API Airtable Tally

[Thierry_Ferrand]

Hi team
I’m at the very beginning with no-code tools and just trying to build my own ‘doodle’ homemade :winking_face:
I used Tally to collect datas from 2 dedicated forms :

• the first one, for my guests i invited from Mailchimp. I have a database in Airtable, “guest”, which is replicated and segmented in mailchimp. Key is the email adress.
• the second for my events which are each under a own capacity constraint. Key is an agregated field including the name & date of the event in my “event” table.
  The 2 tables are linked with the rules 1 event to many guests | 1 guest to only one event
  When the user validate the first form :
• I’m calling the API to update Airtable “guest”
• I’m calling the second form with ?email get parameter
• the user books its reservation
• I’m calling the API to update the Airtable “event”
  BUT !!!
  The thing is, I can’t update an existing guest since the API always creates a new one.
  And I end up with 2 records with the same email key.
  Same issue with event.
  Did I make a mistake or an oversight somewhere in my process?
  Many thanks in advance for your great help !!!
  Thierry

[kuovonne]

Welcome to the Airtable community!

You say that you are beginning with no-code tools, but you also say you are using the API. The API is not no-code. Can you clarify how you are using the API? Are you using a third party tool?

It sounds like you have a lot of experience with databases. Airtable’s concept of a linked record is very different from how other databases create relationships between records. In Airtable you do not create or pick “key” fields. All related records must be explicitly set in linked record fields.

[Thierry_Ferrand]

Hi Kuovonne
I’ve got a bit experience with database, that’s true, but not with coding. Not for a very long time anyway :winking_face:
That’s why I’m starting to investigate the no-code ecosystem for I feel a powerful potential within…
I do not use a third party tool for the API, it’s the one natively embedded in Tally :winking_face:

[kuovonne]

Thierry_Ferrandiz:

Tally

Do you have a link to the Tally documentation?

[Thierry_Ferrand]

Maybe this one… Airtable
But it looks more like a “how to” page rather than a technical one…

[Thierry_Ferrand]

I tried to place an almost similar request on Tally to find out if there’s a particular configuration to tune on the form side…

[kuovonne]

Per that blog post, it looks like Tally only creates new records. It does not update records. It also sounds like you are limited to the features that Tally provides. So, if Tally does not support updating existing records, then you cannot use Tally to do so.

There are some techniques involving automations for updating existing records with information from new records. The process basically involves identifying the original record from information in the new record, updating the original record with the news values, and then deleting (or filtering out) the new record.

[Thierry_Ferrand]

Many thanks for your lighting Kuovonne
Seems to be the second restriction I run into with Tally
I love their tool but it may not be mature enough yet :face_exhaling:
By the way, the technique you describe for updating a record sounds great :ok_hand:
Have you got any advice to lead me to a more advanced nocode form generator ?

[kuovonne]

In general, forms always create new records. If you want to update existing records, you need a portal system. Try searching this forum for “portal”.

[atusr]

That’s right, to build a user portal keeping airtable as a backend you’ll need a third party tool like miniextensions, softr, noloco (more expensive), or similar ones. In general they are not so user friendly like tally.