Shared packages enable you to create and manage databases that anyone in your organization can use across multiple applications, modules, and data views within the same environment.
For example, you can use a shared package to maintain an authoritative list of countries or legal entities.
If you have multi-client publishing enabled, you can make the shared databases of the shared package available to your clients.
Access your shared packages
In the main navigation, select Shared packages to access all shared packages you are a collaborator of.
Create a shared package
To create a shared package, select New shared package and provide a descriptive name.
Add a database to a shared package
Then, select + New to add a database to your new shared package. You can also add a database by moving it from an existing shared package by clicking the three dot icon next to the database name.
Add multiple databases to a shared package
You can also create multiple databases within one shared package. This is particularly useful when two or more databases relate to one another.
For example, if your Country list database has a field Region, you could use a second database Regions + Representatives to look up your regional representative for that country.
Manage your shared package
As a collaborator, you can manage which other authors and groups can make changes to this shared package, as well as duplicate and delete it. To add or delete collaborators to and from this shared package, select Collaborators in the side navigation.
To rename, duplicate, or delete a shared package, select Settings in the side navigation.
Make a shared package available to clients
If you have multi-client publishing enabled, you can make the shared databases of the shared package available to your clients by enabling the toggle in the Publish side navigation.
Use the shared package in an application
To use a shared package in an application, you need to first link it into the application.
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Open the application in which you wish to use the shared package.
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Select Shared packages in the side navigation.
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Then, select Link a shared package and choose which shared package to link.
Note that you will see all shared packages available in your organization, i.e., your own shared packages as well as shared packages that others have created, including those that you may not have (collaborator) access to. -
Now, that you have linked the shared package into the application, you can use the database(s) from the shared package anywhere within this application, such as in Read From or Write to a Database actions in the module editor, or as the underlying database for a data view.
| In a Read/Write Database action node in a module | As the underlying database for a data view |
Occasionally asked questions
It really depends. For a set of databases, …
- … are you confident that they will always have the same collaborators?
- … will they usually be used in combination or together?
- … do you expect them to change together over time?
If you answered "yes" to all or most of these questions, then consider bundling them together in one shared package.
Otherwise, it’s best to have separate shared packages, so that applications can link just the shared packages they need. This is a good software development best practice to follow.
Shared packages are more versatile and offer more granular access controls, and thus replace this previous capability. Each existing tenant-wide database has been migrated to a separate shared package, and your organization’s admin(s) have been made collaborators.
This is currently not supported. However, if this would be useful to you, please leave a note in the Product Hub card.
Currently, moving database is only supported between shared packages or between applications. However, if this would be useful to you, please leave a note in the Product Hub card.
Related topics
- Learn how to assign answer options to categories using databases in this tutorial.