I’ve created a simple Chrome extension for web developers. Its aim is to cut down the repetitive task of form-filling to a minimum. With this extension, you can save data you’ve already typed into a form (text boxes, dropdowns, checkboxes) with jus one hotkey, and restore them when making another test. It may seem like autocomplete, yet I’ve added some unique features - you can share once completed form with your teammates, or manage all the forms in web UI.
Have a look https://fill.ly
Can’t wait for the feedback.
What’s the story?
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/filly/
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Umm …
might explain it …
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Thanks, @fillyextension I think updating your “Get Started” link would be a good idea for unobservant visitors such as myself 
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Thanks a lot for your insights. I’ve been working for some to make the extension available for other browsers, but as I’m updating it constantly - it costed me quite a lot. I’ll let you know once it will be on again (you can subscribe the newsletter as well:))
Hi! Looks good. When you are going to make available v1.2.0?
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I have concerns about your proposed use cases.
Do you often find yourself singing up (not signing up, mind you) to a website repeatedly?
Or joining a webinar multiple times over?
I’ll be honest, the number of times I exactly reproduce a form input is vastly lower than the number of times i’d have to click the ‘no i dont want to save this form.’ button. Perhaps others have different experiences, but to me, you’ve solved a problem that I’ve never had.
Maybe if I was a automated spambot…
And I can share a link and my inputs can be shared? So… you’re storing all of my form inputs on your server somewhere? What’s your data privacy and protection like?
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I can appreciate your problem. I can relate to working on long forms needing to enter test data. It does become annoying.
Glad you liked it! Actually, sharing and domain-mapping features are already out! If you’re willing to have any demo or any introduction feel free to contact us as we’re looking for someone to test it!
It would be amazing to hear any feedback if you’ll decide to try it!
Well, the main target of Filly is web devs wasting time on filling in the same forms repeatedly while doing tests. If it is not your problem, you’re a lucky man 
Also, there is no “no i don’t want to save this form” button in Filly because Filly saves data only when you tell it to
The personal data feature you mention is an extra feature and it helps you to use autofill forms on different domains, it’s actually very similar to autocomplete you probably already use.
If you worry about safety: using Filly without logging in / creating account stores everything only in your local browser’s memory. I you create account / log in then all your data is safely stored in a cloud.
I’ve made a simple gif to show you how it works to make it more clear https://youtu.be/RJmmp8GmOdU
More gifs and videos explaining other features (domain mapping, team sharing, etc) to come, stay tuned
Ah okay, then I misunderstood your images on the website. Fair enough.
I actually didn’t mention a personal data anything, but… duplicating a browser function doesn’t really sound like an extra feature to me. shrug
Safely how? Is it encrypted, or in plain text? Where’s your GDPR compliance statements? How do I tell you to remove all of my data from a cloud?
I’m curious as to where you’ve gotten this use case from. Is it a common complaint you’ve heard somewhere?
We don’t have “Remove account” feature yet so you have to contact through email that is displayed in ChromeStore next to extension’s description.
We are storing it on server on Vultr.com hosting. User passwords are obviously encrypted. Forms are not encrypted to allow users to quickly restore them. We have on our Roadmap introducing strong encryption for entire form, which would allow users to store forms more securely, however it would add another step when restoring form - typing some kind of PIN number to be able to revert hashing function.
Problem with that is that would change original idea for Filly - we don’t want to turn it into some kind of synchronization tool that already exists for users vulnerable data just like OnePass app. We would like this tool be used to quickly go through UI of instances of the app you are developing.
We are on very early stage - just have less than 100 users and still gathering feedback so all to be perfectly honest with you many formal things such as GDPR compliance statements are still in progress, and we’ll definitely work them out when we know the exact shape of Filly.
Perhaps you work more with backend and do not touch UI as often as other developers but to draw you a picture of typical scenario:
- Developer needs to check some kind of stuff in UI - eg. what is happening when big signup form is saved. Usually dev starts with checking it on prod instance of app as it’s the most stable version.
- Then when he/she is sure how it works and what need to be changed - starts developing locally and doing the same test on local instance (probably filling it many times when developing)
- When coding is finished - changes are uploaded to some stage instance of the app, and are verified - by dev himself and perhaps by testers.
- When accepted, changes are going to production and are tested again.
- During this process, two or three or sometimes more people had to fill big signup form dozens of times.
- With Filly and entire IT team using it, someone had probably did it before. Before step 1. developer would have already it on the list of forms, ready to be used with one click.
If you think of forms as not not only signup / login / registration forms, but basically as every CRUD on web app - whether is adding Product (in Store Management System) or editing School info (in app for managing school) you can much quicker navigate through the UI.
And yes we know there are automated tests - we use them on a daily basis, but even with them you still have to click a lot in the UI of the app.
This is pretty typical scenario - there are plenty of Chrome Extensions like this but all of them have drawbacks: setting up and restoring forms requires lot of clicking, forms created with new technologies such as ReactJS and AngularJS are not filled, there is no synchronization between apps.
You’re right :), we exaggerated with this ‘extra’. However we created this feature just because browser autocomplete is not working properly sometimes.
Would I like to make perfectly clear is main purpose of Filly. Having it working on top of the app you developer as a programmer. Not collecting some private stuff. When you work on web app that not covered with automated tests in 100% you and you co-workers will have repeatedly fill the same UI parts.
I’ve worked on tasks when it was necessary to enter fake data into a form. The most recent example I can think of is a checkout process where changes needed to be tested by going through that entire process. The process included filling out the entire checkout form which was a bit cumbersome as something that needed to be done every time a change needed to be tested.
… you seem to have told me your automated testing is not automated. The idea of an automated test is that you dont touch anything. The machine autofills forms, presses buttons, everything. I suggest you investigate Selenium or other such technologies if this is your testing procedure.
Yikes. Hard pass, as that will inevitably lead to password fields being stored in plain text on your server, where any of your team can simply look at them. Yeah, no. Even in a dev environment, this is a HUGE nono (then again, sending your form data to a third party at all is a huge nono for any competent web dev…). Your extension represents a security threat.
I have 2 decades of web development experience, both back and front end. I don’t need your scenario. If I have to input data into the front end of a form more than 5 times, then testing is failing, or I need to automate the process.
Again, perhaps its just that i’m not your target demographic (monkeys hitting keys on keyboards, it sounds like).
So if I click on your link, how does it know what page the form information goes into? to quote your own website… " It will open website and fill form with your input."
If i’m a web developer working on a unreleased project (which was your ‘typical scenario’, if you remember), you don’t consider the URL private information? Like… the URL that would (in a collaborative environment where ‘localhost’ isnt good enough…) have either a server name or IP address?
I think you may need to reflect on the boundary of public and private in your ‘typical scenario’.
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