Re-use main Detail view with multiple slices

[Marc_Dillon]

It is a fairly common scenario to make a dashboard view that includes sub-views of various slices of the same table. A common case is lists of ToDo items; all ToDos, ToDos assigned to the current user, ToDos that need assigned, etc.

In these cases you may want to always use the same Detail view that you edited for the main table, especially if you made a lot of customizations in that Detail view (header columns, quick edit, column order…). This would be instead of defining a Detail view for each individual slice.

To do so, first make an Action for the main table:

App: go to another view within this app
LINKTOROW([key column] , “main detail view name”
Appearance: Do Not Display

Then for each table/deck sub-view for each slice change the Behavior->Event Actions->Row Selected from “Auto” to your newly created action.

Use single detail view for multiple primary views Questions

Hi, I have about 20 different views in my app. Each one has a detail view with 15 quick edit columns and about 20 in the culmn order. I would like the detail view to be the same for all of them. I can make a copy of a detail view and assign each table or slice to the new version but this itself is time consuming when I have so many and I have to redo this each time I change something on the detail view. Is there anyway of using a single detail view for multiple tables/slices/primary views? T…

[Phil_Waite]

Hi Thank you

That make sense. I hadn’t thought of that.

Phil

[Swoopy]

Thanks for the tips. I have tried this, then all swipe actions (left & right) do not belong to its slice filter anymore. It is skipping along rows of the main table.

May be this is a trade off.

Regards,

[Marc_Dillon]

Swoopy:

then all swipe actions (left & right) do not belong to its slice filter anymore. It is skipping along rows of the main table.

Yah I suppose that would be the case. I thought there was a Feature Request post to expand the CONTEXT() expression to use a parent’s context, which could help in this case. I cannot find such a post right now though.

[Swoopy]

I don’t know if we can use LINKTOFILTEREDVIEW for this. Another thing is that if we use this trick we still can not delete all default detail views that belong to their slices. And yes, it a tedious job to customize each individual detail view. AppSheet is not object-oriented.

[billyfw]

Hey @Swoopy  / @Marc_Dillon  - just curious if you could expand this a bit. I'm not sure I understand the loss of functionality. 

Why can't the table sub-view for the slice still specify whatever left and right swipe actions are desired, even if the selected action links back to the parent view? 

Thanks!

[Marc_Dillon]

I'm afraid I can't. I read these posts a few times now, and I honestly have no clue what swoopy is referring to anymore, or what I thought I was responding to 2.5 years ago.

[billyfw]

Ha! Ok, I'll let you know if I ever figure it out, since I'm going with your trick and it's been great so far. 

Thanks a lot Marc. 

[SkrOYC]

Eventhough you came from a Slice, the detail view points to the whole dataset, so the slideshow buttons will access all the rows. You may want to use this trick when you have slideshow turned off or a duplicate view just for this purpose

[Swoopy]

Basic understanding for detail views against slices/tables.

1.Each slice/table has its own detail view (as seen separately on UX). In other words, each detail view has its parent slice/table.

2.A detail view is swipable ONLY through its parent slice/table's rows.

3.Every detail view (of any parent slices/tables) can be freely referred in action's LINKTOVIEW() and LINKTOFILTEREDVIEW() but the swipe is still tied to the parent slice/table's rows, NOT tied to the parent view/slice/table the action is tapped.

So the idea of re-using detail views is not new, even me was ever using it. It makes things a bit easier for developer but confuses users and destroys user experience.

To not confuse users from which table/slice they are currently in, the detail views of parent tables/slices are still required. Or use this trick when you have slideshow turned off like @SkrOYC suggestion.

By the way, re-using form views doesn't destroying user experience.

[billyfw]

Ahhh! Thanks @Swoopy and @SkrOYC! That all makes a lot of sense. I haven't been using slideshow functionality, and never noticed. 

For what it's worth in case others get confused, I was confused by "swipable" because I thought you were referring to action behaviors on the parent view I had (in my case a Deck). 

I hadn't used or played with slideshow stuff - and I certainly hadn't realized that from the detail view you could use swipe gestures to slideshow through the set. 

Thanks for the clarifications! Makes sense. 

My current thinking is to use Marc's trick for now, and once my development settles down and my app is more "steady state", come back and remove the Links and put in the proper detail views for each slice.

That way hopefully I don't end up having to make lots of changes a bunch of times on each one as develop. 

Thanks again!

[Swoopy]

I would say a well-designed working app (on AppSheet) requires at least 1,000+ editing, including the retouch of detail & form views dedicated for their slices/tables.

[Arnaud_Bouchera]

Does anyone know why some view (like the Card view) do not offer such a customization of the clicking behavior?

Marc_Dillon:

Then for each table/deck sub-view for each slice change the Behavior->Event Actions->Row Selected from “Auto” to your newly created action.

@Marc_Dillon , unfortunately, your suggestion to reuse existing views does not do the trick in all cases… For some reason that I fail to understand, certain view types to not offer such customization of the click.

• The Table view does, but…
• The Card view doesn’t.

Although both go to the related detail view when clicking the row/card (if the behavior is not customized).

I would love to see all views offering a “on-click” behavior offer a customization of the behavior.
Could the AppSheet team weigh in?

Thanks!

[billyfw]

I just discovered this and it's so great! Thanks for the tip. Thankfully I only made it through duplicating one view before I went looking for a better way. 

[Swoopy]

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@billyfw wrote:

My current thinking is to use Marc's trick for now, and once my development settles down and my app is more "steady state", come back and remove the Links and put in the proper detail views for each slice.

---

If you plan to do this after the app launch, users may be confused by the changes, so be aware of it. I bet your apps need editing after launch and this detail view retouching needs to be done again and again. This is a pain in the arse in the world of AppSheet. 

[1billyfw]

Fair point. Thanks for all the color and perspective guys!

[Fabian_Weller]

If you use the slideshow mode:
This self made "Go to details" action has negative side effects comparing the **auto** action:

• It looses the ref connection to the parent
• It looses sorting and grouping
• It looses the filter condition

Please see my post for more information and some solutions:

https://www.googlecloudcommunity.com/gc/Tips-Tricks/Row-Selected-Action-LINKTOROW-vs-auto/td-p/46133...