Response Streaming
In our third and final phase of bringing true realtime support to Xano, we're introducing response streaming, which allows you to both receive a streaming response as well as send a streaming response.
When you receive a response from an external API that supports streaming, such as ChatGPT, you can use our new Streaming External API Request function to get the response from ChatGPT and use a For Each loop to run through each portion of the streamed response as it arrives, to send the response in chunks to your frontend.
When you want to stream a response to your frontend, you can leverage the new Streaming Response function, which will allow you to stream responses in chunks back to your frontend, so it no longer has to wait for the entire response to be generated when it makes sense to do so. This allows you to build truly interactive and realtime chatbots and more, right inside of Xano.
Improved Usage Monitoring
We've improved the usage monitoring graph as a first step in bringing more proactive and retroactive performance data to our paid instances. We've added storage usage to this graph, which you can switch between, and will be adding more metrics in the near future.
This updated usage graph enables you to review historical data, so you can more easily track the impact of development iteration, increased data set or user base size, and more.
Release Track Preferences
We wanted to give you more control over when new Xano updates roll out to your instance. Today, we're introducing Release Track Preferences, which allow you to:
Select the days you want your instance to be updated. For example, if we drop a release on a Monday and you have set your preferred day to Thursday, your instance won't receive the new update until Thursday.
Choose a maintenance window so you know what time the updates will take place
Test Data Generation
Inside of your database tables, you now have the option to generate random test data and more quickly jump into building your APIs.
We've added generators for a ton of standard data types, and it can also read from other generated data, such as first and last names, when generating email addresses.
Names
Addresses
Email
Phone numbers
UUIDs
...and more!
Expression Editor & Playground
By now, you've probably at least seen our Xano Transform engine and the expression data type, and maybe even checked out some performance comparisons between a function stack, Lambdas, and Expressions. There is a lot of power and flexibility that comes from learning Expressions, but we know it's not always an easy task.
To help showcase the power of expressions and make writing them easier, we're introducing a new Expression Editor & Playground. Let's take a look at the Playground first.
The Playground offers you essentially an "expression scratch pad", allowing you to try out using expressions without making any modifications to your function stack. This also includes quick and easy access to documentation, and an interactive tutorial, to help you learn the basics of using expressions.
In the Expression Editor, get quick context for your existing variables, inputs, and environment variables, and take advantage of the easy access to all available filters for expressions, so you never have to tab away from Xano when deciding how to build your expressions.
Workspace Search Improvements
Keyboard shortcut enthusiasts, rise up! Our universal search just received a huge upgrade! Just press Crtl / Cmd + K to bring up the search panel, which now includes:
Recently Visited suggestions for faster navigation back and forth between pages
You can now search for practically anything inside of your workspace, even down to settings on the page you're currently on.
Advanced search filtering with easy-to-use prefixes. Just type a question mark in the search box to see what's available! Quickly filter down to functions, APIs, tables, and more.
Shortcut Commands allow you to quickly access the settings or actions for the page you are currently on.
Workspace Import and Export with the Metadata API
We've added additional API endpoints to our Metadata API, allowing you to export the full content of a workspace and import it again should the need arise. It's also possible to use these endpoints to transfer workspaces between instances, and includes password support for more secure transfer.
Misc. Improvements and Bug Fixes
Side panels are now resizable across the entire platform.
Some significant upgrades to our Create / Edit Inputs and Fields panels.
The toolbar now stays pinned to the top of the screen when scrolling through long function stacks.
