One of the more subtle aspects of Flow is our code template engine. It allows us to very easily update and maintain or create new export formats.
When we released our React export in December, it had taken us less than a week to produce, test, and ship it… Which is nuts, because our team is small and adding code export to a tool should be really really hard. For us, it’s not… and this is because of Flow’s amazing code template engine.
A few key releases from last year show what I mean:
1.5.1 (Jun 27): 2 templates
1.5.6 (Jul 17): 5 template (added 3 in a single month)
1.6.7 (Nov 5): 6 templates
1.6.8 (Dec 10): 8 templates
1.6.9 (Dec 20): 9 templates
At the beginning of 2019, we had 2 export options:
- a solid iOS / Swift export, and
- a terrible Web / CSS keyframes export.
By the end of 2019, we had:
- iOS
- iOS — Launch Animations
- iOS — Onboarding Animation
- iOS — Custom Button
- HTML
- HTML — Toggle Button
- HTML — WebComponents
- HTML — WebComponents Toggle Button
- React — Toggle Button
Our team is small, so to be able to achieve this kind of production timeline is a very real testament to the power of Flow’s code template engine.
It’s easy for us to bring new export languages to Flow.
Flow Pro
We are working on a Pro version that will allow YOU to do this kind of thing as well.
So, you don’t like our export / programming style? That’s fine, you can modify a template to generate software exactly how you would have written it.
Do you need a language we don’t support? That’s fine, you’ll be able to write one yourself.
This is going to be a killer feature that truly puts Flow in a class of its own, so stay tuned.
Wait. What’s Flow?!?!
Great question.
Flow is a UI Animation and code export tool for animating Sketch files and eliminating the most painful parts of hand-off in app development. It bridges the gap between design and development by exporting production-ready native code for iOS and HTML.
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Originally published at https://createwithflow.com on January 3, 2020.
