The following seem functionally equivalent when the need is for content that is solely for display within a form view and doesn't need to be referenced anywhere else. Is one more performant than the other? Are there other pertinent distinctions to consider?
Example of Text column
Example of Show column using category Text
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A column of type Show category Text is a LongText value, so it allows line breaks.
The Content expression of a Show column is always live, so it will be recalculated even if no change is made to the row. Compare with a virtual column's App formula expression, which is only live in a form view or when a normal column of the same row is updated.
Show type won't display the column name. You can't inline-attach Actions to Show columns.
An interesting observation @dbaum and nice inputs on differences from @Marc_Dillon
If I may add, using show type VC (category text) is somewhat akin to using a decimal type column as a number type column with decimal digits as zero or a using datetime type column just to capture time. There may not be large distinguishable advantages/disadvantages.
Another subtle point is, the purpose of show columns is to enhance form presentation as also mentioned in help article and to make them appear anywhere in form. With a VC, show column they will always appear at the bottom in view by default. One will need to use column order in views for placing them elsewhere.
A column of type Show category Text is a LongText value, so it allows line breaks.
The Content expression of a Show column is always live, so it will be recalculated even if no change is made to the row. Compare with a virtual column's App formula expression, which is only live in a form view or when a normal column of the same row is updated.
Very useful input @Steve . Thank you.
Hello @dbaum , quick question.
Is there any advantage on making physical columns as show type text page/header rather than a virtual column of a show type page/header. Aside from the spreadsheet having less empty column when you have it as a VC. I see the great @MultiTech Use alot of this physical columns on his builds for type columns. Is there a reason for this? Perfomance wise is it distinguishable?
I don't like cluttering the data source with data-less Show columns, so I always use virtual columns. There should be no performance difference; the virtual column may even be (indistinguishably) faster.
Thanks alot @Steve! I was thinking the same.
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