Multiple references

[Cubaine]

Hello all,

Before I start explaining let me first say that I am aware that you can create an EnumList column that uses selections from another table as suggested values. However, this is not what I want.

I have come across several situations in which it would have been helpful to have the ability to reference multiple entries.

I’ll provide an example below:

I have three relevant tables in one application. A documents table, a person table and a company table.
Some documents belong to multiple parties. With the current reference setup, only one party can be referenced at the time. It would be very helpful to be able to reference several persons and companies. This would allow me to see the related documents in the detailed view of all the referenced parties.

My workaround thus far has been to create two child tables, one for persons and one for companies and to reference the parties there.
Although this works, it is not the most ideal situation because the related items in the detailed view will reference the child table of the documents table instead of directly referencing the documents table.

This is just one example but I can name many others where this feature would be very helpful.

[LeventK]

@Guillermo_Perez
Can you check this out if this is what you are asking for? Just click on your name on the Home view.

[Cubaine]

Hi @LeventK,

Thanks for responding.

What I’m asking for is the ability to reference more entries from the same table in one entry.

So for example say I have document describing the group structure of a group of 3 companies. When making the entry in the documents table I want to have a reference column (without the need for creating a child table first) that has the ability to reference all three companies. It would kind of be like the difference between a enum column and an EnumList column only now it would be with the actual references.

After saving the document entry, all three companies would have a related document reference.

[LeventK]

@Guillermo_Perez
You are talking about One-To-Many reference. Why don’t you create an interim table which is REF to documents and REF to both Peoples and Companies with isPartOf set to TRUE (inverse ref) and you can create as many documentation records as you want for both of them. So both tables can have multiple instances of a document record.

[Cubaine]

@LeventK
This is actually the work around I’m using right now.
It works, but in the company/person table a reference is made to this interim table instead of the documents table.

I believe a one-to-many reference would be quite helpful for this specific scenario and many others as well.

[LeventK]

The method I proposed (and which you said already using) is actually a one-to-many reference already

[Cubaine]

@LeventK

Yes that’s true, however if you have a one-to-many reference that works the same as the EnumList, you don’t need this interim table at all. The other benefits is that the referenced table will have a direct reverse reference to the document table.
Please see screenshot attached. the screenshot shows that I am using two interim ispartof tables in my document table. You can add as many documents/persons/companies as needed with this work arround, but the disadvantage is that the reverse reverence in the company/person table will reverence the interim isparttable instead of directly referencing the documents table.

[Cubaine]

Wow my mind is blown… I was already on the correct path with my method of using an interim table. The only other thing I needed to do, was to change the behavior of the company/person inline view, so that tapping on a row would take me to the detail view of the referenced company/person.

It now works exactly as I imagined.

[Juanan]

Thank you.
This solves my own problem with one-to-many references