Help Needed: Ref Column is Read-Only - Have I Tried Everything?

AppSheet AppSheet Q&A
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1

I’m hoping another set of eyes might be able to help me with a very stubborn issue I’m facing. I’m building an order list app, and I have a Ref column that is completely locked in its form view, but I feel like I’ve checked every possible setting to make it editable.

The Goal: I have a MasterOrderList table with a Supplier column. This column is a Ref to my Suppliers table. I need to be able to edit this Supplier field in a form to change which supplier is assigned to an item.

The Mystery: In the form, the Supplier field is read-only but shows the dropdown triangle. However, other fields in the same form (like a Category Enum) are fully editable via dropdown. This tells me the issue is specific to the Supplier column’s configuration.

Here’s my troubleshooting checklist so far:

I’ve confirmed the following settings are all configured to allow editing:

  • Column Editable?: The checkbox for the Supplier column is ON.

  • Column Is a part of?: The checkbox is OFF.

  • Column App Formula: The formula is empty.

  • Data Types: The Ref points to a Suppliers table whose Key (Supplier_ID) is type Text. The data types are compatible.

  • Table Permissions: The referenced Suppliers table allows all changes (Adds, Updates, Deletes).

  • Slice Permissions: The form is based on a Slice, and the Slice’s Update Mode is set to allow all changes.

Is there any other obscure setting, app-level property, or known bug that I might be missing that could cause a Ref column to be locked when all these other settings are correct?

Thanks in advance for any ideas or insights you can share. I’m really stumped on this one!

2

Make sure Spreadsheet formula is empty.

Please post a screenshot of the column’s entire configuration.

3

You haven’t made the Supplier column to be the key column of the MasterOrderList table, have you? If you had, that would present as editable for a new record (although only one record would be valid per supplier), but not editable on updates.

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1766×1120 62.1 KB

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3772×416 18.6 KB

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5

No, the Supplier column is not the key column. Here’s the table.

Table MasterOrderList
Table MasterOrderList2235×638 53.3 KB

6

What’s that full formula on the computed key? If it contains the Supplier column, then the same thing applies as it is part of the key.

7

Omg, that was the problem, the auto generated key with the formula! Thank you so much! I added a new Item_ID column in the sheet and gave every item a unique ID number. Everything works fine now.