Only 'Custom URL' visible in Custom Widget List

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1

Hello, I’m using Grist Desktop for Mac version 0.2.10. there is only ‘Custom URL’ available in the Custom Widget list.
I read in another topic that I need to set the environment variable GRIST_WIDGET_LIST_URL to https://github.com/gristlabs/grist-widget/releases/download/latest/manifest.json
which I think I did.
running a simple env command returns:
GRIST_WIDGET_LIST_URL=$https://github.com/gristlabs/grist-widget/releases/download/latest/manifest.json
But even after restarting Grist Desktop the list doesn’t get filled with other options.
Are there other solutions I can try to get the Custom Widget list filled?

Thanks,

2

Hi Danny,

Quick question,

Is that dollar-sign there intentionally? If it isn’t there intentionally it might be enough to cause a problem. Let me know!

Thanks,

-Curtis

3

Hi Curtis,

That dollar sign wasn’t there intentionally, so I removed it, but while the env command now returns:
GRIST_WIDGET_LIST_URL=https://github.com/gristlabs/grist-widget/releases/download/latest/manifest.json
It’s still only ‘Custom URL’ that is available in the Widget list. (even after restarting Grist Desktop and being online)

Do you have any idea what I could do to find the problem?

Thanks,
Danny

4

Cc’ing @leslie-grist, who is the expert on Grist Desktop.

I found that it works (all widgets are shown) if you run it like this in the terminal:

env GRIST_WIDGET_LIST_URL=https://github.com/gristlabs/grist-widget/releases/download/latest/manifest.json open "PATH_TO_APP/Grist Desktop.app"

But I don’t know how to make it open like this when you double-click the app icon. @leslie-grist , would it be a good idea to set the default GRIST_WIDGET_LIST_URL value at build time?

5

Thanks Dmitry,

that method works!
But I also saw that when I restarted the console where I set the Environment-variable, the variable GRIST_WIDGET_LIST_URL wasn’t set any more. So I have the impression that the variable isn’t globally set, but only for the console that is open.
And so when I restart Grist Desktop by double-clicking the app icon, it doesn’t recognize the Environment-variable that is set in the console.
Maybe there is a better way of setting the Environment-variable.

Thanks a lot,
Danny

6

You are right, when you set an environment variable in the terminal, it only affects commands started from that terminal/shell session.

To set one permanently, there is a crazy long list of answers at macos - Setting environment variables on OS X - Stack Overflow, and I don’t know which (if any) would work well. But it’s really supposed to work in grist-desktop out of the box. It looks to be broken in this release for reasons I don’t really understand.