1. Home
  2. Tutorials
  3. 07_general-dev

General Development Resources

Overview

This guide covers conventions, best practices, and resources for contributing or utilizing Fulcrum App code in general.

Fulcrum Development Resources

Official Documentation

GitHub Repositories

Use WebFetch to reference these when debugging Fulcrum-specific issues:

Date/Time Handling

Important: Fulcrum stores all timestamps in UTC using ISO 8601:

Format: YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ssZ Example: 2012-04-20T20:35:45Z

// Convert to local time
const isoString = '2025-01-15T18:30:00Z';
const localDate = new Date(isoString);

// Convert to ISO
const now = new Date();
const isoString = now.toISOString();

// Date only (no time)
const dateOnly = Utils.dt2iso(new Date());  // "2025-01-15"

General Development Resources

JavaScript, HTML, CSS

  • MDN Web Docs - Authoritative reference for JS, HTML, CSS, Web APIs
  • w3schools - Simpler tutorials (less authoritative but easier to read)

Node.js

Python

Standalone Utils Class

The Utils class can be used outside of Fulcrum in any JavaScript environment.

In Node.js

// Add module exports
module.exports.Utils = Utils;
const U = module.exports.Utils;

// Use
U.arrSort([3, 1, 2]);
U.dtDaysDiff(date1, date2);

As Static Class

// Just use directly
const U = Utils;

U.isBlank(value);
U.strProper('john doe');

In Fulcrum Calculated Fields

Utils Hybrid Class Pattern:

Utils is a hybrid class - all methods are available in two ways:

  • Static access - Utils.methodName() - Use in calculated fields (no Mtools instance)
  • Instance access - M.methodName() - Use in data events (when M is instantiated)
// In data events - use either pattern
const M = module.exports.Mtools
Utils.dtAddDays(date, 30)  // Static - works
M.dtAddDays(date, 30)      // Instance - also works (equivalent)

Minified Standalone Version

The minified standalone Utils class is available in the original source for copy/paste into any environment.

Next Steps