How to Query multiple records?

[Anthony_Pannell]

I have a list >700 of customer IDs that I want to know more about. How can I query them in bulk rather doing it one by one?

[Justin_Barrett]

Welcome to the community, Anthony! :grinning_face_with_big_eyes: Based on your wording (“query”), I’m guessing you’re coming from another database system. What exactly do you want to do? If you want to see a limited subset of the full 700+ records, you might consider making a view and using filters to narrow down the list. If that’s not it, let us know in greater detail and we’ll try to guide you.

[Maiya_O1]

I’m going to pick up on this question, because I have the same question.

In the API, I saw that it shows you how to get a single record, like this:

var Airtable = require(‘airtable’);
var base = new Airtable({apiKey: ‘YOUR_API_KEY’}).base(‘apptDndoI6VkAx3Ko’);

base('projects').find('recAurDC0RVIB2GFU', function(err, record) {
    if (err) { console.error(err); return; }
    console.log('Retrieved', record.id);
});

But what if you have an array of project id’s and you want to find all of them?

How would you do that with CURL and/or the JavaScript methods?

(Also, is there a place that has extensive info about how to query, using the API? Most of the tutorials I found were about using the GUI interface). Thanks!

[cor]

One way I can think of, while I dont know what that would look like in code is to build a FilterByFormula parameter consisting of multiple id’s at a time in an OR({id}=‘xxx’,{id}=‘xxx’,{id}=‘xxx’,{id}=‘xxx’,{id}=‘xxx’,{id}=‘xxx’,{id}=‘xxx’{id}=‘xxx’,{id}=‘xxx’{id}=‘xxx’{id}=‘xxx’)

Hopefully this gives someone an idea that will get you to an answer.

[JonathanBowen]

Hi @Maiya_O1 - you can only query a single record (if you have the ID) or the whole table or records (with pagination perhaps) - you can’t pass an array of IDs and get just this set back I’m afraid. As per @cor, you could do a “filter by formula” but you’re going to have to programatically form this API call from the array of IDs you have each time. A simpler approach might be to query all records and, once you have the result returned, loop through these and using the filter method, create a new array where the current iteration is included in your array of IDs. See also includes

JB

[Maiya_O1]

JonathanBowen:

u can only query a single record (if you have the ID) or the whole table or records (with pagination perhaps) - you can’t pass an array of IDs and get just this set back I’m afraid. As per @cor, you could do a “filter by formula” but you’re going to have to programatically form this API call from the array of IDs you have each time. A simpler approach might be to query all records and, once you have the result returned, loop through these and using the filter method, create a new array where the current iteration is included in your array of IDs. Se

Thanks! That sounds like a good idea. I wasn’t sure if there was a way to get them all in one request, but @JonathanBowen indicated it’s not. So your solution sounds promising.

[Maiya_O1]

Thank you for letting me know. At least I know I’m not missing something. :star:

[Adam_Grant]

Here’s a shim you can put in your code to provide findAll behavior…

Find this part

const Airtable = require("Airtable");

/* HERE */

Airtable.configure({...});

And add the base_with_find_all function.

const Airtable = require("airtable");

base_with_find_all = (baseId) => {
    const Base = new Airtable().base(baseId);

    return (tableName) => {
        const base = new Base(tableName);
        base.findAll = function(record_ids) {
            return this.select({
                filterByFormula: "OR(" + record_ids.map(id => { return `RECORD_ID()='${id}'` })
                    .join(",") + ")"
            })
        };
        return base;
    };
}
Airtable.base = base_with_find_all;

Airtable.configure({...});

Now you can call findAll as you would the select method, passing in an array of recordIds.

const base = Airtable.base("...");

recordIds = [...];

base("table name").findAll(recordIds)
  .eachPage(function page(records, fetchNextPage) {...}, function done(err) {...});