dbFront.com - Recent questions in Feature Requests (All)

Remove "On Hover" over your name (Top Right)

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 15:07:19 +0000

When you hover over your name (top right) it drops down a menu showing:

Profile
Login Details
Log Off

This is just a few pixels above the "Search" in the top right, and obscures the search box.

It would be good if this hover was changed to an "On Click", this way it doesnt get in the way if you oveshoot the search box using your mouse.

Set a SSO Admin per Database connection

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 14:11:35 +0000

Per Connection you can setup SSO Groups for Read and Read / Write. Wanting the ability to have a 3rd group for Per Connection Admin. This would would give that person dbfront admin access for that particular connection. Allow them to change table views, visiblity of tables, etc but only for that one particular connection.

I thought this might be what "Admin Access" does in the connection access tab, but with SSO enabled this just returns a "none selected" and enabling graph API permissions still does not return any security groups to this option.

User Help on table-only fields

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 16:39:12 +0000

Currently, User Help is only accessible for a field if it is on the form. It would be nice if fields that are only set to show in the table had access to the User Help as well. Perhaps with a help icon in the column header.

Preserve Quick Search on refresh

Sat, 07 Feb 2026 03:39:27 +0000

Unlike Advanced Search, Quick Searches are cleared on page refresh. It would be nice if there was an option for it to be preserved, so the user sees the same filtered table view on refresh.

This came up when working with ProcedureAPI and the Close action. I want to force a screen refresh so users see up-to-date data after the procedure runs, but users have complained that clears the search.

Quick Search Across Multiple Tables

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 14:29:25 +0000

Sometimes users don't have a clue what they are looking for (e.g. a reference which could be in multiple tables).

It would be good if there was a page which allowed selection of tables and performed a "quick search" on each of those tables, and returned each individual table of data.

Clicking on the record, would then redirect the page as per this feature request: https://dbfront.com/qa/1477/separate-record-view-instead-of-showing-table

As a lot of our image upload/sharing platforms are blocked in the UK, here's a nice Image representation:

| Search Box |
__

| Table 1 results |
____
____
| Table 2 results |
____
____
| Table 3 results |
____

Separate "Record View" instead of Showing Table

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 00:55:58 +0000

Currently when searching for an item, then choosing a record, the options are quite limited (record next to table, or record below table).

It would be good if when choosing a record on the list, it takes you a dedicated page showing the record details, but no table. This would give more real estate for showing various tabs. It would also vastly reduce confusion from users.

(Think of any website where you're looking for products - you have a product list, then jump to the product page, which shows the product and a list of attributes. You dont still see your "search list" when looking at the details page).

It could also solve the issue where if the user has to jump through lots of records to get to the data which they want to view.

e.g.

a simple structure, where an Item has an Item Vendors and an "Item Vendor History"
Item > "Item Vendor" > "Item Vendor History"

Current Navigation:
- Table View with Items - Search for Item and Select
- Identify Vendor in list, click on record.
- Click on Open Record in top right-hand corner to open "Item Vendor" record (with table list of "Item Vendors" which is confusing to users as they picked a specific record.)
- Navigate tabs underneath to view details.

Simplified Navigation:

Table View with Items - Search for Item and Select
Redirect to new page, without List View. Product details at top, with tabs underneath.
In Vendor tab, select row
Redirect to new page, without List View. Item Vendor details at top, with tabs underneath
View details in tab underneath.

Allow multiple pipe-separated CSS classes in all areas

Wed, 22 Jan 2025 16:01:35 +0000

After a bit of searching, I found in the release history that multiple pipe-separated CSS class names can be specified for conditional row styling: https://dbfront.com/releasehistory#v1.2.0.0343
(side note: this info is missing from the help page on the feature: https://dbfront.com/table-row-styling)

This works great and currently only appears to apply for table row styling.
It would be convenient to have this feature in all areas of dbFront wherever a custom CSS class can be specified.

How can I can I use dbFront to connect to a SAAS service that uses OAuth?

Tue, 19 Nov 2024 21:25:59 +0000

Many external services require OAuth authentication to enable account access. How can I manage that with dbFront?

