Ref with UNIQUEID() Issue

[Justin_Magill]

Ok I have a REF in a form. It 's working but when the output occurs it adds info from a different area where i have a UNIQUEID() located. I’d like the REF information to come over to the sheet, not the UNIQUEID().

Any help?
Here is the data:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bePpNeOhKli9YJpqMuNYMt6eaC2Z4tsWJeO1yTY3p7g/edit?usp=sharing

[MultiTech]

When you create a REF column, the value that’s actually used in the sheet is the ID from the table the ref is set to.

For instance, if I have the following tables:

• Customers, and
• Orders;

and in the Orders table I have a Ref column to the customer - the value stored in the Order table will be the value I’ve set as the key for the customer (not the name, label, description, etc).

If you wish to additionally store the customer name (for easy spreadsheet identification), you’ll need to create an additional field to store this info - you can easily pull any information from a reference using what’s called a de-reference.

help.appsheet.com

Dereference Expressions

Use a dereference expression to retrieve a field value from a referenced record.

help.appsheet.com

References Between Tables

Learn about references, when to create them, and how to use them so that your data makes sense.

[Justin_Magill]

Ok I get that but why is the reference showing up but the output is adding a different value

[MultiTech]

So like: why does it look like this:

in the app, but this:

in the sheet?

That has to do with the labels of your table…

In this image you can see the Base_Time_Link is a ref to the Base_Times table:

In the Base_Times table, I have the DateTime specified as the “Label”

This is why you see the DateTime in the app and not the UniqueID().

[Justin_Magill]

No.

I have a class registration for instructors to create classes.

The REF I have is set up to be a drop down for student registration to the class an instructor created.
The REF is working.

The problem is it’s output of the data is a uniqueid i have in the Class Registration form.

[MultiTech]

What do you want it to be?

[Justin_Magill]

This is the REF data displayed:

[Bahbus]

As @MultiTech_Visions shared, that’s is just how Ref’s work for storing. That UNIQUEID value saved in the column is how you can access anything about it.

What is stored in the raw spreadsheet source should not be considered “output”.

[MultiTech]

I like to think about references like this:

It’s not a value that’s stored in the column, it’s a folder - the folder containing all the data for that reference.

Say the ref is to the Customer table, then the reference column is like a folder with all the data from that customer inside it.

From there, I can easily pull anything out of the folder (aka, de-reference any column’s value from the customer table):

[Customer_Ref].[Related Customer_Orders] = “A list of all the orders from that customer”
[Customer_Ref].[Customer_Name] = “The name of the customer”
etc.

[Bahbus]

MultiTech_Visions:

It’s not a value that’s stored in the column, it’s a folder

I like that. I think that metaphor would be a good addition to the support documentation about them.

[Justin_Magill]

The REF data not the Unique

[Justin_Magill]

This is the output:

[MultiTech]

That’s how references work.

If you wish to store the data displayed here:

You’ll need to create an additional column to hold that info; you can use a de-reference formula to pull that value from your ref column.