a speed boost: The Editor’s console output tab will now display print statements in a much more timely manner.

March 2022

  • The icons on inactive tabs in the Editor now have muted colors, so it’s easier to tell what type of tabs you have open.
  • App sessions now give information about which environment the app was run in.
  • The start page UI has been improved - your app list will always stay visible, no matter your screen size.
  • In the version history panel, you can now click on line numbers when there’s been a change to go directly to that point in the code.
  • Debugging in the server console has been improved to include tracebacks.
  • Don’t let JS swallow your exceptions: If you’re using a JS library that’s swallowing exceptions from your Python callbacks, you can now use anvil.js.report_all_exceptions(True, reraise=True). This way Anvil will report all the exceptions, without needing to decorate each individual function with @anvil.js.report_exceptions.

January 2022

  • Searching in App Logs is now much faster.
  • It is now easier to find your apps: On the start page, you can now search for an app by ID and sort your apps alphabetically or by date created.
  • It is now possible to depend on versions of a dependency, like Anvil Extras, other than published or development, so you can now control when you upgrade to the latest version.
  • You can now set the theme colors of your app dynamically in code with anvil.theme_colors.

December 2021

  • Improved App Logging: We’ve improved the search function in the App Logs and implemented some performance improvements. You can now search through your app’s logs using regex and filter by session type and environment.

September 2021

  • Introducing the new Anvil Editor (Beta): We’ve rebuilt the editor from the ground up. As well as a new look and feel, the new beta editor is packed with a ton of new features to make building your web apps as smooth as possible.
    • Version control in the Editor: powerful collaboration tools are now built into the Beta Editor. Use Git version control to create branches, merge commits and resolve conflicts.
    • Multiple deployments: Deploy development, staging and production versions of your app on separate URLs with separate databases, Uplinks and much more.
    • Split-view coding: You can now view your client code and your UI design side-by-side. Edit your Python code and tweak your UI without switching back and forth.
    • Tabbed editing: Keep multiple tabs open at once while you work on your app.
    • Run your app in a separate window: You can now run your app easily in a separate window. You can even run it in split screen while you edit your code.
    • Dark mode.
  • Offline Apps: Every Anvil app is now a Progressive Web App, so your users can install it on their home screens and open it wherever they are. Read the docs to learn more, and see a complete Offline To-Do App.
  • DataGrids are now responsive: Make your tables wrap easily on mobile devices with the new wrap_on property.
  • Expanding FlowPanels: Want to use FlowPanels, but make components expand into all horizontal space? Use the new expand layout property.
  • Datetime improvements: We’ve brought better date and time support to client code, including strptime.
  • Style your alerts with CSS using the new role property.
  • App Server v1.6: All of these improvements are, of course, available in the open-source App Server. Time to pip install --upgrade anvil-app-server.

June 2021

  • Anvil App Server v1.5.5 is out: The new release includes performance enhancements, bug fixes, the RichText component and more control over emails from the Users service.
  • You can now depend on third-party apps as well as your own apps. This will take the hassle out of updating your clone any time a dependency author releases a new feature or implements an important bug fix.
  • You can now configure the emails from the Users service: Set the outgoing email address and configure the emails sent when a new user signs up or forgets their password - all from the Users service UI.
  • Don’t let JS swallow your exceptions: If you’re using a JS library that’s swallowing exceptions from your Python callbacks, adding the new @anvil.js.report_exceptions decorator to your Python callback will allow Anvil to see the exceptions, so you can debug your code. See the docs.
  • Add multiple event handlers: When you’re handling component events from code, you can now add_event_handler() to add multiple handlers for one event. Read the docs.

May 2021

  • You can now easily convert binary data in Javascript to Anvil Media objects with anvil.js.to_media()
  • We added support for the functools module.
  • Our client-side graph plotting library, Plotly, has been updated to the latest version (4.14.3).

April 2021

  • RichText component: The new RichText component allows you to flexibly format text, embed other components into it, or safely display dynamic HTML. Read more about it.

March 2021

  • JS objects in Python: You can now import arbitrary JS objects into your Python code using anvil.js.window. Check out the quickstart to see how to use JS libraries in Python.
  • SAML authentication: If you’re on a Business plan or above, You can now easily build apps that accept SAML Authentication by enabling SAML in the Users Service. Read our announcement blog to find out more
  • Front-end speed boost: We’ve rebuilt how our UI components work, and our in-browser Python runtime, so forms now render faster.

October 2020

  • Portable Classes: You can now define your own classes and pass them between client and server code. Check out our documentation for more information and examples.
  • We’ve added extra security to the Users service, to protect your users against extended password-guessing attempts. If someone tries the wrong password too many times, they’ll get locked out – and the legitimate user will have to reset their account by email to prove it’s really them. Read about it in the Users Service docs.
  • We’ve released a major update to our in-browser Python support, bringing you more support for advanced Python features, and a significant increase in speed.
  • If you’re on a Dedicated or Enterprise plan, we’ve made it even easier to execute SQL against your Data Tables.

