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Dec 03, 2019 08:46 AM
I have searched the API docs, and I see no way to do this.
With the AirTable API, how do I create a new tab (new table) in an existing base? and then populate it?
I do not see this feature of inserting or creating an new tab into an existing base, only the ability to insert rows into an existing table that was created by a human that opens a web browser and clicks.
We have needs to automate the creation of new tables in an existing base (and down the line, creating new bases programatically).
Dec 03, 2019 09:50 AM
:wave: Developer on Airtable’s API team here.
The Airtable API currently has no way to do this—you can only create new tables from the UI.
Dec 03, 2019 10:10 AM
Great, thank you. Is there any way with the AirTable API, or any 3rd party product to insert a CSV direct into an existing base?
I have a CSV on a file system, and I want to programatically send a CSV to a base and have it inserted into a new tab.
I can’t be the first to request this, it would be helpful, if at all possible. It does not look possible with Zapier. Thank You.
Dec 03, 2019 10:38 AM
There’s no way to import a CSV directly with the API, but you can convert CSV to JSON, which our API accepts.
So rather than CSV → Airtable, you’d do CSV → JSON → Airtable.
Does that make sense?
Dec 03, 2019 10:47 AM
Yes, so where can I find documentation on that? When I goto my Base’s API page, I don’t see anything there, will look again.
And so sending a JSON direct, would this create a new tab in the base? and also do I have control over the naming of that tab? (or positioning?)
thank you,
Dec 03, 2019 11:02 AM
We don’t document that because it’s a bit out of scope, and depends on what exactly you’re trying to do. A quick search shows a few online tools that do this conversion, and you can also look to see how to do it in your favorite programming language (like Python).
There’s a new tab for each table in the base. Again, you can’t create a new table from the API.
Dec 03, 2019 11:08 AM
So the solution is that I have to create a new table manually, always, with the headers I want, and once the table exists, with a header for each field I want to insert, I can then I can make API calls to insert data.
I can send up to ten records at a time, per API call, and I can make up to five of these calls per second, meaning a max of fifty records inserted per second into an existing table.
If I got any of that wrong, please let me know, this is what I am reading in the documentation.
I understand how to take my data and convert to JSON.
I was just hoping that I could create a JSON file of 1K records (rows), and make one call and insert all 1K into a base, creating a new table at the same time and setting the tab name.
Thank you,
Dec 03, 2019 11:09 AM
All of that understanding sounds correct.
We may add support for these features in the API in the future, but they aren’t currently available.
Dec 03, 2019 01:45 PM
Um, yeah - me too. This is a common process for anything automated. It tends to rule out a number of use cases.
Dec 03, 2019 03:11 PM
Here’s a Python script to import a CSV (turning into a JSON object before posting to AT):
JB