Single File Automated Backup

Tue, 12 Nov 2024 18:33:37 +0000

dbFront already automatically creates and maintains backups of each database's configuration.

It would be handy if dbFront could capture and backup all of the bits and pieces for each database connection & application including the custom CSS files, Icons, Report Templates and anything else that might be easily missed.

The backup should also include all server configuration stuff, SSO details and more.

The idea is a single file zip file that could be migrated to another machine and restored.

This would be great for server migrations or creating distributable application packages.

Ability to position the Advanced Search above the table

Fri, 04 Oct 2024 18:13:13 +0000

I want to simplify things for the user direct them to filter down the database first.

To facilitate that I want to position the search above the table.

How can I move the form buttons below the form

Wed, 02 Oct 2024 19:29:57 +0000

I would like to move the buttons below the form to make it cleaner for my users.

Dynamically Refresh Stored Procedure Results

Wed, 02 Oct 2024 17:49:47 +0000

It would be very useful if the results of a stored procedure could automatically refresh themselves as a process completes on the database.

Two of many use cases are:

You are monitoring an external process and monitoring a log table.
You are monitoring one or more processes that are using the SQL Server Service Broker to execute Asyncronously.

Parse Browser Query String parameter for stored procedure

Wed, 14 Aug 2024 17:13:32 +0000

I need to pass information from one screen to another and have a RunProcedure call on the second screen use that information.

I plan to add a query special parameter from the OpenURL call but then need to capture that parameter and pass it to a procedure on the second screen.

Add If-Contains visibility expression

Wed, 14 Aug 2024 16:21:54 +0000

The "If In List" expression works when I want to check if a value from the current record is in a list. But I want to check the opposite direction. I want to check if a field from the current record contains the specified value.

Prepare Form Data Before Load

Mon, 29 Jul 2024 13:41:08 +0000

I need to do just-in-time preparation of the Form Data before it is loaded and visible to the user.

The issue is that I need to pull in data from a separate system so that the data will be relevant.

I know I can setup a background process on the database server to ensure that the data is always ready for presentation but that would create a pile of work and data churn on the server for data that would rarely be seen. Additionally, there is the risk that it wouldn't be current.

Views can't trigger processing.

Is it possible to call a stored procedure to prepare the data just before the main form is loaded?

Pass advanced search criteria in URL

Thu, 04 Jul 2024 17:27:14 +0000

I've successfully set up dbFront as a webpage in Tableau so my end users can make updates to the backend data as needed. I'm trying to figure out a way to have selected data in Tableau be passed along in the URL as an advanced search rather than a quick search as described in https://dbfront.com/deeplinking. Most of the time when the data needs to be updated a Mass Update is the preferred method but when using quick search that functionally is not available.

For example looking at pricing for a specific type of product in Tableau and I want to update the price for all bikes. So I would use a Tableau action to pass along the URL (https://server/dbfront/default.aspx?k=nb8mwbiw4ugt16dqednrrh4o1a&t=zsm7uhsmmdmeztczu9t4zeu81o&s=Bike) and filter the results to just bikes and mass update the price from there.

Have table open with advanced search already expanded

Fri, 14 Jun 2024 16:07:52 +0000

Sometimes, we have tables setup that are only used by users to search for data - so we use the "Table Only" layout option. It would be nice if we could have the ability on tables to have each pane open expanded or closed. As in, allow Details to open expanded or closed, form to open expanded or closed, advanced search to open expanded or closed, etc. Would be a nice bit of extra customization.

Ability to search integer datatypes for exact value (non-ranged)

Fri, 14 Jun 2024 16:07:34 +0000

Currently, in advanced search integer and date data types require you to enter a range of values. It would be nice if both of these would be able to be modified to allow you to input a single search value rather than a ranged search value.

Show Images in the Table Grid instead of Checkmarks

Wed, 12 Jun 2024 23:22:27 +0000

Our users would like to see the image or a thumbnail in the table grid instead of the checkbox which indicates that there is an image.

