Need advise setting up Confirmation for Meeting Roles

[Stephen_Mattiso]

Howdy! I’m looking for advise on the best way to set up a system for Members to Confirm that they will be attending a Meeting for a particular Role in that Meeting.
I have an App that Schedules Meetings, each meeting will have Members that will be assigned to one of 10 Roles in that Meeting. I need a great way to set up a communication to make it fast & easy for Members to Confirm that they will be at the Meeting. With 10 [Role]s, each Ref’d to Members Table, it seems that I would need another Column for each [Role] that would have one Enum choice “Confirmed” but I don’t know the best way to set this up. It would be nice to be able to email and/or SMS each Member a message with one clickable button to change Value in their Role [Confirmed] column to “Confirmed” but I don’t know how to do that. It would be great to be able to send them an Action Link that they could click inside their Workflow email and/or SMS that would change [Confirmed] column to “Confirmed”. I know that I could just send an App Link to the Meetings_Form, but then they would have to find their Role and click only their [Confirmed] column to “Confirmed” and then make sure they click Save. I’m wanting to make this as easy as possible, and minimize the possibility that Members will accidentally change the wrong Role. Many Users will be less than computer savvy. Many Users might never need or want to even use the App, just Confirm that they will attend. Thank you!
Updated Post: I added [Confirmed] for each Role, but I added them all together at the end of the Meetings Table, after a Show Column Page_break. If I could direct Members directly to this Confirmation Page, that would be cool, (is this possible?) but, to keep this simple for Users, I might want to have [Confirmed] column positioned directly after each [Role] column with a ISNOTBLANK() Show-if based on that [Role] column. I’m worried all of these [Confirmed] columns will make assigning Roles too busy and long if they are positioned next to the [Role] Columns, especially if I end up also needing [Confirmed Timestamp] & [Who Confirmed] columns. Thanking you in advance for your experience & advise!

[Aleksi]

Is this a public app or is authentication needed?

[Stephen_Mattiso]

App would be used to track thousands of Members in hundreds of Clubs. Each Club would have Meetings 2-4 times per month, with 10 Roles per Meeting. I want Members to only see Meetings for their Club, so I’m pretty sure App will need authentication. Thanks Aleksi!

[MultiTech]

Stephen_Mattison:

I added [Confirmed] for each Role, but I added them all together at the end of the Meetings Table, after a Show Column Page_break.

Hmmm… I think I wouldn’t go with putting the confirmations in the same table as the assignments, I’ve done similar setups and had problems with data loss.

Picture this: You and I open the app to confirm our participation reletively around the same time (not even like seconds from each other, let’s just say 5 min apart) but we’re both using the same dataset.

• You confirm your descision right away, submitting your edit to the cloud.
• I on the other hand, can’t make up my mind… I’ve got things going on… etc. etc. and I don’t submit my descision right away, instead I minimize the app and open my calendar to check some things.
  This leads me to email, then text, then some calls… next thing you know it’s the next day and I remember I need to confirm I’ll be going. So I open the app (which never really closed) and I update the record saying (I’m going).

The problem here is that in technical terms, you and I will both be editing the same record; but you made your edit before I did and I didn’t get a newer version of the dataset (which would include your edit)…

So your edit would be lost.

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In a scenario like this, it’s never advisable to have multiple people updating the same record; instead create a separate way for people to submit data that won’t interfere with anyone elses edits.

My strategy to handle this would be to create a separate child-table (that has a ref to the meeting record, ref to the users table, confirmation button, notes, date, etc.)

This works because anyone can send a record to the table and their data won’t ever interfere with anyone elses - because they’re separate records.

Hope it helps, and as always feel free to ask for more.

[Stephen_Mattiso]

OK, thank you very much Matt! I was considering a Child Table, but wanting to keep simple with fewer different areas to navigate. Great advise on possible App update & out of Sync conflict with so many people updating the App. Exactly the experience I was looking for. I’ve not set up Confirmations before, certainly not 10-20 for each Row/Meeting! I am just half way through setting up all [Confirmation] columns together at the end of Meetings Table, might need to “Whoa Nelly” and set up Child Table.
Thank you too @Aleksi! 2 Apps is a great idea! You are both THE BEST! I’ll report back here what I come up with.

[Aleksi]

Create two apps… admin and public. The admin app will send the invitation email where you create correct link for the public app with prefilled values. The member opens the public app with the link and replies Yes or No. This will add a child record to your admin app. So… I’m thinking that the confirmation record is a child and the meeting itself is a parent.

[Stephen_Mattiso]

Hi Leksi! I set up a Confirmations Child Table for my Meetings Table. Confirmations Table [Meeting Date] is Ref’d to Meetings Table. It works great, but, I need a Public App so Members can Confirm their Roles without having to pay $10 a month. So I made a Public App identical to the Admin App. I used IMPORTRANGE to send all the Meetings data to the Public App. I also sent the Member Roles that were entered into Confirmations Table in the Admin App to the Public App Confirmations Table.
Now I’m having trouble with the Public App because of the IMORTRANGE formulas. You told me “The admin app will send the invitation email where you create correct link for the public app with prefilled values.” Is there a better way to set this up than using IMPORTRANGE?
I really don’t know if I am setting this up the best way, SO much I don’t know. Need more advice, thank you very much!

[MultiTech]

Stephen_Mattison:

I used IMPORTRANGE to send all the Meetings data to the Public App

So you created a new sheet, why not add the original to your public app and just work off the same sheet?

