Adding a UUID helper to simplify things, question comes up fairly regularly.

packages/string-templates/manifest.json

@@ -1180,6 +1180,14 @@
       "description": "<p>Stringify an object using <code>JSON.stringify</code>.</p>\n"
     }
   },
+  "uuid": {
+    "uuid": {
+      "args": [],
+      "numArgs": 0,
+      "example": "{{ uuid }} -> f34ebc66-93bd-4f7c-b79b-92b5569138bc",
+      "description": "<p>Generates a UUID, using the V4 method (identical to the browser crypto.randomUUID function).</p>\n"
+    }
+  },
   "date": {
     "date": {
       "args": [

packages/string-templates/package.json

@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
     "manifest": "node ./scripts/gen-collection-info.js"
   },
   "dependencies": {
-    "@budibase/handlebars-helpers": "^0.11.9",
+    "@budibase/handlebars-helpers": "^0.11.11",
     "dayjs": "^1.10.8",
     "handlebars": "^4.7.6",
     "lodash": "4.17.21",

packages/string-templates/scripts/gen-collection-info.js

@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ const COLLECTIONS = [
   "string",
   "comparison",
   "object",
+  "uuid",
 ]
 const FILENAME = join(__dirname, "..", "manifest.json")
 const outputJSON = {}

packages/string-templates/src/helpers/external.js

@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ const EXTERNAL_FUNCTION_COLLECTIONS = [
   "comparison",
   "object",
   "regex",
+  "uuid",
 ]
 
 const ADDED_HELPERS = {

packages/string-templates/src/processors/preprocessor.js

@@ -71,6 +71,9 @@ module.exports.processors = [
     ) {
       insideStatement = `(${insideStatement})`
     }
+    if (statement === "{{ uuid }}") {
+      return statement
+    }
     return `{{ all ${insideStatement} }}`
   }),
 ]

packages/string-templates/test/constants.js

@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+module.exports.UUID_REGEX =
+  /^[0-9A-F]{8}-[0-9A-F]{4}-4[0-9A-F]{3}-[89AB][0-9A-F]{3}-[0-9A-F]{12}$/i

packages/string-templates/test/helpers.spec.js

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 const { processString, processObject, isValid } = require("../src/index.cjs")
 const tableJson = require("./examples/table.json")
 const dayjs = require("dayjs")
+const { UUID_REGEX } = require("./constants")
 
 describe("test the custom helpers we have applied", () => {
   it("should be able to use the object helper", async () => {
@@ -477,3 +478,10 @@ describe("Cover a few complex use cases", () => {
     expect(output.dataProvider).toBe("%5B%221%22%2C%221%22%5D")
   })
 })
+
+describe("uuid", () => {
+  it("should be able to generate a UUID", async () => {
+    const output = await processString("{{ uuid }}", {})
+    expect(output).toMatch(UUID_REGEX)
+  })
+})

packages/string-templates/test/javascript.spec.js

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 const { processStringSync, encodeJSBinding } = require("../src/index.cjs")
+const { UUID_REGEX } = require("./constants")
 
 const processJS = (js, context) => {
   return processStringSync(encodeJSBinding(js), context)
@@ -140,4 +141,9 @@ describe("check JS helpers", () => {
     const output = processJS(`return helpers.toInt(4.3)`)
     expect(output).toBe(4)
   })
+
+  it("should be able to use uuid", () => {
+    const output = processJS(`return helpers.uuid()`)
+    expect(output).toMatch(UUID_REGEX)
+  })
 })