Gramex 1.62 release notes

Gramex 1.62 lets you create dynamic tables and charts from data, run slidesense from the command line to update presentations, and launches a preview of the new Gramex Charts.

PowerPoint tables and charts

SlideSense, a.k.a. PPTXHandler v2 supports tables and charts.

The table rule lets you specify the contents and format of each cell, which even allows you to create micro-charts in cells, such as bars or icons.

The chart-data rule lets you update chart data from any source. This makes it easy to copy charts and create multiple variations for different slices of data.

Create presentations from the command line

When you install Gramex, you now have a new command called slidesense. Run slidesense or slidesense gramex.yaml to create the target presentations specified by your gramex.yaml file and open them.

Gramex Charts preview

Gramex Charts is a UI-based Gramex app that lets you:

• Pick a chart from a catalog
• Configure the chart using a UI
• Export the chart as PNG, SVG, or embeddable code

This will be included as part of the Gramex code base once it’s ready. For now, try the beta version at https://gramener.com/gramexcharts/.

Other features

• The SMS Service supports the new API from Exotel to send SMS messages.
• Gramex init no longer adds quotes to the URL keys in gramex.yaml. So an app named “My App” will have URL keys like my-app-home: rather than the less pretty "My App-home":.
• Gramex test cases on Travis no longer fail. The coverage is significantly higher (89%). Local tests on Windows are also a lot more robust now.

What next

We promised two features in this release that are delayed. Both will land in the September 2020 release as well.

• Improve installation with a one-line conda install and docker install
• Improve documentation, with a new design that’s easier to explore

In addition, the September 2020 release (1.63) will:

• Preview the Gramex IDE. This September version will let you launch Gramex containers in Docker via a UI
• Extend PPTXHandler with color gradients and custom charts
• Extend ProxyHandler to proxy websockets as well
• Add a 1-year roadmap for Gramex

How to install

See the Gramex installation and upgrade instructions

Note: Gramex 1.62 does not work with Python 3.8. We recommend Python 3.7.

Statistics

The Gramex code base has:

• 17,668 lines of Python (291 more than 1.61)
• 1,694 lines JavaScript (same as 1.61)
• 10,938 lines of test code (293 more than 1.61)
• 89% test coverage (8% more than 1.61)