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Timeline select from multiple tables

  • January 6, 2023
  • 7 replies
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I have a base with various different tables containing lists of things, people and places for a large-scale festival production. The various tables are linked in numerous ways, which works beautifully. However, I would also like to use the base for project and timeline management and I cannot seem to find a way of doing this directly. I have created a "timeline" table with a list of events with a date range. At the moment I am syncing all relevant tables I want to link to several tables in a dedicated "sync base", from which I'm syncing back to a new "sync table" in the main base, essentially summarising the various tables into one. In my timeline/events table I then link to this sync table.

This works but means I lose the main advantage of linking between records in that the events allocated to each thing/person/place do not show up within that record.

Is there a better way of doing this? What am I missing? The ability to sync from multiple tables within the same base would really help here.

Thanks,

Dave

Best answer by TheTimeSavingCo

Sounds like a good workaround. Don't think this will work for me though, I want to be able to link date events in my "Timeline" table to various records in several other tables that don't have start/end dates themselves, eg:

Event A with start date X and end date Y on table "Timeline", involving artist B from table "Artists" and venue C from table "Venues" and contractors D, E and F from table "Contractors". 

Direct linking would allow me to see all events for a specific artist, venue or contractor in the relevant tables, which I can't do right now, unless I'm missing something. 


Hm, I think I don't fully understand your workflow so I put something together here for you to have a look at.  If you could let me know what additional stuff you're aiming to have I could see whether I can think of anything? 



All good if you don't have time to explore this; best of luck either way!

    E

    7 replies

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    • Emery_Sheldon
    • New Participant
    • January 6, 2023

    I am having the same issue, I have a complex linking structure, and I cant find a way to bring all information together seamlessly on a timeline, calendar, or gant. If we could somehow pull dependancies from other tables that would be very useful.

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    TheTimeSavingCo
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    > The ability to sync from multiple tables within the same base would really help here.
    Sigh yeah it would

    When encountering this scenario of having two tables with dates and one single timeline / gantt table, I create automations to create records in the timeline / gantt table

    So if I create a record in Table 1 or 2, it'll create a record in the `Timeline` table and link it.  In the `Timeline` table, i'll have lookups that display the start and end dates from both tables, and create a formula field that will consolidate those dates

    The timeline / gantt will then use those consolidated date fields

    Adam, Airtable Consultant - thetimesaving.company
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    • LB23
    • Author
    • New Participant
    • January 9, 2023

    > The ability to sync from multiple tables within the same base would really help here.
    Sigh yeah it would

    When encountering this scenario of having two tables with dates and one single timeline / gantt table, I create automations to create records in the timeline / gantt table

    So if I create a record in Table 1 or 2, it'll create a record in the `Timeline` table and link it.  In the `Timeline` table, i'll have lookups that display the start and end dates from both tables, and create a formula field that will consolidate those dates

    The timeline / gantt will then use those consolidated date fields


    Sounds like a good workaround. Don't think this will work for me though, I want to be able to link date events in my "Timeline" table to various records in several other tables that don't have start/end dates themselves, eg:

    Event A with start date X and end date Y on table "Timeline", involving artist B from table "Artists" and venue C from table "Venues" and contractors D, E and F from table "Contractors". 

    Direct linking would allow me to see all events for a specific artist, venue or contractor in the relevant tables, which I can't do right now, unless I'm missing something. 

    TheTimeSavingCo
    Forum|alt.badge.img+31

    Sounds like a good workaround. Don't think this will work for me though, I want to be able to link date events in my "Timeline" table to various records in several other tables that don't have start/end dates themselves, eg:

    Event A with start date X and end date Y on table "Timeline", involving artist B from table "Artists" and venue C from table "Venues" and contractors D, E and F from table "Contractors". 

    Direct linking would allow me to see all events for a specific artist, venue or contractor in the relevant tables, which I can't do right now, unless I'm missing something. 


    Hm, I think I don't fully understand your workflow so I put something together here for you to have a look at.  If you could let me know what additional stuff you're aiming to have I could see whether I can think of anything? 



    All good if you don't have time to explore this; best of luck either way!

    Adam, Airtable Consultant - thetimesaving.company
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    L
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    • LB23
    • Author
    • New Participant
    • January 10, 2023

    Hm, I think I don't fully understand your workflow so I put something together here for you to have a look at.  If you could let me know what additional stuff you're aiming to have I could see whether I can think of anything? 



    All good if you don't have time to explore this; best of luck either way!


    Thanks a lot for setting this up, much appreciated. I think this kind of thing might improve things, although I'd have to add date fields to each individual table I want to use and rejig how some of the linking works. I'm just trying to figure out how you did the formula date field on the timeline table, any tips? Can this be used as the date range in a timeline/calendar/gantt view, even though it's not a "proper" date field?

    TheTimeSavingCo
    Forum|alt.badge.img+31

    Thanks a lot for setting this up, much appreciated. I think this kind of thing might improve things, although I'd have to add date fields to each individual table I want to use and rejig how some of the linking works. I'm just trying to figure out how you did the formula date field on the timeline table, any tips? Can this be used as the date range in a timeline/calendar/gantt view, even though it's not a "proper" date field?


    > I'm just trying to figure out how you did the formula date field on the timeline table, any tips?
    Ah, here's the formula:

     

    IF( {Start (from Events)}, {Start (from Events)}, {Start (from Tasks)} )

     

    You can also duplicate the base to view the formulas I believe

    > Can this be used as the date range in a timeline/calendar/gantt view, even though it's not a "proper" date field?
    Yeap it can

     
    Adam, Airtable Consultant - thetimesaving.company
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    • LB23
    • Author
    • New Participant
    • January 12, 2023

    Oh right, so simple! I was messing around with all sorts of nestled IFs and Datetime_Format business...

    Thanks very much, super helpful.

    TheTimeSavingCo
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