---
title: "Introduction"
slug: "app-object-intro"
updated: 2025-11-13T18:53:30Z
published: 2025-11-13T18:53:30Z
canonical: "docs.doc-know.com/app-object-intro"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.doc-know.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Introduction

### Objects

**Objects** are the building blocks of an app.

The **purpose** of your app will dictate how many and what types of objects you will use. Familiarize yourself with the various types.

Some objects provide a **visual experience** that you can include in your **layouts**. Others have no visual experience and are used for other purposes such as output **language** for reporting.

### Object Types

Below is a table of supported object types.

| Type | Visual | Data Type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Page](https://docs.doc-know.com/v1/docs/app-object-page) | Yes | Text | Visual container for a group of layout objects |
| [Checkbox](https://docs.doc-know.com/v1/docs/app-object-checkbox) | Yes | Boolean | Visual toggle box with a label |
| [Dropdown List](https://docs.doc-know.com/v1/docs/app-object-dropdown-list) | Yes | Text | Visual drop down box - single selection |
| [Dropdown List And](https://docs.doc-know.com/v1/docs/app-object-dropdown-list-and) | Yes | Array (of Text) | Visual drop down box - multiple selections |
| [Radio](https://docs.doc-know.com/v1/docs/app-object-radio) | Yes | Text | Visual group of options - single selection |
| [Textbox](https://docs.doc-know.com/v1/docs/app-object-textbox) | Yes | Text | Visual text field |
| [Integer](https://docs.doc-know.com/v1/docs/app-object-integer) | Yes | Number | Visual text field - integer values only |
| [Decimal](https://docs.doc-know.com/v1/docs/app-object-decimal) | Yes | Number | Visual text field - decimal values only |
| [Label](https://docs.doc-know.com/v1/docs/app-object-label) | Yes | Text | Visual label |
| [Picture](https://docs.doc-know.com/v1/docs/app-object-picture) | Yes | Text | Visual picture from an Internet URL |
| [Sentence](https://docs.doc-know.com/v1/docs/app-object-sentence) | No | Text | Non-visual language container |

          Notice

          

**App Builder** also contains **experimental** object types not included here.

Make sure your apps only use supported object types before publishing them to the Marketplace.

### Purpose

Objects have two primary purposes:

1. **Storing** a single piece of information
2. Defining a **user experience** to collect this information

How your app is built and used determines which of these purposes is utilized.

          Insight

          

[Scripts](https://docs.doc-know.com/v1/docs/app-scripts) can interact with the underlying **data type** of an object, regardless of whether or not a visual experience is defined.

### Adding Objects

With your app highlighted in **App Builder**, follow these steps to add a new object to your app:

1. Click the **Add Object** button.

![builder_add_object_plus](https://cdn.document360.io/84e9ea69-d7ee-46a4-a14f-453de3411633/Images/Documentation/builder_add_object_plus.png)

1. Choose what type of object you want to add and give it a unique name.

![builder_add_object](https://cdn.document360.io/84e9ea69-d7ee-46a4-a14f-453de3411633/Images/Documentation/builder_add_object.png)

> Note: If you have an existing object selected, you can specify if you want this new object to appear below it or at the end of the list. Object order is important when building layouts.

1. Specify values for your new object's properties.

![builder_add_object_props](https://cdn.document360.io/84e9ea69-d7ee-46a4-a14f-453de3411633/Images/Documentation/builder_add_object_props.png)

> Note: Aside from the common **name**, **ID**, and **description** properties, each object type has a unique set of properties for you to specify.

### Identifiers

Each object in your app must have two unique identifiers:

- **Name**
- **ID**

The **Name** property is specified by you and provides a convenient way to reference your objects. Make sure to use names that reflect what your objects represent.

          Example

          

If the object you were adding was intended to store someone's first name, a good name would be '**firstName**' because it reflects your intent.

> Spaces and special characters are not allowed in object names - keep them simple.

The **ID** property is a special numeric property that is **automatically generated** (using a numeric counter) when you add new objects to your app.