How Notebooks Work

What is a Notebook?

In PushMetrics, all work happens in Notebooks.

Notebooks are dynamic, executable documents that combine aspects of rich-text documents like MS Word or Google docs with executable logic from scripting languages. That means you can have rich text and images next to executable blocks like SQL queries, API calls, or blocks that send emails.

A notebook is organized into pages - just like a spreadsheet document can have multiple sheets. A page consists of blocks, which can have many different types.

Creating Pages and Blocks

Adding Blocks to a page

You can simply add new text blocks by hitting enter in any block - just like in a regular text document.

To add other block types, click on the + button next to a block and select the type from the dropdown menu:

Shortcuts

There are also a few shortcuts to create new blocks faster.

For example:

  • ⌘ + . opens the add-block menu
  • typing -- + space will add a SQL block
  • # + space creates an H1 headline
  • [] + space creates a TODO list

You can see all shortcuts on the right side of the add-block menu:

Adding Pages

You can simply add pages to a Notebook by clicking the + button in the left sidebar:

Click on the + to add a new page

Executing Blocks & Notebooks

Notebooks are executable documents.

You can trigger an execution by clicking on the Actions button in the top navigation bar.

  • Execute Page will execute all blocks on the current page
  • Send Page via Email will execute all blocks and then send the page as an HTML email

You can also run executable blocks individually:

Notebooks Tab

The "Notebooks" tab lets you browse and access all your notebooks and pages.

It also shows an outline of all named blocks on a page.

Data Tab

The "Data" tab shows all your database connections and their metadata.

You can easily browse through your database contents, preview tables, and copy a select statement to your clipboard.

View and Edit Mode

Notebook pages can be accessed in editing or in viewing mode.
Viewing mode is used when you either do not have editing permission, or someone else is currently editing a Notebook page.

Edit mode

In Edit mode, blocks can be added, changed, executed, and removed

View mode

In View mode, no changes or executions of a page are possible

You can simply switch between modes given you have editing permissions:

Cover Images

Change a page's cover image to make things more colorful 

Every new notebook page gets a randomly assigned cover image - just to make things a little more colorful.

You can easily change cover images and provide your own ones using a link to the image or by searching through Unsplash.

You can also remove the cover image if you want a page without it.