Deep link to PDF/Binary file

Fri, 31 May 2024 00:47:06 +0000

Is there any way to deep link to a PDF/binary file, directly to the file preview page (or download)?

i.e. the page with the URL formatted like:

.../Data.ashx?action=getAttachment&pa=2&rt=[LongMysteryString]&t=Pdf

For example, we now have a process in dbFront where users can request certain documents which they can't generate themselves, but need to be generated by a manager. Thanks to the new WebRequest functionality, this can now all be done directly in dbFront. The manager generates the requested file(s) which save to a child table, and marks the request as complete, which triggers an email notification to the requester. Currently the email contains a link to the request record in dbFront. It would be nice to include links directly to the files, essentially "attaching" the PDF files to the email, so they can click the link and it opens the PDF viewer page in a browser, or downloads the file.

Can results be returned in multiple files instead of concatenating to a single file?

Mon, 25 Mar 2024 17:28:29 +0000

Enable Data Cleanup by Recognizing Disabled/NoCheck Relationships or Constraints

Fri, 22 Mar 2024 15:29:51 +0000

It is possible to create Disabled or Unchecked relationships. This often happens when converting structures or uploading data from external systems.

A big source is tables and relationships that were created by the Microsoft Upsizing Wizard or its replacement Microsoft SQL Server Migration Assistant. This is because Microsoft Access allows for the creation and use of relationships that are not checked. This also shows up when users have dropdowns/combo-boxes that allow users to select or create their own values.

This can create a massive headache for data cleanup. How can dbFront be used to help with Data Cleanup.

Show Field Preferences gear in table headers

Wed, 07 Feb 2024 14:51:45 +0000

One for the "not really needed but nice to have" pile - Render a Field Preferences gear in the table column headers, in addition to the form fields. Currently, changing settings on a table-only field requires you to add it back to the form, change settings, then remove from form.

Ability to Receive PDF Submit Requests

Thu, 01 Feb 2024 16:04:56 +0000

I don't know how well this works but since dbFront can already populate, export and import PDF files, it would be super handy if dbFront could simply accept PDF Post requests as well.

The process I am imagining is:

Create a custom PDF template with an embedded submit button using OpenOffice or Adobe,
In dbFront, populate the PDF Form and lock certain key fields with client specific data/keys,
Email the prepopulated PDF Form to a client/vendor for them to complete,
The client/vendor fills in the PDF Form using a tool of their choice and simply hits the imbedded submit button.
dbFront receives the request and loads the data running a validation procedure/trigger and starts the workflow.
Office staff see the new data in their Todo List the next morning.

The link I am thinking of is Send PDF data to URL

That would make data collection so much more efficient. If the submit button in the PDF did not work then the client could simply email the completed PDF back and we could import it into dbFront using dbFront's import functionality.

Ability to RECEIVE and process GET/REDIRECT requests

Tue, 16 Jan 2024 23:07:18 +0000

This might seem out of scope for dbFront but the purpose would be to enable more complex integrations.

This might be for already authenticated users who are being redirected back to dbFront after some external processing by a 3rd party. e.g. Payment Provider or Authentication.
This could be for non-authenticated or anonymous links that perform a special lookup, security check or processing before allowing custom access.

The idea is to enable the crafting of a special URL that is processed by a stored procedure with the stored procedure returning a redirect URL after processing.

The procedure would be responsible for any validation and security.

Transaction Isolation Level

Wed, 29 Nov 2023 18:22:49 +0000

Could it be possible to set the default transaction isolation level for accessing the SQL database?

In some cases, especially with large tables and lots of transactions going on, it would be beneficial to be able to set this to improve performance / reduce locking.

e.g.

SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL READ UNCOMMITTED

Obviously in some occasions this would prevent users from updating records (e.g. was part way through an uncommitted transaction in another session, and the changes rolled back), or cause data inconsistency issues, however it would depend on how the user is accessing the data and what they are using dbfront for. (Heavy read systems would benefit, business critical read-write would not).

Mirror Table Fields to report fields

Wed, 06 Sep 2023 13:56:54 +0000

Users here regularly ask for an Excel Export button that just downloads whatever is displayed in the table. Often I will add columns to a table and the table view but I have to be reminded to add them to the export as well.