[Stephen_Mattiso]

I pointed the Confirmations Table in the Public App to the Admin App. I did this trick successfully before, been a while. Was trying to set other functions up as well, maybe just confused.
Since there will be many Members, and many meetings, in the Public App, Members will need to pick which [Meeting Date] they are confirming Roles for, so I thought I had to IMPORTRANGE all the Meetings data from Admin into Public App so they could pick Date via the Ref’d [Meeting Date]. I will need to do this, right?
Thinking I’ll just I start over before I waste your time with confusing questions. F&@# Me! Sorry! I’ll report back what happens. TYTYTY!

[MultiTech]

Stephen_Mattison:

I pointed the Confirmations Table in the Public App to the Admin App. I did this trick successfully before, been a while. Was trying to set other functions up as well, maybe just confused.

I"m confused as to “Functions”???

With traditional AppSheet design, you would simply add the SAME TABLE that holds your meeting data to both apps; you just design different functionalities, different edit permissions, etc. for each app so they can only modify the parts they’re supposed to.

From your post it sounds like you’re using IMPORTRANGE to grab the data from your Meeting Data sheet into another; the main problem you’re going to have here is that you can’t edit any of the fields you imported. (I’m going with the assumption that you’ve still got things setup with a confirmation section at the end of your table, like you indicated towards the beginning.)

If you add the SAME TABLE to both apps you don’t need to worry about IMPORTRANGE and people will just work off the core data.

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[Stephen_Mattiso]

Maybe I shouldn’t have said “functions” really meant that I was setting up Slices for Confirmations for each Role so that when Members went to Confirm their Role, they would only see 3-4 columns necessary for that Role. Sorry to confuse!
I’m having trouble because there will be several Meetings scheduled for future dates and Member needs to be able to pick which date they are confirming for. In the Public/Confirm App, I have Confirmations Table Ref’d to Meetings, but this is not Reffing to Meetings Table in the Admin App, it’s Reffing to Meetings Table in Public App. I set up IMPORTRANGE to pull Meetings Table data from Admin App into Public App Meetings Table, but I’m getting errors about my Key Row because it has a Formula. I don’t know how, or if it’s possible to set this up. I deleted Meetings Table in Public App and my Confirmations Columns in the Editor filled with Errors because my Dereffs can’t find Meetings Table, because I deleted it from Public App. Is there a way to have Confirmations Table in Public Ref to Meetings in Admin?
It seems that this set up will work if I only need Public App to enter data into Admin App, but I don’t know how to be able to pick which date to confirm from Meetings Table in Admin App.
I’m looking for information on “Is Part of” but can’t find exactly what this does. Could this help my set up? TYTY!

[Aleksi]

What I was thinking… The meeting is created and it sends an email to your members that are assigned to. That email actually sends the link to a public app with prefilled values. When the member clicks the link, it will open the form and it fills the data they need to confirm. Your column types don’t need to match with the Admin app. For example value could be the same than with the Ref field, but it’s just a text field in your public app. If you set the option “Filter out all existing rows?” as ON, it will filter the data like the Security filter. With this way you need just one table in your public app and in the Admin that table is actually a child table for your meetings. Simple and doable:)

[Stephen_Mattiso]

Thanks Aleksi, I was just trying to set this exact thing up, but there will be several future meetings scheduled that Members will need to choose from in Public App. For this, I will need Public Confirmations Table [Meetings Date] to Ref to Meetings Table, and then De-Reff columns for other pertinent/ needed Meetings data, won’t I? My Public Confirm App does not find Meetings Table in Admin App.
If I knew how to send Members a link to only that Row/Date/Role in the Child Table to Confirm then this might work. BUT, another problem I will have by using a Child Confirmations Table in the first place, is that Members will be able to confirm the same Role many times. Ex. Today they confirm “Yes” to that Role for that meeting date, but tomorrow, their plans might change and they use the same Link to go in and add another Confirmation for this Role of “Maybe”, the next day they go in and Confirm the same Role as “No”. Now my Child Table has 3 different Confirmations for the same Member and Role. I’m sure you Wizards have a way to Delete records with a Timestamp < TODAY(), but this is complicating things to the point that I don’t understand. I need a simpler set up.
A MUCH BETTER way to do this very useful operation, IMO, would be the New Feature Requests that I just asked for. 1. A new Public Sign Up View, that would allow me to gather this simple Sign Up type data from within my Admin App, without worrying about paying a $10 license fee for every Guest that is merely signing up to receive more information/ notifications from Admin App & will never actually “use” the App. As a related New Feature Request that would really help what I am needing to do, I have also asked for 2. a new Finish View of “Close App”, so that, once this simple contact or confirmation type data is entered and Saved, the App will Close and disappear completely, without any worries that a Guest will access any other part of the App. Currently, in my Public Sign Up App, I can successfully gather Guest Sign Up data into my Admin app, but then the Public App just sits there, with Guest wondering what to do next. App should just go away and let them get on with their day… Haha! Thanks again for your expert attention to my crazy little/big App issues! TYTYTY!!!

[Aleksi]

You can delete older replies with the Workflow/Data Change.

[Stephen_Mattiso]

OK, but I doesn’t it cause problems to have empty Rows in your Table?? Arrg, sorry I don’t have the knowledge to set up all of the crazy functions needed to pull all of this off.
It seems to me that if I could use the same link to confirm from within the Admin App, without charging $10 per Guest/month, this would be a much simpler operation. A new Public “Sign Up” type View is needed/very useful.

[Aleksi]

If you have blank rows here and there, it doesn’t matter. I believe the Public Sign up view won’t be possible because it sounds to be quite big change in the code… it’s a very basic structure change, I believe.

[Stephen_Mattiso]

OK, I’ve been worrying about blank Rows for no reason…DOH, thanks Aleksi!
Thanks also for the heads-up on a forthcoming “NO” for my feature requests, haha! I’ll get this sorted. Matt just offered to help set up my 2 App system, might take him up on it if I don’t figure it out next couple days.