Is there any way on AppSheet to include a starting data point on a blank table thatโs waiting on input? Why? Because when the user just about to begin the app, the first thing they stair at is at a BLANK table with no data. Of course, the user can begin to enter data; however, I would like it so that the table view has a STARTING value that says something like โMake your first entryโ! Just so the table view is not completely blank on users first view.
I tested this on a completely blank table (awaiting data to be entered from my app) and included โMake your first entryโ on the google sheets side of things; however, when I checked the app it did not include the data point.
Hereโs a look at a blank table. Would be great to have a starting value in it. Not sure if this is possible.
VS an example of a starting data point:
Maybe use the dashboard? You could create a table that just has the instructions, set it as a ref view, create another view thatโs generating the table, and then modify your primary view to a dashboard with the two different views.
HI @kdunn thanks for the suggestion. I could do that option you suggest; however, the instructions table would remain after the first entry is made by the user, right? I think it would be good UX design if the instructions table disappeared after the first entry.
You should create a table of records, and check if that user has already registered their data, if they are already registered continue with the process, if not, register! for example use a formula like: in (useremail (), Logs [email user])
Not necessarily. You could have a dashboard view that contains two component views, as @kdunn suggested: one for the welcome, and one for the table. The Starting view expression (in UX >> Options) could display this dashboard only if the table is empty; otherwise, it would display the table itself:
IF(
ISBLANK(table[_ROWNUMBER]),
"table_Dashboard",
"table_Table"
)
You may also want to set the Finish view for the tableโs form view (e.g., table_Form) to the table view (e.g., table_Table) so the the user ends up back at the table view rather than the dashboard view after submitting an entry.
For ultra clarity,
I need to create a Dashboard View to display the two views.
View 1: Welcome Table (essentially a duplicate of the actual โEntires Tableโ) with my instructions of โMake Your First Entryโ and the Current Date. This would be โRead Onlyโ. And be a REF Only (Hidden from sight)
View 2: Original Entries Table. This is Update/Add/Delete Settings.
When I did this, the โView 2: Original Entries tableโ on the dashboard did not show the ability to ADD a new entry (starting from blank).
I can see both VIEW 1 (with the instructions) and VIEW 2 (blank table) but did not see the plus sign to make the first entry in the dashboard view. Thoughts?
So either making it a ref view or choosing dashboard may be eliminating the add function.
This worked. The one table has the ADD button; however, it looks a bit weird as itโs raised all the way to the top.
Hi @Steve ,
Could you explain this reference line of coding for the Dashboard on when to show?
What is the table[_ROWNUMBER] refering to? I believe this is my main data table which is called โACTIVITIES DATAโ
Whatโs the โtable_Dashboardโ and the โtable_Tableโ referring to? Not sure where to point these.
This gets confusing when you have.
Two Tables
ACTIVITY DATA = Main Data Table
WELCOME DATA = Instructions Table
Then you have Three UX Views.
ACTIVITIES = My Dashboard View to House The Two Views.
WELCOME = Table View from the WELCOME DATA - Instructions Table
MY ACTIVITIES = Table View from the main ACTIVITY DATA
Thanks
Sorry for the confusion!
Replace table
with the name of your table, table_Dashboard
with the name of your dashboard view, and table_table
with the name of your table view.
table[_ROWNUMBER]
(replacing table
with the table name) is a column reference, which produces a list of all values from the named column of the named table. In this case, it would produce a list of all the values of the tableโs _ROWNUMBER column. AppSheet automatically adds a _ROWNUMBER column to every table and assigns each row of the table its own unique row number that remains valid between syncs of the app. If we look at the list of all row numbers for a table and there are none (i.e., the list is โblankโ), it means the table is emptyโthat the user hasnโt added an entry yet. If the table is emptyโthe user hasnโt yet added an entryโyou wanted to display a view that includes guidance, a dashboard view; otherwise, you wanted to display the table view.
HI @Steve ,
Thanks for explaining it to me. For the life of me, I donโt think Iโm getting it to work the way itโs supposed to even with the explanation. With the formulation on the Starting View, I still see the instructions after the Iโve added an activity on the Activity Table.
Can you let me know where Iโm going wrong using the formulation?
IF(
ISBLANK(ACTIVITY DATA[_ROWNUMBER]),
โACTIVITIESโ,
โMY ACTIVITIESโ
)
ACTIVITY DATA = Name of the table with all the source data
ACTIVITIES = Name of dashboard view
MY ACTIVITIES = Name of table view using ACTIVITY DATA โfor this dataโ
I also added the WELCOME which is the name of the table of โinstructions/exampleโ source data on google sheets.
I created โWELCOME VIEWโ which is the name of the table view that uses the WELCOME โfor this dataโ
โWELCOME VIEWโ + โMY ACTIVITIESโ are together in the ACTIVITIES Dashboard.
In a previous reply, I indicated youโd probably want to adjust the form configuration. Did you do that?
I do this with a sngle new user table. Opens up in the form viewโฆ Page style, and virtual show columns with instructionsโฆ Then once they hit save, then they can see everything else.
Basically, you have a user table, and you run a check to see if theyโre useremail() is presentโฆ (I use a security filter so it only ever shows their record)
So, if there is no records, then show them the new user form, and hide everything elseโฆ (You can also conditionally show starting views)
Once they save the form, the record exists, and the new user form is no longer shown, and everything else is shown.
Hey Grant, could you post some screen shots on what this looks like?
I have a โPROFILEโ table that a new user needs to enter in. It has fields like Name, Date of Birth, Weight, etc. I have this in the MENU view only. What youโre describing as the first thing a user sees (once AppSheet runs a security filter and found not to have a record) is a pretty cool. Screen shots on how you did this would be great.
A big problem with making a form view the starting view is that the user could choose to cancel out of it. If they do so, theyโll end up in an arbitrary view. Trying to properly handle a form cancel in this case is ugly. I do not recommend making a form view the initial view.
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