Both the Email & Website fields are based on the standard Text Field. You may want to check out the page on the Text Field as it contains some helpful hints on manipulating text. Both the Email and Website have additional features and constraints explained below.
The email address field is almost exactly the same as a standard text field. It has the same limitations. The one extra “feature” the email field provides over the text field is the ability to open up a new email message. You may notice an “email icon” to the right of the field. Tap on that icon and you can send an email to that address from within Flexile.
Website / URL
The website field is similar to the text field, but there are some key differences. The website field allows you to specify a prefix you want to use for the field. You can choose one of the pre-set prefixes (“http://”, “https://”, “ftp://”), your own custom prefix or none at all.
Constraints
- If you use a prefix, you won’t be able to edit the prefix in the record’s field. The prefix is automatically inserted for you and you’re prevented from deleting it.
- Also, pre-set prefixes aren’t stored in the database along with the record value. In other words, if you use the standard “http://” prefix, and you enter “www.example.com” into the field, Flexile will only store the “www.example.com” and will leave out the “http://” part of the address. This means you can switch out prefixes for all values by simply changing the prefix in the field’s options.
- If you don’t use a prefix, but you manually insert a prefix into a field as part of the address, Flexile will store that address with the prefix. So instead of entering “www.example.com” you enter “http://www.example.com”, then Flexile will store the entire “http://www.example.com”. This means if you later choose to use a prefix, you may get some strange addresses, “https://http://www.example.com”.
Similar to the email field, you can tap on the “globe” icon for the website field to open that address. What Flexile actually does, though, depends on the address you’re trying to open:
- If the address begins with “http://” or “https://”, Flexile will open the address with an in-app browser. If you wish, you can then choose to open that website in Safari.
- If the address doesn’t contain the above prefixes, Flexile will ask the device (iOS) if it can handle the address. If it can, it will hand the address to the device to open. This result in leaving the Flexile app to visit another app. This means you can store links to other apps, assuming those apps have some sort of URL scheme.