I have 3 tables: Artworks, Tags, and a “Link Table”. The Link Table exists because each Tag may have many artworks, and each artwork may have many tags. I created the relationships between these tables by setting a Tag Id and Artwork Id in the Link Table to ref, and then pointing each to their corresponding table. This generally works really well, except that I can’t figure out how to make an Artworks detail page show tags as a deck view, while a Tag details page shows artworks as a gallery view. Here’s what I mean:
Which I can do by using a SELECT() function instead of REF_ROWS() in a virtual column in the Artworks table. But when I try to add a tag from the inline view using this method it takes me to the Tag form and I don’t get a dropdown of possible values (like I do when I use REF_ROWS instead). In fact if I create a new row this way it’s easy to create duplicate tags. Anyone know the right way for me to show tags as a deck view in my Artworks detail page. Grateful for the sage advice I always seem to receive here.
I now have it working. Here are the steps I followed (with the video’s help):
Create the following tables with the following columns
Items
Item Id
Image
Description1. Links
Link Id
Item Id
Tag Id1. Tags
Tag Id
Tag1. Create an appsheet app from these tables (via Extensions in Google Sheets)
Add all three tables, and create a view for the Tags table and delete the view for the links table
In the data section, for the Links table ensure that
The Item Id column is a ref column to the Items table
The Tag Id column is a ref column to the Tags table1. For the Items table select the image as a label
For the Tags table select the tag column as a label
For the Link Table_inline view, set it to deck and use the Tag Id for the primary header
Create 2-3 entries in the Items table
Use the inline Add to add some tags to the items after you have created an item
Create a slice of the items table with no formula in it
Call it Gallery view slice1. Duplicate the Link Table_inline view
Choose the Gallery view slice for this date
Set the view to gallery1. In the Tags table, add a virtual column
Name it Related items
Use this formula: REF_ROWS(“Gallery view slice”, “Tag Id”)
Turn off (deselect visible checkbox for) Related Link tables1. Voila. Now the Items detail view shows related tags as a deck view, and the Tags detail view show Items as a gallery.
I thought the solution I posted above was the answer, but it’s not. The inline gallery view is showing all the items instead of just those items with a Tag Id that matches this Tag. I’m having a very hard time figuring out what expression to write for the Gallery view slice so that it only returns those items who have a corresponding entry in the Link Table which also contains the Tag that I’m currently looking at. Does anyone have any pointers?
Does this approach allow you to easily relate existing elements? I.e. can you add an existing tag to an item from the item details or item form page? And vice versa from the perspective of a tag?
What I’ve found is that the resulting user experience is what I would call “passable.” I can add tags to an artwork pretty easily. I haven’t had great success with removing an artwork from a tag. Apologies if this response is confusing; I’m very loosely in touch with whatever it was I was doing here.