September 2020

  • Entries in Version History now indicate what’s changed at a glance.
  • v1.2 of our open-source App Server has been released. Improvements include two-factor authentication support for users service, OAuth fixes, and a more robust Downlink.

July 2020

  • You can now add two-factor authentication to any Anvil app, with the tick of a box. Read our announcement blog post to find out more.

May 2020

  • The Anvil App Server is now open source: you can now export your apps from Anvil, and host them anywhere. Read all about it on our blog.

March 2020

  • The Plotly integration with Anvil has been updated, so you can use the full power of Figure Factories and more.
  • We’ve added some more community-contributed components to the Anvil Component Library, including IFrames, pop-overs and more.

February 2020

  • You can now generate PDFs from Anvil Forms. Use the drag-and-drop Anvil designer to build your page, then create a PDF with one function call. You can also download it, save it in a Data Table, attach it to an email, or return it from an HTTP API endpoint. Find out more on our website.
  • You can now start your app with a Module, rather than a Form. So you can execute code before you’ve decided which page to open. Read the docs.
  • When you’re plotting with Matplotlib, you can now set a filename for the generated PNG file. (See the docs for anvil.mpl_util.plot_image())
  • Anvil now shows the name of the app you’re editing in the title bar.
  • If you export a Data Table to CSV, you can now receive SimpleObject values as JSON. See the docs for exporting CSV from the Anvil editor or from Python code.

January 2020

  • Python 3 is now the default for all Anvil apps: All new Anvil applications now use Python 3 by default – both in the browser and on the server. We will still support Python 2 apps. If you want to take advantage of new Python 3 features, though, we’ve put together a guide to help you upgrade.
  • It’s now easier to organise your Anvil code: You can group your forms and modules together into packages, and tuck your ItemTemplates safely away. Read more in the docs.

November 2019

  • More Information About Your Users: Sometimes it’s useful to know more about the person (or program) using your app. This is now a lot easier, with the anvil.server.context object. Read the docs to learn more.
  • Autocompleting imports: If you’re importing one form or module from another, the autocompleter now helps you. It also automatically suggests relative imports, which makes your code work better if used in dependency packages.
  • Faster saving for big apps: If you’re working on a big Anvil project, you will notice that your apps are now saving and running rather faster.

October 2019

  • Basic Python 3 server environment: everyone can now write server modules in Python 3. We’ll carry on supporting our Python 2 server environments (both Full, for paid users, and Basic for free users) but we’re excited to open up the possibilities of Python 3 to everyone.
  • Dev vs Prod: If you want to keep your development and production apps separate, we’ve made it even easier for you. Check out our how-to guide.
  • We’ve made browsing and searching your App Logs much faster.

September 2019

  • Scheduled Tasks: you can use Anvil to run a function at regular intervals. Just tag your function with @anvil.server.background_task, then open the Scheduled Tasks dialog.
  • DropDowns now have placeholders: Just tick include_placeholder to add an “unselected” option to your DropDown. Read more in the documentation.
  • Call Javascript from anywhere: If you use Javascript in your app, you can call it from any code, not just Custom HTML forms. See the docs for anvil.js.call_js().
  • Sort Data Tables in the editor: Check out the new sort buttons in the Data Table editor.
  • Easier editing of deeply nested RepeatingPanels: If you nest RepeatingPanels deeply inside each other, you’ll see we’ve cut down a lot on unnecessary repeats, so they’re easier to edit.

August 2019

  • Whole-app search: Just press Ctrl+Shift+F to search for text in your whole app at once!
  • Inline attachments for email: Want to embed images in your email? Now you can! Read the email attachments documentation for more.
  • We’ve expanded our Google Maps integration: Read the Maps documentation for more.

April 2019

  • We’ve updated Anvil’s HTTP API support, with a focus on making it easier to build secure APIs. Check out the API documentation.
  • Filter your uploads: FileLoader components now have a file_types property, so you can request “only images” or “only .xls files”. Read the API docs here
  • See the structure of your page: When you’re choosing components from the drop-down in the Properties panel, you can now see the full heirarchy of components, including their containers.
  • Store extra files in Git: If you’re using Git to store and modify your Anvil apps, you can now store extra files in that repository.

March 2019

  • Introducing Background Tasks: Now you can kick off long-running processes and monitor their progress without blocking your app. Just tag a function with @anvil.server.background_task, then call anvil.server.launch_background_task() to start it going.
  • Performance improvements: Server-side code starts faster, Data Tables access is faster, apps load faster.
  • We’ve made it easier to theme components in your Anvil app.
  • We’ve installed more packages for your server modules, including NLTK and Segment analytics.

