Unqork Community Hackathon: Dynamic Refresh - Overview and F.A.Q.

We are excited to share the details of our latest Unqork Community Hackathon. 

In this asynchronous competition, Creators are asked to build a working application that leverages Dynamic Refresh and other new features.

Earn bragging rights, points, badges, Unqork swag, and other recognition as you showcase your expertise and sharpen your configuration skills. 

How it works

1. Sign-up on the event page: This is how you receive the submission form and also let us know you plan to participate. 
   • Begins May 2
   • Deadline May 25
2. Build on your own or with your team: Just be sure to submit by the deadline. 
   • This is an asynchronous hackathon for our Creators all around the world!
   • No time minimum or maximum.
3. Submit your app: Use the submission form (emailed to you in step 1) to submit the following:
   1. Short video explanation of the application (~5 minutes)
   2. Short description of the application 
   3. Screenshot of their application
   4. Link to application 

Timeline

• May 2: Hackathon Launch
• May 25: Deadline to sign up
• June 8: Entries due

Judges will select finalists for each category by late June and we’ll schedule a live showcase for the audience to determine the winners. 
 

F.A.Q.

In addition to the details on the event page, below are some anticipated questions you might have. We’ll update this blog with other frequently asked questions as they occur. 
 

Who can participate? 

Any Creator in our community: customer, partner, Unqork staff, and even those still considering and exploring Unqork. The only requirement is that you have Creator access to an environment. (If you’re able to log in to the Community Hub, you have the right access.)

Note: While Unqork staff are welcome to participate, we’ll be limiting the competition to non-staff Creators. You can still earn 100 points for participating and showcase your expertise and creativity if you approve us to share your app with the community. 

What’s different from the previous Hackathons? 

We have added the new team category (details above). You can compete in the individual category or the team category (teams of 2 or 3 Creators).

Additionally, we’re asking all participants to build within the same Community Hackathon workspace within the Training environment. 
 

Why build in the training environment and Community Hackathon workspace? 

We need to be able to access your application. Applications in other environments are not accessible by our judges and other Creators. 

Building in the same workspace makes finding and reviewing the applications easier for everyone.
 

What if I don’t have access to the training environment?

Unqork customers and partners are able to request access here.  
 

How do I sign up? 

We’re asking you to sign up via the event page. When you sign up, you’ll receive the link for submitting your application. This helps us know who is planning to submit an application for the Hackathon. It’s helpful in case we need to send you any updates, like if we decide to extend the deadline or if there’s any other guidance we have to give. 
 

Is there a time limit? How much time will it take to participate? 

We believe you can and should participate in this Hackathon even if you only spend a few hours on your app. While there is no time limit, there’s also no time minimum. If you only have an hour or two to spare, we recommend the steps in the next question. 

So then, why the long timeline? As an asynchronous competition, we’re allowing plenty of time for you to build your application whenever you have some free time to explore. Whether that means working for a few hours in one sitting or for a few minutes here and there across a few weeks. 
 

How do I get started? 

The primary focus of these Hackathons is to give you a fun reason to explore new functionality and fine tune your skills as a Creator. Getting started means first familiarizing yourself with these new grid components. 

1. Sign up via the event page.
2. Review the documentation and other learning resources. 
3. Come up with your application use case. It can be simple; it cam be complex. It can be fun, it can solve a business problem. Whatever use case you can think of to meet the criteria outlined on the event page.
4. Outline your general config. Develop a plan; map out how you might build this application. This will save you time and help you manage the time you spend building. It also might help you earn bonus points, by considering what Marketplace accelerators you can leverage to enhance your application with pre-built functionality. 
5. Start building! Log-in to the training environment and build your application within the Community Hackathon workspace.

What are some use cases I could build? 

From the documentation: 

Dynamic Refresh offers increased flexibility for various projects. The use cases below demonstrate how to integrate this feature into your application.

• Render a Contexual and Immersive UI: Delight end-users with rich & relevant content specific to their selections (for example, “See details”)—all while leveraging the power & diversity of Unqork’s component suite.

• Path Dependent Questionnaires: Fine grain, modular control over fetching and rendering. Dynamic Refresh unlocks form-centric applications whose paths are driven by the end-users' inputs to determine the next questions to prompt. Acts as a powerful pattern for lower-complexity Workflow-like navigation and replaces sprawling Navigation components.

• Progressively Load Complex Modules: Trigger multiple Dynamic Refresh operations to render content in sequence, creating a responsive load experience. Customize the loading experience for your brand and use case.

Who will see my application?

Initially, just our judges. But we hope that you’ll opt-in to sharing your application in posts like this on the Community Hub. This will help other Creators learn from your work by examining your configuration and asking questions, or maybe even sharing advice. 

If you’re chosen as a finalist, many more will see your application on our live showcase event. And the audience gets to choose the winner! 

It should be noted, others in the training environment will be able to see your application, both as you build and after it’s complete. So if you want to keep it a secret, get creative with how you name it.
 

Can I submit more than one application? 

Absolutely! Any submissions received by the deadline will be considered. In fact, I’ll give you 100 points for each application you submit.
 

I don’t think I’ll win, why should I participate? 

This is a fun way to explore functionality you might not yet have a use case for in your day job. Maybe you’re early on in the build of your application, maybe you specialize with data workflow, but don’t get to configure the UI, maybe you’re part of a large team and don’t get to design or make the big decisions on your apps.

With this Hackathon, you get to own every part of building a (small) application, as well as having the freedom to get creative or have fun with your use case! 
 

Okay, but what are the prizes?

Each participant will receive 100 points, as well as the Hackathon Participant badge on their Community profile. Finalists each more points, more badges, and more prizes. More details on the event page. 
 

Do you have any examples I can review? 

Absolutely! If you haven’t yet, consider watching the recordings of our first  and second Hackathon Showcase events. You’ll see our four finalists demo their applications. Additionally, you can watch our winners, @Pushparaj and @PriyankaS explain their winning configuration in more detail on these recordings: Pushparaj & Priyanka.

Finally, you can find all four of our finalists’ applications, plus a few others, in our Use Case Showcase forum. These posts include their description, as well as links to review both the configuration and the Express preview of the application. 
 

What if I have other questions? 

Reply below, send me a message, or email to community@unqork.com