Stopping a row from being edited

[Dan_Oliphant]

I have a digital billing APP that from time to time gets overwritten someone, whether someone in the office has the same page up and comes in the next day and overwrites it (still trying to figure this out)

But I am curious, is there a way to stop the editing of a row by using NOW()

In other words, I am trying to figure out a way to only allow edits for rows by using something other than columns in that row.  Maybe try to use mobile devices if I suspect is happening from a desktop?  

[Joseph_Seddik]

You can create a read-only slice out of your table and show users a view based on that slice. 

[Suvrutt_Gurjar]

Other typical approaches could be having a "final" field in the row such as [Status]= "Complete" when that is saved, do not allow any further edits. 

Another approach could be,  once a row's status changes to "Complete", allow it to be "open" again only by a couple of users.

[Dan_Oliphant]

That second approach makes sense to me. But wouldnt it still get
overwritten if the device doing the overwriting still says OPEN?

[Suvrutt_Gurjar]

Oh yes. I reread your requirement. Yes, you are correct. I believe if the user A has not synced the app when other user B has made a change to the row, one may not be able to prevent the updates by user A if both have same editing rights to the row.

[Dan_Oliphant]

Exactly, thats why I was trying to brainstorm about a way to diable editing
based on something outside the columns. Would using TODAY() work? For
example, lock anyone from making any edit for any jobs from TODAY() - 1

[Steve]

The problem you're trying to solve requires a complex solution.

Could you provide more details about the problem? A narrative should be enough, no images.

[Dan_Oliphant]

Thanks Steve. I created a billing app for a moving company. The client
called me a says the every now and then, a bill will revert to totally
blank. Even though once a crew person fills out the bill and presses
submit, it emails the bill. So they are getting the bill submitted with
all the information. Then they will check this bill again only to see all
the information is now blank.

My thought is somewhere, like on a desktop computer in the office, in the
morning he opens the move. Then walks aways. Then the move prices are put
in once the move is complete. The crew member hits submit prompting a bill
to be created.

Then somehow he is editing something in the row with stale info.

I am trying to think of a way to lock the row, once the bill is submitted,
even through a google app script.

[Steve]

I suspect you're right about how it's happening. There is no built-in way to lock rows against updates in your situation.

If you're data is structured such that the user can enter all the data from within a single form view (e.g., with further form views within the main one), consider restructuring your UX to remove those nested forms, forcing the user to save the main form and submit the subforms separately.