February 2019

  • We’ve overhauled how you query Data Tables, and added a some flexible new queries, so you can perform much more fine-grained searches. Learn more on our blog.
  • You can now call server code without displaying a spinning loading indicator using anvil.server.no_loading_indicator.
  • You can now draw images onto Canvas components.
  • It’s now easier to work with files and Media in Server Modules: Get a temporary file from any Media object with anvil.media.TempFile(), and read files into Media objects with anvil.media.from_file(). Read the docs here
  • Anvil now works better with password managers, including Chrome’s built-in password manager.

January 2019

  • You can now download any Media object in the user’s browser by calling download(media).
  • If you use Javascript with Anvil – or external services such as Intercom – we’ve made it even easier to import these native libraries. Read the guide on our website.
  • Your app can now find out its ID with anvil.app.id, and whether this is the published version or running in the editor with anvil.app.branch.
  • The YouTubeVideo component now raises a state_changed event when it starts or stops playing.

December 2018

  • App Titles and Logos: Now you can customise the public face of your app using Titles and Logos. This configures search engine and social media previews as well as your app’s favicon and the title of the browser tab.
  • The Data Tables Service now tells you how many Rows are in your table.
  • Remembered user sessions are now stored in the Users table in Data Tables, so you can delete them to log users out.
  • There’s now a distinct URL associated with editing an app, so you can bookmark the Anvil editor with an app open.

September 2018

  • Introduced Data Grids: They make it easy to build apps where you display and interact with tables of data. Check out our blog post, and our tutorial: Getting Started with Data Grids
  • Introduced the “Require Secure Passwords” option in Anvil’s user authentication service. When you select “Require Secure Passwords”, Anvil prevents your users from re-using a password that’s too short, or has already been leaked in a data breach. “Require Secure Passwords” is enabled by default for all new apps, and you should turn it on for your existing apps too.
  • Now, almost every component has a tooltip property. Set it to display some extra text when you hover your mouse over the component.

August 2018

  • Database SQL queries: If you’re a Dedicated Server user, you can now connect directly to Anvil’s internal database and write queries with SQL.
  • It’s now easier to embed Anvil apps in other websites. When you open the Publish dialog, you now get a checkbox for “Embed this app in a web page”.
  • It’s now easier to lay things out in our drag-and-drop designer. Look out for the dotted lines to see which container you’re dropping a container in.
  • If you’re storing encrypted App Secrets in your Anvil app, you can now enter longer, multi-line strings.
  • The modules for our Google and Facebook integrations have moved - they’re now anvil.google and anvil.facebook. Your existing apps will still work.
  • Apps now load faster.

July 2018

  • Microsoft SSO: Users can now log into apps with their Microsoft accounts. Microsoft login (Azure Active Directory) is available for all our Business plan customers. Click here to read more.
  • Easily send and receive email from your code with the new Email Service. Check out the code samples, or watch our demo video.
  • Introduced the new form validation library which makes it a lot easier to validate user input.
  • We’ve introduced a new domain for your apps: Now, by default, your apps are available at <something>.anvil.app (the old <something>.anvilapp.net links still work).
  • We made saving your apps a lot smoother.

May 2018

  • Simple objects in Data Tables: You can now add “Simple Object” columns to your Data Tables. These can store strings, numbers, lists, or dicts - that’s any JSON object. And you can search inside them with a powerful query system. Find out more on our blog.
  • Easier code navigation: you can hold down the Ctrl key and click on a function or variable to jump to its definition.
  • Introduced the new FlowPanel, which lets you lay out components side-to-side. It’s great for grouping buttons, links or labels right next to each other.
  • We’ve made it easier to drag and drop Link components, so it’s clearer whether you’re dropping something next to a Link or inside it.
  • Added more options for displaying images in Image components: Shrink to fit, zoom to fill, or display your image at its original size no matter how big your page is.
  • Now you can control the spacing in a ColumnPanel with the column_spacing property.
  • We’ve made the Toolbox easier to navigate by highlighting the most commonly used components.
  • Fixed-width layouts are easier now too, with the XYPanel. Most of the time, you won’t be needing a fixed-width layout, but when you do, it’s right there.

March 2018

  • We’ve made it even easier to download files from your Anvil app: You can set the url property of a Link component to any Media object, even a temporary one.
  • Two-factor authentication: secure your access to the Anvil IDE by enabling two-factor auth on your account today. (Open the Anvil editor and choose My Account).
  • The Client Uplink: lets you connect un-trusted code to your Anvil apps, just like the Uplink. Read the docs.
  • Stripe credit card form customisation: you can now set an icon_url with anvil.stripe.checkout().