Direct Entry of Derefence Possible?

[mykrobinson]

I'm not quite sure how to word this one, so hold on 🙂

Let's say I wanted to have a separate table that contained some data that related to another table. Table A is the primary, table B is the secondary with additional data.

I would have the rows of the table reference each other by way of the primary key as always. Let's say I have a form for Table A. To my understanding, a virtual column can only be used to essentially automatically populate based on an expression.  Is there a way to have a field show in a form for Table A that allows direct entry into Table B?

[Rafael_ANEIC-PY]

Hello @mykrobinson, if table B contains a reference to table A, and that ref column in table B has the checkbox "is part of" turned ON then AppSheet will allow you to add new rows to table B within the form/detail view of table A, and the reference to table A will be automatically written when doing so.

https://help.appsheet.com/en/articles/961426-references-between-tables

[mykrobinson]

never noticed that box before 😀

i'll give it a try!

[WillowMobileSys]

Just to clarify...the "Is a part of" property creates a "tight" relationship between two tables - what we have been referring to in the Community as a Parent/Child relationship.  By turning that property ON it gives you 3 extra things above a normal REF column:

1)  If the Parent is deleted, so are any Related rows from the Child table.

2)  The Parent Form will display some input control for the Child table allowing users the ability to ADD child rows - usually this is an Inline Table with an ADD button.

3)  When tapping that ADD button in 2), the Child Form is opened with the Parent reference automatically populated.

Note that the capabilities above do not provide an ability to update a value in a Child table column directly. 

What I have done as a workaround to accommodate that need in the past is surface a column in Table A (or Parent) table to provide that input and attach a behavior to the Form Save that will copy that value into Table B/Child table.

Yes, this is duplication of columns and a little extra effort but it's a required sacrifice, at this time, to improve the user experience.

[WillowMobileSys]

No there isn't any capability like that.

[Steve · Accepted solution]

What you want is not possible.

Consider having another table that contains all of the columns you want available. Use this table only for data entry. When the user saves the form, distribute the collected values to rows of the correct tables, then delete the data entry row.

[mykrobinson]

modern problems require modern solutions. I like it!