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PocketPlatform

General Content Engine (GCE)

General Content Engine (GCE) refers to a type of screen that you can display in your PocketPlatform app.

You can add a screen that provides your app users with any sort of informative content. For example, you may want an "About Us" screen that tells your church's story. Or, you might have a section for "Our Staff" with one screen for each of your staff members that gives information about them.

GCE screens only contain text (with HTML formatting), and you can include a relevant image if you'd like. These screens should not be used for "calls to action" since there are better options for that type of content.

Once you create your screen, you can link to it from your navigation menu or from any screen that has a Link URL field. For example, you might want your new "About Us" screen to display as a menu item. Or, for your "Our Staff" section, you'd want a List of Lists item to display in the menu, then have links to each staff member under it.

"Our Staff" Link in the Menu"Our Staff" List of ListsGCE Screen for Staff Member

Create a GCE Screen

Create an informational screen to display in your app.

  1. In the navigation menu, click PocketPlatform > General Content Engine.
  2. Click New General Content Engine Record.
  3. Enter a title that describes the name or purpose of this app screen.
  4. If you want the title to display as a header on the screen in the app, set Show Header to Yes.
  5. Enter the content that you want to display on this app screen.
    Tip: Basic HTML text formatting is supported, so feel free to get creative with bold, italics, underline, bullet lists, paragraph spacing, and so on!
  6. Click Save.
  7. If you want to display an image on this app screen, open the Files panel and attach the file to this record.
    Note: The app honors the ratio of the image you attach. For example, if you have a very tall portrait image, it will span across the width of the app and take up as much vertical space as needed to keep the original dimensions of your image.

You've created your new screen!

You can link to your new screen from within the app. Note the ID of your new GCE record.

Example of a GCE record for "Bill Curtis" showing the ID number #6 at the top

Link to Your GCE Screen

Determine how you want to direct users to your new app screen.

To link directly from the menu using the App Manager:
  1. In the PocketPlatform App Manager, click Edit App Navigation, then expand General and locate GCE.
  2. Click and drag the GCE item over to where you want the link to display in your navigation menu.
  3. Enter the label that app users will see for your GCE screen.
  4. Select the GCE screen you created.
  5. Click Apply.
  6. Save your changes.
    Changes should display in your app within 15 minutes. To reload your app, you can either log out and log in again or fully close the app on your device and restart it.
To link from another screen:
  1. Open the appropriate record for the screen you want to link from. This could be an Announcement, List of Lists item, or any record that contains the Link URL field.
  2. Click Edit Record.
  3. For Link URL, enter the link for your GCE screen. This should be formatted as "[[APP_PREFIX]]gce/" followed by the ID of the GCE record your created.
    Tip: Use the Link Generator under the Tools menu to quickly generate the correctly formatted link for your GCE screen.
  4. Click Save.

Once the link is in your app, users can click it to see your GCE screen!

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Last updated: November 24, 2025

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