Using an icons in formulae and embeds

Ideas & Features
8

Since the original request from March 2024 was closed, I am re-opening it here, based on the following history:

  1. @nyjo had requested the ability to add (i.e. concatenate) an emoji type and a text type, e.g. State.Icon + " " + "Release " + Left(ToText([Schedule Dates].End()), 7)
  2. @schorsch re-affirmed it saying “in conditionally generated name formulas it could be used to indicate…”
  3. @jurgenappelo restated it saying “I have a formula-generated text with multiple icons in the text…”
  4. The really cool solution of having a formula’s output type be emoji i.e. icon, is great for some use cases, but it still does not address the original requests above of being able to mix emoji type and text type in a useful way.

Currently, assuming the state has the sample icon of :lady_beetle: (ladybug)

State.Icon + " Some Text"
// outputs: :ladybug: Some Text
// NOT the expected: 🐞 Some Text

Unless there were a function to convert emoji shortcode to unicode text, the output above is pretty much useless in many cases, not to mention that it breaks the Fibery’s strictly types addition/concatenation, by not requiring conversion to text of the eomji type using the ToText.

Patch/Hacky Solutions

Two that are just temporary patches, because they would render Unicode Emojis, which a) do not include custom emojis, and b) look different on different devices versus the fibery emojis that have a normalised look, since they are actual images. e.g. the first one is Fibery, and the second one is Windows.
image

  • For ToText() accept Emoji Types (which it currently does not) and actually convert the shortcode to unicode.
  • To create a new ToUnicodeEmoji() which accepts a Text Type containing a valid emoji shortcode, as well as an Emoji (i.e. Icon) Type, in both cases outputting Text Type containing the Unicode character(s). Of course this would also not work with custom emojis, but it is at least a limited, specific function claiming to convert things into Unicode Emojis. and it will fulfil exactly that.

More Full Solution

And then the real, but much more involved solution:

  • A solution that would work fully for unicode and custom emojis as well as other things such as markdown (bold/italics/links/etc.), by leaving the output as short codes, but having Text Type Formula Outputs be fully rendered into a formatted component on the display layer, but it is a vast project, as we discussed in my topic on Markdown rendering of Text Type Formula Outputs.