It would be nice if there was an option for exports to just pull their columns/ordering/sorting etc. from the table fields settings. possibly with whatever filters/searches are active as well (possibly related to the linked feature request)

Ability to download Attachments and Linked-Files with reports.

Mon, 28 Aug 2023 22:22:37 +0000

It is possible to include the attachment (BLOB or VarBinary) columns in reports but this only includes the attachments if the attachments are printable images.

I need to be able to export the report and all attachments (PDF, Docx, Excel, ++) to satisfy discovery and audit requests.

The client wants the contents as a single ZIP so they can be sent to https://www.srfax.com/

Prompt user for Zip filename when selecting output option "Zip (PDF+Attachments)"

Fri, 11 Aug 2023 20:02:57 +0000

When editing report properties and the user specifies report output type "Zip (PDF+Attachments)", prompt the user for the desired filename. This is preferable to having the filename always mirror the name given to the print button itself.
Thank you.

Add some way to style the custom layout view to make it easier to recognize.

Tue, 02 May 2023 20:34:11 +0000

Sometimes users accidentally switch themselves to their custom layout and it is not always very easy to recognize. This can make for time consuming support requests as we try to figure out why their screen is different from others.

Ability to have a Stored Procedure process the WebRequest results

Fri, 28 Apr 2023 17:45:45 +0000

Triggers are great but it would be much better if we could specify a stored procedure to process the WebRequest results.

That would allow for a cleaner separation of logic. Especially if the logic was at all complex.

New Version notification isn't going away

Fri, 28 Apr 2023 15:34:47 +0000

I've installed the latest version but the Notice that a new version is available isn't going away, didn't it used to?

Sticky Columns

Mon, 27 Feb 2023 16:44:33 +0000

Allow users to select Sticky columns in dbFront. We have a large number of columns that we want to enable in the Grid view but want to ensure that some columns are always visible.

Add support for defining default database when creating connection

Wed, 22 Feb 2023 13:26:08 +0000

When creating MSSQL/Azure SQL databases, you have the ability to create users/logins which authenticates connections at a database level. In order to this to work, you have to define the default database when setting up the connection so the server know at which database the user should be authenticated.

Therefore i would like a optional field for database in the Connection Preferences.

Please refer to
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/relational-databases/security/contained-database-users-making-your-database-portable?view=sql-server-ver16

Multiselect with composite primary key

Wed, 01 Feb 2023 23:00:29 +0000

Does dbFront support multiselect lookups, where one of the relationships consists of a composite primary key? I tried setting it up but it's only showing as One to Many. Not sure if it's unsupported or I'm doing something wrong.

Table help when sidebar is disabled

Tue, 17 Jan 2023 22:34:41 +0000

Currently there doesn't appear to be a way to display table help if the sidebar is disabled. It would be nice if there was an option to display table help in a mouseover popup, like the field-level help behaves.

Add support for QR Code fields

Mon, 16 Jan 2023 18:55:22 +0000

DBFront support barcode fields which is great, but barcodes lack the features and error checking that QR codes have. QR codes can also contain more data than a barcode.

Having a QR code field type that can be displayed in a Report would be great. I built an inventory control system using DBFront and currently have a report to print an asset tag with a barcode on it. A QR code would make the inventory control system more resilient and expand its uses. Most mobile phones can now scan QR codes, but do not support scanning barcodes unless using an app designed for it.

OPTIONS: Add support for (SSO) groups per database

Mon, 19 Dec 2022 17:01:30 +0000

Today it's possible to define group permissions per connection but we would like to have the same ability per database. In our case we use one database server for different applications targeted at different user groups. A work-around is to create a connection per database but it would be easier if this was implemented in the application. :-)

Better formatting for dropdown columns

Tue, 13 Dec 2022 22:21:20 +0000

Currently, when multiple fields are selected to display in a lookup/dropdown field, dbFront appears to concatenate all the fields with a comma delimiter. When dealing with more complex data, this can be hard to visually parse. E.g.: https://i.imgur.com/LM8rXV6.png

It would be nice if the columns within the dropdown would be tabulated instead.
Example, see "Table-Style":https://www.grapecity.com/wijmo/demos/Input/ComboBox/Multi-column/purejs

Advanced Search Field Character Length

Tue, 08 Nov 2022 16:55:27 +0000

Is there any way to make an Advanced Search field longer than 50 characters? This generates so many unnecessary support requests because users cannot find something.

