Send selected records to an single enumlist field

[omulpas]

Hello !

I would like to be able to select multiple records from an employee list :

run an action that opens a form with the key ID of the select records assigned to an enumlist in the form :

Is it possible ? Can someone please push me in the right direction ?

Thanks for your help! 

Olivier

[WillowMobileSys]

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@omulpas wrote:

run an action that opens a form with the key ID of the select records assigned to an enumlist in the form

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Can you please elaborate?  When you say "form" do you actually mean a Form View or are you interested in seeing a view with the list of selected records and details - such as a Table view?

If you do mean a Form View, then more details are needed.  Form Views can operate only on a single row, so you can't open multiple selected records in a single Form View. 

If you meant a Table View showing the list of selected records then you would want to use the LINKTOFILTEREDVIEW()  function in the action and attach this action to the Form Saved behavior of the Form where you selected the list of records (one shown in your post).

I know this is very high-level so please ask if you are not sure of anything above.  I hope this helps!

[omulpas]

Hi,

Thanks for your answer.

The purpose of the app is to manage training activities.

I have a form called "Massive creation" (linked to a specific table "Massive actions") where I can select in a field called "Search by Employees" (enumlist type) all the employees who need to attend a course and where I can define the course. When I save, a bot launches  a google script that creates as many records in the table "Actions" as there are in the enumlist. This part is working right now.

But, currently, it's not really practical to have the entries of the enumlist to select the employees. I have more than 1.000 employees. So I would like to use the employee list (form "Employees" - deck view style) and take advantage of the many filters available (by manager, by location, by contract etc.) to select the population to train.

What I would like to achieve is :

1. Start from the employee list form. Filter and Select the employees.
2. Click on an action button that launches the form "Massive actions". I would use  a LINKTOFORM action because I need to pre-populate some fields, The field "Search by Employees" would be prefilled with all the previously selected employees.
3. I'm running the form as usual to add multiple records to the table "Actions".

I hope this is clearer. If not, let me know.

Thanks again.

Olivier

[omulpas]

Hello,

Anybody has an idea how to approach ?

Thanks & Kind regards.

[WillowMobileSys · Accepted solution]

I apologize for not responding sooner.  If you tap "Reply" on the main post, contributors to your post are not notified.  You want to hit "Reply" from a response so that contributors is automatically notified of your reply.

Re-reviewing your request with a fresh mind and additional input, I understand your request now.

Using the "bulk select", as provided in your example, to select rows and send to a From view won't work with a single button.  You could split it into 2 buttons.  The 1st button would add the selected employee rows/data into a temp table.  The 2nd button then launches the Form view with LINKTOFORM() and pre-populating the employees from the temp table.

A more common, easier approach, is to add the filtering columns into the Form view itself - if there is a small number.  Say there are 4 main criteria used to filter.  Add 4 columns into the Form and allow users to choose these "options".  Then construct the Employee dropdown to apply these options IF entered an filter the list.  If none entered then the user sees ALL employees.  If only one entered, Employee list is filtered only by that one choice. And etc...

Even better would be if you can use context to apply towards filtering.  For example, say a Manager is establishing the training records for his subordinates.  You could automatically pull details from this manager record to use in filtering the Employees list when launching the Form.

I hope some of this helps!

[omulpas]

Hi,

Your answer is greatly appreciated at all levels.

Thanks, I 'm not really used to post on forums. I'll use the reply button and spend some times on the forum guidelines.

I understand my request is not an "out of the box" functionality and needs a bit of tweaking and workaround with the 2 actions and temp table. To simplify, I'll try to identify the main criteria as you advised.

I'm glad with your last suggestion as I've already put in place a slice that restrains access to an employee's own data or to their subordinates' 😉

Thanks again for your time, patience and expertise. 

[WillowMobileSys]

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@omulpas wrote:

I'm glad with your last suggestion as I've already put in place a slice that restrains access to an employee's own data or to their subordinates' 😉

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This is great!  You may want to take this one step further.

Slices are managed on the device side.  Filtering with a Slice still requires ALL of the data to be downloaded to the personal device and then filtered into the Slice.

If users need to see ONLY their data and/OR the data of the employees they manage, then you might consider using Security Filters on all of your core data tables.  This will:

1. Filter the data downloaded to the device itself making the app more performant
2. Add an extra layer of data security by not allowing the data onto the device in the first place.
3. Could make implementation easier since you likely do not need to create several sets of Slices and the associated views.

I hope this helps...even more!

[omulpas]

Hi,

It helps a lot. And it made me want to try it. But I can't manage to adapt it to my use case. (If you think I should create a new question, let me know).

Context : I have an Employees table : 1 record by employee, everyone has

• an email [physical column]
• a direct manager [physical column] : identified by his email
• a reporting line (his manager, his manager's manager etc up to the CEO) : this is a text column with all the line management emails that I create outside the app [physical column]
• a "shadow" reporting line : I define in the administrators table who can impersonate a manager. That means that an administrative support can access the manager's data and pull his reports on his behalf. This is a virtual column that adds the shadower to every subordinate of this manager (combination of reporting line + shadow).

This "shadow reporting line" is replicated on each record of the Training Table using a virtual column. So I can filter easily the slices based on this virtual column.

But it seems you can't use virtual columns with the security filters.

I could use a formula in a physical column but it's not clear to me when the the formula is evaluated. When I update the shadow of a user, it should reflect in the Employees table : Does it update automatically the fields in Employees or do I need to run a bot or... ?

What would be the options ?

Thanks ! 

[WillowMobileSys]

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@omulpas wrote:

a "shadow" reporting line : I define in the administrators table who can impersonate a manager. That means that an administrative support can access the manager's data and pull his reports on his behalf. This is a virtual column that adds the shadower to every subordinate of this manager (combination of reporting line + shadow).

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I would restructure your data so that this value is accessed through a Ref column instead of a Virtual Column.  I don't quite understand how you have this implemented so I can't offer a concrete suggestive solution.