Link to Additional Form / Multiple Items

[jniddy]

I have a form called Level Form, which is a record of an excavation square. The basic info for the form works perfectly. What I would like to add is a record of all the specimens found in this square. In the excavation square the specimen could be just one fossil or it could be 30. I created another form that I have linked to, called Specimen #. I have been able to link to these records and choose which ones are from the level square; however, when I download the csv sheet, I don’t see any indication of this on either form. Is there a way to do this? In other words, get a list on the primary level form of all specimens found and have it output to a csv sheet?

Thanks.

[Brendan]

Hi,

At the moment, the only way is to export the linked form directly. But unfortunately it won’t contain information as to which records they’re linked from. This is a request that’s on my to-do list.

Thanks,

Brendan

[jniddy]

Hi Brendan,

Thanks for the incredibly quick reply. That would be a terribly difficult work around. So it seems that I should just put on the level form the following fields, Specimen #1, Specimen #2, etc.

[Brendan]

Hi,

I realize it’s not an ideal solution, but yes, that will allow you to export what you need in one CSV file.

Thanks,

Brendan

[DrJJWMac]

@jniddy: Would you be able instead to add a new field to your Specimens database form that records a default value for the level of each specimen and a new field to your Level form that is an integer count of the number of specimens at that level? This way, you can keep your linked setup and, when you export the Level form and Specimens form, you will have the companion information in each CSV file.

Otherwise, you will have to keep adding fields to you Level form each time you find a new Specimen, which is a rather tedious flow (not to mention a sloppy database setup).

—

JJW

[daniel]

I have a similar question here.

I have two forms for tracking a small inventory of bottles: one called “Inventory” the other “Inventory Totals.”

In “Inventory” the fields are:

Product Type (pick list)

Brand (pick list)

Quantity (number)

Size (pick list)

Location (pick list)

Fill Level (number)

and the form “calculation” is set to the “Quantity” field to give me a count of the total number of bottles in the inventory form

The second form, “Inventory Totals” is designed to give me a report on inventory levels based on product type (theoretically it could use any field from the first form) and includes the following fields:

Product Type (same pick list as above)

Size (same pick list as above)

Total Count – which is a link to the Inventory form (many to many)

The Link field selects the “Product Type” fields on the main inventory form that match the “Product Type” of the record on this form. if you open the popup for this link field to choose the records on the main inventory form, you get a “Total (Quantity):” at the bottom (just like on the main inventory form, but with only the quantity of the selected product type). This is exactly what I need, but I want this number to be displayed on each record for “inventory totals”…which currently only shows a number next to the link field that corresponds to the number of different products (brands in this case) selected by me for the field, not the actual quantity of those products.

For example, say I have 3 bottles of Brand X Vodka and 5 of Brand Y Vodka in inventory. The record on the “Inventory totals” form for Vodka should look like this:

Product Type: Vodka

Bottle Size: 1 L

Total Count: 5

Currently, it says 2 in the total count field because there are only 2 records linked to (one for Brand X, one for Brand Y). If I click on the linked field to see these brands, that popup has the right quantity count (5) at the bottom of the screen.

How do I move this correct Total Count number onto the “inventory Totals” records? I need to do this for two reasons: 1) be able to see the actual, aggregate number of bottles of a specific type (regardless of brand or any other field on the main inventory form) and 2) to be able to export this number. Currently exporting to CSV does not show the linked count.

[Side note:]

Interestingly enough, I can manipulate the forms to show the correct total count by changing the order of fields on the main inventory form, but its awkward. If I have make of the first three fields of the main inventory form as the “Quantity” of the product, then go to the “Inventory Totals” form and find a specific record (say for Vodka) and hit the email icon, this email will display the correct number of bottles I have in inventory of each brand (but no aggregate number). However, this does not work for exporting a CSV file, since no linked data is carried over.

Anyone have an idea of a way to do this or know this is not (yet) possible? Thanks for any help!

[Brendan]

Hello Daniel,

In my next update, I have added the aggregate total to the main form. So you will see something like:

[icon] Form name, Total (Some Field): 123 [#]

Along with the next update will also be iCloud sync!

Thanks!

Brendan

[daniel]

Thanks for the quick reply Brendan!

Will this display only by the form name, or also by the Linked form field on the individual record? It would be great if it was at the record level as well, as each record is for a different product type…so each total here is different and unique, dependent upon the linked records quantities total.

Thanks.

[Brendan]

Hi Daniel,

Sorry, I didn’t make it clear. Yes, it’s by the linked field. So you’ll see the aggregate calculation next to each linked field in your form without having to drill down into the linked form fields.

Thanks!

Brendan

[daniel]

Fantastic. Thanks!

[lauracurnowasw007]

Can you directly post out the links to these forms?

Allied Bingo

[Brendan]

Hi Laura,

I’m sorry, but I don’t understand what you mean by directly posting the links to these forms. Can you give me an example of what you mean?

Thanks,

Brendan

[wntk1]

Hi Brendan,

I figured I’d jump into this post, as linking two forms on export is a feature that I have really been craving as well. Would it be possible to simply add the form_record_id of the parent to the export csv of the child? That way when I export both csv files, both will have their own unique form_record_id fields, but the child data will also have a column called parent_form_record_id which is populated with the parent’s form_record_id. Then in excel, it would be very easy to link these two with a vlookup and pull any data from the parent into the child.

Also, one other request, right now when two forms are linked, the child does not display any of the parent’s data. Would it be possible for the first field of the parent form show up on the child form? Currently only the graphic icon from the parent and the number of linked records appears. If the contents of the first parent field could be displayed as the value of the linked field, it would make user input easier because the user would have confirmation that the link was performed successfully.

Thanks much!

Wilson

P.S. I’ve purchased all of the various flavors of the competition (which shall remain nameless in this post) for iPad and iPhone and put them through their paces. Hands down, your app is the best. It’s flexible and very well thought out. Great job and keep up the good work!

[Brendan]

Hello Wilson,

Thanks for the helpful information. I’ll think about adding the parent_record_id to the child record during an export. There are a number of reasons why I haven’t yet tackled this problem, time being the biggest one. I know this is needed, but I think people want iCloud sync and a desktop counterpart to Tap Forms more at this time. So that’s where my focus has been recently. I am very close to finishing up version 1.0 of Tap Forms Mac, so I don’t want to diverge my attention to anything else at the moment until that is finished. iCloud sync is pretty much finished and I will be releasing it simultaneously with Tap Forms Mac.

Also thanks for your kind words and I’m super thrilled that you are enjoying using Tap Forms. There are some great database apps out there, so that means a lot to me.

Thanks!

Brendan

[wntk1]

Thanks Brendan! I know your busy so I really appreciate you taking the time to reply. Keep up the good work.

Wilson

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