image on load

Actually in years past I had a QuickBase product manager tell me IOL was going to be removed. But it does not even matter any more as there are multiple ways to inject JavaScript into a page and Service Workers gives you complete control over the pages. And believe it or not there are even more powerful features being added to browsers that make Service Worker obsolete. So if you hear product managers nay-saying Service Workers don't believe them. There is no stopping this  train.

What are the other ways to inject javascript and what are the situations for them?

IOL - Image Onload
BOL - Branding on Load
SW - Service Workers
US - User Script (like greasemonkey or tamper data)
OEH - On Error HTML

This is mostly an exercise in writing HTML in the forum but I though I would list the some pros, cons and examples of the various techniques.

IOL - Image Onload

Pros:

• Oldest and Most Deployed Injection Technique
• Simple Setup with Two User Variables
• Pastie Database With Hundreds of Examples

Cons:

• Works Only on {new, view, edit, report & grid} Pages
• Does not Not Work on Administrative Pages or Chart Pages
• Do not Have Complete Control Over When Script Executes

Use Cases:

• Field Validation, Conversion, Transformation
• Lookup Services
• Widget Integrations

BOL - Branding on Load

Pros:

• Works on All Pages in Application Once Setup
• Script Executes Early in Page Rendering Process

Cons:

• Totally Dependant on Current QuickBase's Branding Interface
• More Extensive Decoding Logic Needed to Produce Page Specific Behavior

Use Cases:

• Custom Branding HTML
• Inject Script into Administration and Chart Pages

SW - Service Workers

Pros:

• SW Can Do Just About Everything - god Mode for QuickBaase
• New Capabilityies: Offline, Sync, Notifications
• Support in All Major Browser - In Development for Safari

Cons:

• Scope of SW is individual Table or entire Account (no Application scope)
• Requires Developer Well Verse in Asynchronous Scripting
• Can be Tricky to Demo, Debug, and Administer

Use Cases:

• To Many to Enumerate

US - User Script

Pros:

• Large Repositories to Draw On
• Many Utility Functions: Download, Table Manipulation etc

Cons:

• Must be Manually Installed
• Specific to Brower
• Greasemonkey and TamperData Popular

Use Cases:

• Many and Varied
• Many Generic Page Manipulation Capabilities

OEH - On Error HTML

Pros:

• Similar to IOL but Without Using Codepage
• Encodess JavaScript into Attribute
• Some Users Prefer Defining Script Exclusively Through Formula

Cons:

• Best Used for Short Scripts
• Not Very Human Readable
• Generated Through Wizard

Use Cases:

• Counting Records, Prior Values
• Arbitrary Custom Functions: sine(x)
• Over Half Dozen Examples Created

I'm ready to jump on the service worker train, but as of right now, a lot of my clients are still using IE for their day to day (honestly, at this point, I can't even make eye-contact with them), but there is a push to upgrade to Edge, so I'm hopeful. 

Until then, anything too complicated to be handled in IOL, we do externally with python and a task scheduler. 

There is another potential option for using Service Workers which would work independent of the browser because it operates in the cloud. CloudFlare has adopted the Service Worker API for their "edge routers":

Introducing Cloudflare Workers: Run JavaScript Service Workers at the Edge
https://blog.cloudflare.com/introducing-cloudflare-workers/

I was told a few months ago by QuickBase's top security guy that part of QuickBase infrastructure was going to be using CloudFlare in some capacity in the very near future. I don't know the details and it would be wholly up to QuickBase to explore this new feature but it would provide a very unique opportunity for Enterprise organizations to customize and integrate their deployment of QuickBase.

By  sheer coincidence I was added to the CloudFlareWorker Beta program over the weekend. This in itself won't change anything with regard to QuickBase using the CloudFlareWorker service, but I am going to run some of my own sites through the CloudFlareWorke service to fully understand what it can do and to become an expert with it.

Some of the listed applications are very interesting and could easily be applied to QuickBase applications if  QuickBase chose to open this service to their enterprise users.

============================================

Hi Dan, 

I am delighted to let you know that we are welcoming you to the Cloudflare Workers Beta. With this early access, you will be one of the first users to experience Cloudflare Workers. 

You can warm up by writing a simple 'hello world' worker or, here are some other ideas to get you started: 

Write A/B tests
http://content.cloudflare.com/MI0C7K0yXRe5Z00sO0TS022

Perform conditional routing
http://content.cloudflare.com/wSyCIeZXO0000T5t70K230R

Filter our requests based on headers
http://content.cloudflare.com/x0X0000R2457OIS0uZeTyCK

Aggregate responses from multiple endpoints
http://content.cloudflare.com/R00Oey5SKZ0020T7X5CRvI0

Cloudflare Workers is free during beta. After the beta ends, you will be charged based on the number of requests. We will announce pricing at least 30 days prior to the end of beta. 

You can visit our community page to see what others are building. The entire Workers team is hanging out there to answer questions and help you get set up. Please let us know any feedback, good or bad, about your experience.