Hello, hello. Welcome to another blog in our Bright Ideas series, where we shine a light on a Salesforce community idea which we think deserves your vote. And for this idea, we’ve got something Lightning-y for you…
Hey, what’s the big idea?
What do we want? The ability to preview different page layouts when editing a page in Lightning App Builder! When do we want it? Oh, just whenever. I don’t want to pressure you.
(Oh and a couple of notes before we move on. Firstly, there is also this idea which gets at the same thing but has fewer votes. Secondly, it looks like you now need to log in to view ideas on the community. That’s a drag.)
Why should I care?
So you’re in Lightning, configuring a fancy record detail page using the App Builder. You know that the App Builder lets you get all clever about when this record page is used – you have configured it by app, by profile, by record type. Super duper sophisticated. Go you.
But wait. There’s a problem. You know that this record page will only be used for record type X, and that page layout A is assigned to record type X. So why on earth is the App Builder showing you a preview of the page using page layout B?
Well, App Builder is pretty smart. But apparently not smart enough to put those two things together. So it will only ever show you the page preview using the default page layout, even if that page layout is never going to be associated with this record page. That’s a shame, isn’t it?
Any workarounds in the meantime?
Well, yeah. But that’s not the point.
You could save your page and then go and see it in the app to check it out with the real layout. But to do that you have to activate it, and maybe you’re not ready to. Or you can log in as a user who has the other page layout assigned, but what if they can’t access App Builder?
Workarounds for days, but no good ones. Hence this idea.
What’s the status of the idea? And why should I vote?
Although the idea is attracting positive comments which are totally in agreement, it is sadly still under the points threshold for consideration. That’s where you come in! Go here, add your vote, maybe even contribute a comment, and let’s see where we can take this. App Builder is great – now let’s make it greater, and just that little bit cleverer and more contextual.
And who’s the brains behind this bright idea?
For this one, you can send your thanks, flowers and cold hard cash to Julie Conrad. Thanks, Julie!