Inventory Management Multipage App

This laboratory focuses on developing a simple inventory management application using Retool Database, Storage, Retool Multipage App, Charts v2, and Retool Workflows.

Steps

The following steps focus on accessing Retool and using Retool Database, Retool Workflow, Retool Email, and Retool Web Apps to provide a base understanding of the Retool Platform.

Create a Retool account and login to your account as shown below.

Upload Images and Create Tables

This required portion of the lab is available as a separate artifact in Retool Database and Storage. Complete this first before continuing with the rest of the instructions.

Create Multipage App

Retool v3.148.0 introduces the multipage app as the default for all apps improving performance, simplifying navigation and overall development experience.

Inventory and Add Inventory Page

First we will create the app.

Select Retool Home > Apps > Create app
Select the app name and then update it to, inventory-mgmt.

Next we create the inventory and addInventory pages by selecting:

A default page exists. Rename this by right-clicking, , and select Rename changing the name to inventory.
Select Pages > +
Select the page, right-click, and select Rename changing the name to addInventory.

Add Header with Navigation

The inventory-mgmt app will use a global header that navigates users to/from the inventory an addInventory pages.

Select Outline > Global > + > Header. This creates a Header with navigation that displays in the canvas.
Select the Logo and update the Content > Image course > Storage to inventory_lab/acme.co.png.
Select Page1 in the header to modify its label and content.
Select Content > Mode > Manual. This will allow us to manually specify the header options.
Select ... for the Settings Menu Item and Delete. This will eliminate the Settings item.
Select Home Menu item, this will open up a dialog. Now we will connect the Page to the Menu item.
Under Edit menu item > Page specify inventory. Change the Label to INVENTORY.
Select Customers Menu item, this will open up a dialog. Now we will connect the Page to the Menu item.
Under Edit menu item > Page specify addInventory. Change the Label to ADD INVENTORY.

The following demonstrates the steps in action:

Inventory Page Components

Now we can lay out the components to define the inventory page functionality.

Confirm the page is set to inventory.

Page selection

Select Component tree > Main > +
Type in Tabbed Container. Select Tabbed Container icon. It will be placed on the canvas.
Stretch the container to take the full 12-column width.
Edit the tabs, delete Item 3 and change the names of the other tabs to Local and Vendor. To change the names select the Views > Item 1 and in the Edit view dialog change the Key and Label to local and Local respectively. Repeat this process for Item 2 to vendor and Vendor.

The following demonstrates the steps in action:

getInventory query

With the table placed, we can now connect it to a data source. In previous Retool Database section, we created an inventory table.

Select the table1 component and select Connect data green tab next to table1 tag.
Specify a Resource of Retool Database.
Change the query name from query1 to getInventory.
Enter the following SQL statement to perform the query:

SELECT * FROM inventory;

Select Preview and Run/Save.
Close the query editor and expand the Right panel / Inspector.
The Content > Data source should be set to getInventory.
In the Columns select the Regenerate Columns icon.
This should update the Primary key to ID and the table should display data.
Change the table1tag to inventoryTable.

The following demonstrates the steps in action:

getInventoryPaginated query

When working with large datasets, it is important to consider the use of pagination within Retool Table components. Pagination is the process of displaying a small subset of data, for example 5, 10, or 20 rows of data, at a time. This keeps the query results small and improves app performance.

We will demonstrate this through a parginated query and Server-side pagination in the Retool Table component.

First we need a query to tell Retool how many entries are in the database. Select Code > + and create a query called getTableSize. It uses the following SQL Query.

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM inventory;

Next we need to enable server-side pagination. Select the inventoryTable in the Right panel, under Content > Add-ons > + select Pagination.
This will open the pagination dialog where we fill in the Page size to 5, enable Server-side pagination, Pagination type set to Limit offset based, and a Total row count.

{{getTableSize.data.count[0]}}

Next we need to define a new query for the inventoryTable that is aligned with the Server-side pagination values.
Select Code > + and create a query called getInventoryPaginated and has the following SQL command.

SELECT * FROM inventory ORDER BY ID LIMIT {{inventoryTable.pagination.pageSize}} OFFSET {{inventoryTable.pagination.offset}};

The following demonstrates the steps in action:

Add Inventory Page Components

The add inventory page provides a user the ability to add a new inventory item to the inventory table.

Select the page, addInventory.
Select **Component tree > + ** and search for Container. Adjust the size / location of the container in the middle of the page.
Update the container title to Add inventory. Use the ESC key if Retool attempt to populate with a {{ script }}.
Within the container select Add components and search for Form.
Select Form. Stretch the form component to be the same size as the container.
Edit the form title to say Inventory item.
Select Generate from database. This will display the Form Generator. Specify the table inventory that will update the display to show the inventory columns.
Then deselect longitude, latitude, id.
Change the location Input type from Text Area to Select.

The following demonstrates the steps in action:

getLocations query

First we need to create a query to help populate the location select.

Select Code > + > Resource query.
Specify Retool Database and enter the following SQL command.

SELECT DISTINCT location FROM inventory;

Change the query name to getLocations.
We now need to update the locationSelect component to use this query to populate the selections.
Select the locationSelect component. Update the properties as shown in the following image where the query is identified and the value is set to {{item.location}}:

Select Inputs

The following demonstrates the steps in action:

form1SubmitToInventory query

Next, the Form Generator tool creates a form and an associated query to upload the form into the Retool Database. We will modify this query to perform an INSERT into the inventory table.

Select Code > form1SubmitToInventory
In the query editor change to SQL Changeset which will be set to Object and will display:

{{ form1.data }}

Select Key value pairs and enter sku, description, quantity, replenish, location, image_url with the following values skuInput.value, descriptionInput.value, quantityInput.value, replenishInput.value, locationSelect.value, and image_urlInput.value.

The following demonstrates the steps in action:

Part Detail Drawer

Within tables, the use of a Drawer Frame can be advantageous to expose details of a table row. Double-click a table row can cause the drawer to slide open and provide additional detail for the inventory part (e.g., image, partname, geo location).

Create Drawer Frame

Select Component tree > (inventory page) > +
Enter drawer and select the Drawer Frame. This doesn't display by default so you will need to select in Component tree for it to display to the right on the canvas.
Once displayed on the canvas, you can update the drawerTitle1 component to have its content set to:

{{inventoryTable.selectedRow.sku}}

Next we can add an image to the drawer frame using the Component tree > drawerFrame1 > +, enter Image in search, and select.
Drag the image to take full advantage of the width of the panel.
Specify the Content > URL as:

{{inventoryTable.selectedRow.image_url}}

Next we repeat the process by adding a Key value component. Stretch to the full width of the panel. Edit the Content > Data to be set to:

{
  "Description": {{ inventoryTable.selectedRow.description }} ,
  "Warehouse Location": {{ inventoryTable.selectedRow.location }}
}

Once the Image and Key value are placed, we will add a Mapbox component. Repeat the previous process of adding a component to drawerFrame1 and stretch to the full width of the drawer.
Update Content > Latitude

{{ inventoryTable.selectedRow.latitude }}

Update Content > Longitude

{{ inventoryTable.selectedRow.longitude }}

Update Content > Points

    [{ 
      "id": {{ inventoryTable.selectedRow.id }} ,
      "longitude": {{inventoryTable.selectedRow.longitude}}, 
      "latitude": {{inventoryTable.selectedRow.latitude}} 
    }]

Finally you can modify the Appearance > Zoom from 8 to 4.

The following demonstrates the steps in action:

Add event handler in Table to open Drawer Frame

Once the drawer frame is defined, we want to be able to have it open when you double-click a row in the table. This will then expose the details of the part we created in the previous step.

