Blank space in my data table - how to name that?

Tiger1 · 10-10-2019 06:31 AM

I have a table - Location Table. This table has all my companies locations:

Column - key (code given inside companies software per branch i.e. - 59,19,37,etc…
Column - location
Column - Address

My company over the years had errors when entering these [key] branch id’s inside their software and some are blank.

I want to show in my app those [key] branch id’s but i cannot figure out how. They show as blank space in my app - because they were blank in the software. I created the table “location table” to have the key, location and address. I have all keys and locations in it, excpet a blank space. How do i make Appsheets see a blank space in the [key] value?

example:

key = " "
Location = “site error”

Thanks

Steve

Is the column named key the key column of the table?

Tiger1

Yes

Steve

The example key values you gave (“59,19,37,etc…”) are all numbers. Is the key column type Number?

Tiger1

currently - no. Its “text”

Steve

How did you populate this table?

Did you add a row for the blank-space key?

Did you give that blank-space row a key value of a blank space, or is the key value simply blank (no space at all)?

Tiger1

I have nothing for the key in the table. So it is literally blank. I tried adding - " ". That didnt work.

Steve

Based on some quick experimentation, it appears a blank or space-filled key value will cause problems. My suggestions is to create a new key column (named RowKey, e.g.), separate from the existing column named key, with new, unique values (see below for an option). This would entirely sidestep the problem key values, though it might also introduce new complexity in validating values of the key column.

Tiger1

i gotcha - good idea. thanks