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RELEASE vs. WORKING_COPY version of a base

  • February 13, 2017
  • 3 replies
  • 20 views
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I would be interested to know whether there is a possibility to synchronize between two versions of a base. My use-case is as follows:

I would like to have a stable RELASE version of a base to which users have access through the API (with a defined API key). At the same time I would like to have the possibility to modify/extend a copy of that RELEASE version (let’s call it WORKING_COPY) and once this copy has reached a certain status it shall again be used as the new RELEASE version with the unchanged API key.

I found it easy to duplicate a base in order to e.g. work on that duplicate as the WORKING_COPY but I don’t see a possibility to bring back those changes to the originating base (with the defined API key). Is there a way of achieving this or are there alternate solutions for my use case?

Thank you,
Stefan

    3 replies

    J
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    • Julian_Kirkness
    • Inspiring
    • 485 replies
    • February 14, 2017

    Hi @Stefan_Kunz

    I quite agree with you on this - databases become far too important to a business for people to work on live versions with the risk of breaking the app in some way (or worse accidentally delete data etc). At the moment, Airtable is very much an ad-hoc type tool but in the database arena this only takes you so far - then you need security (of both data and the structure of the app), a customisable UI for specific users, reports, etc.

    Having said that, Airtable is a great start and really nice to use.

    Julian

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    • Howie
    • Participating Frequently
    • 61 replies
    • February 14, 2017

    Thanks for the comment, Julian! I should emphasize that:
    -In many cases, a fully custom UI is not needed. Airtable is definitely optimized for those use cases, though its API also allows for customers to build completely custom UI/logic/workflows on top of it. For comparison, Force.com is, more often than not, used as a GUI database builder without any custom VisualForce components (I previously worked at Salesforce as a product leader).
    -We are definitely considering some functionality to allow you to enter into a sandbox mode to safely make experimental changes to a database. In the meantime, taking a snapshot helps you avoid data loss.
    -In this particular case, one thing that’s helpful is to swap the API key instead of trying to merge the base content back into the original. However, note that this comes with the caveat that the new base copy won’t carry the revision history/snapshot history from the old one.

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    • Stefan_Kunz
    • Author
    • Known Participant
    • 11 replies
    • February 15, 2017

    Thanks for the comment, Julian! I should emphasize that:
    -In many cases, a fully custom UI is not needed. Airtable is definitely optimized for those use cases, though its API also allows for customers to build completely custom UI/logic/workflows on top of it. For comparison, Force.com is, more often than not, used as a GUI database builder without any custom VisualForce components (I previously worked at Salesforce as a product leader).
    -We are definitely considering some functionality to allow you to enter into a sandbox mode to safely make experimental changes to a database. In the meantime, taking a snapshot helps you avoid data loss.
    -In this particular case, one thing that’s helpful is to swap the API key instead of trying to merge the base content back into the original. However, note that this comes with the caveat that the new base copy won’t carry the revision history/snapshot history from the old one.


    Thank you for your replies Julian and Howie! I understand your points.
    Even though swapping API key is not my preferred approach (due to other implications it has) it could still be a feasible workaround for my use case.
    Thanks again!
    Stefan


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