How to handle multiples and analysis?

[Steve Smith]

Hello,

I am designing a database and have some questions. I’m using the latest version on my iPhone 8+.

This database will be to record a specific repeated activity over the course of a year. Each record will be a new instance of this activity with different results each time. Lets say this activity is measuring bananas. Sometimes it might be 1 banana, others it may be multiple bananas.

The end goal is to produce a database of data that can be analyzed to produce charts.

So:

1. Can TF analyze data directly in the app? In other words, can I create a ‘screen’ that will show graphs of how many bananas measured, the average size, color, etc?

2. In one record I may have 1 banana to measure, in the next record I may have 4 bananas to measure. How best to handle this knowing I need to analyze the data? I like the Table field ability to have multiple bananas in one record. Problem is export, TF does not export the table data in the same .csv file as all the records. How does one get that data in the same .csv so it can be analyzed?

3. If not using a table, is it possible to set it up so the user can add fields on the fly? Ex: I create the database with one ‘banana measurement field’, call it Banana1. If the user has two bananas, he clicks a button that then adds another banana field, Banana2. Is this possible?

4. If so, is it possible when adding the ‘Banana2” filed to automatically add the associated fields like ‘length’, ‘color’, etc.

Thanks!

[Brendan]

Hi Steve,

1. No, Tap Forms doesn’t have graphing ability directly in the app. You’ll have to export the data and import into Numbers or Excel or some other app that supports that.

2. The Table field (and Link to Form fields) have a different structure than the main form your exporting. So that’s why they’re exported as separate CSV file.

3. You can add fields on the fly, but they’ll apply to all the records in the form. When you edit a form, you’re simply editing the form’s template that will be displayed for every record within that form. So there’s no function for one record to have one set of fields and another record to have a different set of fields.

4. This happens automatically when using a Link to Form or Table field obviously as you add additional records to the relationship. That’s because even in a Table field, the sub-fields apply to every sub-record within the Table field. Same for Link to Form fields.

One solution of course is to just estimate how many bananas you will ever need and add as many fields that you need to handle the maximum case.

Or if you used a One to Many Link to Form field on your parent “Activity” form, then you could add a Calculation or Script field in your child “Bananas” form that extracts certain information from the parent Activity form and displays it. That way you could just go right to the Bananas form and export all of that as a CSV file for analysis in Numbers or Excel. Each Banana record would contain that bit of information you extracted from the parent Activity record. Hope that makes sense.

Thanks!

Brendan

[Author]

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