Why Alternatives are Insufficient Multiple Columns
Separating the product from the quantity means that data is disassociated unless each option has it’s own columns (Oranges, Oranges Quantity). So solutions are verbose and the bases grow unnecessarily wide.
Advanced Linking
Another approach would be to separate each product as its own line item (or table row), or even split them out to separate tables. All of this is too much to ask from a client using a form view or a non-Airtable savvy user.
I would like to add a use case that this feature would address.
I am an operations manager who wants to build a directory of contractors. Each contractor can perform multiple roles (Role A, Role B, Role C, etc.) and has a day rate associated with each of those roles.
I would like to represent this data in the form of an object of key-value pairs such as: