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Tablewalk

Conventions

What an App draws without being told, read off a column’s name, type and vocabulary, and how to overrule it.

Terminal window
tablewalk check --app examples/apps/lintel --defaults

What you’ll see

Section titled “What you’ll see”

--defaults prints each resource’s columns with the rule the platform gives each one and why (“a number named like money”), each page’s layout and why, and says where the App’s own rule wins.

The column Is drawn as
A number named like money (price, total, fee, balance, hourly_rate), or a money column money in the App’s currency
A number named like a percentage (probability, progress, _rate) a percent with a bar
A date named like a due date (due_on, deadline) said from today: “in 3 days”, “2 days ago”
A number whose name says its unit (_minutes, _days, sq_ft, mileage) the figure with its unit
A 0/1 integer named like a yes-or-no (is_, has_, _able) Yes or No
Text named email, phone or url a link
A CHECK vocabulary of plain words each word with a tone by what it says: paid good, failed bad, on_hold warn, in_progress info
A status a machine moves tones by where each state stands: final states neutral, the last forward state good
A person’s name in a people table (customer, employee, mechanic) an initials disc, their email under it
A rollup or computed figure made of money money
A record page that names no layout the one its sections make: a gallery first a showcase, a timeline ending the main column a conversation, the record’s long text with its facts alone an article, else the record’s own

Captions drop _id, _at and _on. A state’s own stamp (ready_at) is written when the record enters that state. A form’s vocabulary field starts at the schema’s DEFAULT.

When to use it, and when not

Section titled “When to use it, and when not”

Use it as it comes: an App that declares less reads more clearly. Write a rule only where yours differs, such as a vocabulary word that means something else here, or a figure that is a count and not money.

Options

Section titled “Options”

Whatever the App writes wins, one part at a time:

  • The figure. A declared format, unit or bar replaces the inferred one.
  • Tones. A declared tone or colors replaces the inferred tones.
  • Words. Declared values replace the inferred words.
  • The person’s disc. A declared avatar or mark replaces it.
  • Nothing at all. An empty rule, display: { price: {} }, draws the column as stored.

Common mistakes

Section titled “Common mistakes”
  • Writing out what the platform already does. check warns restated, and tablewalk check --design --fix deletes exactly those rules.
  • Naming a count like money (value, total) and wondering why it wears a currency. Declare format: 'number' for it.
Section titled “Related”