Conditionally editable field

Mon, 07 Nov 2022 19:50:24 +0000

Is there a way to have a specific field only be editable based on another column's value?
Row security would allow the whole row to be conditionally editable/locked. I'd like some fields in the row to be editable and some not.

Quick Search - Exclude Fields in Table View from Quick Search

Thu, 03 Nov 2022 13:49:50 +0000

With regards the "Quick Search" it would be good if there was an option to select which fields are used in the search. For example, if there's a calculated field on the table view (as it's useful for users) such as a "Count" of records (in a SQL view)

If you then use a search which hits these criteria (e.g. search for a number), it then searches through this view for the value.

Graphically, it makes sense. But from a user experience, it can lead to a very slow search as it has to search the SQL view as well as the static data. Especially if the SQL view is very complex.

Alternative work around is to use SQL to store the information within the table itself, however this would mean that there needs to be a routine to move this data from the view and put in the table.

Option to not "clean" HTML in Field Values in Table View

Thu, 03 Nov 2022 13:38:27 +0000

dbFront does the correct thing when parsing field values for visualising in table view. For example:

<img src ="">

is presented as

&lt;img src=""&gt;

This is great as it prevents rogue HTML from being presented within the list. Although in some cases it could be really handy to add rouge HTML. Thoughts are:

Add an Image to the list view
Add clickable links
More advanced styling
etc

Obviously would have to be a "use at your own risk" clause, as dodgy HTML being presented could corrupt the display / operation of the site.

Ability to remove "dbFront" from the Page Title in the browser tab

Fri, 07 Oct 2022 18:18:59 +0000

I would like to remove the dbfront reference from the browser tab. Customize it to add our company name.

Allow Emails to be used as attachments

Mon, 03 Oct 2022 13:33:00 +0000

The document attachment feature works well - we use it to include photosgraphs, PDFs, Word docs and Spreadsheets. But is it possible to allow Emails (from Outlook) to be included.
I suspect the easiest user interface for this would be to simply drag and drop the (open) message.

Regards
Colin

12-hour time entry

Tue, 31 May 2022 22:00:52 +0000

Can time columns be set to use 12-hour time for the entry widget?
Current 24-hour widget: https://i.imgur.com/wQpHPJv.png

Is there a way to hide the table view?

Thu, 12 May 2022 04:54:35 +0000

I have a database table that is basically just a checklist. I don't want a table view associated to it, I just want to load it and be able to check off tasks as they are completed. Is there a way to hide the table view and just show the form view?

Show and Edit multiline values in the table grid.

Thu, 31 Mar 2022 13:54:24 +0000

Currently, multiline values are truncated in the table grid. dbFront also blocks the editing of these fields within the Grid.

It is true that users can open the record and edit multiline fields in the form but that requires the user to shift focus out of the table grid which can slow them down.

Directly allowing users to view and edit these multi-line values in the grid would be very much appreciated.

Add send email option to action buttons

Tue, 15 Mar 2022 17:48:27 +0000

Add the ability to send emails from within the application to email addresses stored in a table. For example I have a list of users in my client list and I want to notify them of an outage, it would be nice to be able to click on a button and send an email out with the notification. You already have the email set up so that's one step out of the way. Thanks!

Add Unknown File Types to File Type Options

Tue, 15 Mar 2022 16:41:37 +0000

It would be nice to be able to add new file types to the list to be able to upload. For example, I have small license files that we send to our clients that end in .license. They are just text files but because they end in .license, and that's not a supported extension, I have to either zip them up or change them to .txt to upload them for storage. This is just more of an inconvenience when I have to download it to send to a client. If the file extension / file type list could be editable that would be very helpful. Thanks!