Hello Appsheet Community How can I link a PA...

[Clark_Villocill]

Hello Appsheet Community

How can I link a PARTICULAR ROW

to a form that prefills some values?

Suppose that an action button directs the user to a form that edits the row selected, but a prefill [start time column] timestamp is needed on the moment the action button is pressed. A separate [end time column] timestamp is available with TIMENOW() formula to monitor the time when the user saves the form. My goal here is to get the time gap on how long the user finishes editing the form.

LINKTOFORM() function prefills values but it does not edit to a specific row because it only adds another row. LINKTOROW() lets me proceed to a particular row (in a FORM view) using a key but it does not prefill some data for me.

I hope you could help me. Thanks

[Steven_Coile]

The start time can be set with the column’s Initial value formula when the user enters the form, or could be set by passing the desired value with LINKTOFORM() if you prefer that route.

Column formulas within the form itself cannot respond to the saving of the form, so there’s no good way to capture the time the user saves the form from within it. Instead, you can attach an action that runs automatically when the form is saved to insert the current time into the now-saved row.

If you’d instead like the user to save the form then later indicate the completion time, you might create an action that sets the end time and attach it to the row’s detail view. The user would then tap the action button to record the end time.

[Lukas_Novak1]

Steven_Coile:

Instead, you can attach an action that runs automatically when the form is saved to insert the current time into the now-saved row.

Can I ask how to do that?

[Clark_Villocill]

+Steve Coile INITIAL VALUE does not function to all of my apps so I cannot rely on that. It only gives blank to the input field which I set its value to. I do not know if this is just a bug to appsheet.

LINKTOFORM() on the other hand may prefill values but do not make me edit a particular row. In my app, a particular row is made time stamp for start and end time, using a row key.

Using the action SET THE VALUE OF A COLUMN to set the start time forces a sync which is not ideal in my app because internet connection is not expected to be present on the inspection area.

The end time stamp is going well according to my form requirements. Start time is my only problem.

[Rifad]

Same issue here. Did you find any solution for this?

[Clark_Villocill]

Hi. I used Steve’s solution in the problem. Here’s how it works:

1. Use INITIAL VALUE formula to set your [start time column]
2. Create an action to set the value of [end time column] to TIMENOW()
3. Attach the action to the form

[Clark_Villocill]

Hi. I would like to update this thread as this was posted last February 2019 and AppSheet has improved so much since.

Initial value formula has been working smoothly to all my apps and I was able to use it for the [start time column]. I then used an action (attached after saving the form) to set the [final time column] as prescribed by @Steve . For those who encountered the same issue, you may refer to Steve’s comment for the solution.