Select the inventoryTable component.
Select Interaction > Event handlers, complete the event handler using the following image to identify the settings:

Select Inputs

Once specified, you can select a row by double-click it and the drawer will appear. You can use the X or click on the row with a single-click to close the drawer.

The following demonstrates the steps in action:

Retool Charts

Retool's new Chart component(s) provides a wide range of ways of visualizing data. The Retool charts will use a bar graph that pulls data from inventory and vendor_inventory for current inventory.

Select the Component tree > inventory page.
Select the Vendor tab in the tabbed container.

Local Inventory Chart

This will display a left chart and right chart. The left chart will be local inventory powered by the getInventory query we built previously.

Select barChart1 and change the component name to localInventoryChart.
Delete the series sales and spend.
Select Series > + and specify a Name of Local Inventory Data.
Specify a Datasource of:

{{getInventory.data}}

Select Add-ons > Tooltip > to update and specify a Format of X,Y,Series name. This will provide a tooltip when you hover over bars to provide the SKU and other detail.
Select Appearance > Fill color > Tokens > Primary (Blue). This should update the bars to blue.
Select the localInventoryChart so we can access the and X and Y Axis Controls and specify Part name and Quantity.
Select X-Axis > Content > Title and enter Part name.
Enable under Appearance, Show axis line, Show gridlines, and Show zero line.
Select Y-Axis > Content > Title and enter Quantity. Enable the same features under Appearance.

The following demonstrates the steps in action:

getInventoryVendor query

For vendor inventory we will use a SQL JOIN to display the SKU from the inventory table and the vendor quantity and name.

SELECT 
    i.sku,
    iv.available_quantity,
    iv.vendor_name
FROM 
    inventory i
INNER JOIN 
    vendor_inventory iv 
ON 
    i.id = iv.sku;

The following demonstrates the steps in action:

Vendor Inventory Chart

Similar to the previous chart, we will update the chart name to vendorInventoryChart, delete the existing series, and create a new series that is powered by the getVendorInventory query.

Perform the same actions as in the previous example by creating a new series called Vendor Inventory Data, and the Content > Data source is set to:

{{getVendorInventory.data}}

We use similar settings to the previous example but include Group by vendor_name. Select FX to see this selection. The chart will display colored lines that is not legible.
Select the ... > vendorInventoryChart in the chart name to get back to the parent screen.
Select Bar mode as Stack.

The following demonstrates the steps in action:

Styling the Retool App

Once the application is functional, it is important from a design perspective to increase it's efficiency and usability. The following lab improves this app further using Retool Appearance capabilities: Styling a Retool App.

Initiate Reorder Workflow

We can extend the Inventory Management app by integrating a inventory reorder workflow to help automate vendor identification and ordering. The following lab demonstrates how to do this: Inventory Reorder Workflow.

Steps​

Create a Retool account and login​

Upload Images and Create Tables​

Create Multipage App​

Inventory and Add Inventory Page​

Add Header with Navigation​

Inventory Page Components​

getInventory query​

getInventoryPaginated query​

Add Inventory Page Components​

getLocations query​

form1SubmitToInventory query​

Part Detail Drawer​

Create Drawer Frame​

Add event handler in Table to open Drawer Frame​

Retool Charts​

Local Inventory Chart​

getInventoryVendor query​

Vendor Inventory Chart​

Styling the Retool App​

Initiate Reorder Workflow​

Steps

Create a Retool account and login

Upload Images and Create Tables

Create Multipage App

Inventory and Add Inventory Page

Add Header with Navigation

Inventory Page Components

getInventory query

getInventoryPaginated query

Add Inventory Page Components

getLocations query

form1SubmitToInventory query

Part Detail Drawer

Create Drawer Frame

Add event handler in Table to open Drawer Frame

Retool Charts

Local Inventory Chart

getInventoryVendor query

Vendor Inventory Chart

Styling the Retool App

Initiate Reorder Workflow