Is it possible to (un)select a record from inside a custom app?

[Petr_Hofman]

I know it is possible to get a list of selected records but is it possible to (un)select a record in the database from inside a custom app? I have been searching quite extensively. It seems to me to be a basic functionality but I just can’t find a way how to do it.

[Kamille_Parks]

You can’t unselect in the record in the Airtable UI, but you can filter out one or more records from the retrieved selected records.

[Petr_Hofman]

Thanks for a quick reply. I have heard that Airtable SDK is developing quite rapidly. Do you know if there is any chance that this feature (checking/unchecking a record as selected in the Airtable UI via custom app) will be available in near future?

[Kamille_Parks]

I highly doubt it. Generally, apps do not affect the UI of Airtable at all.

[somehats]

Hi @Petr_Hofman! Kamille is right that we don’t support this at the moment. I’d love to hear more about your use-case though - what are you building, and how would being able to change the list of selected records help?

[Petr_Hofman]

Hi @somehats, thanks for reaching back to me.

I have a set of geocoded records in my db and I am trying to build an interactive map for displaying these records. It is similar to your Map app from marketplace but with some extended functionality. For example I would like to have a two-way interactivity: If a user selects one or more records in Airtable UI they get highlighted in the map - that I can do without problems. Nevertheless, I want the app to work the other way around too. If a user clicks one or more objects in the map I want them highlighted in the Airtable UI for a quick overview.

Does it make sense to you?

[somehats]

Thanks Petr! This is really helpful. We’ll take this into account when prioritizing new SDK features.

One possible work-around might be to use expandRecord or expandRecordList to show the records in question. An added benefit here is that it works regardless of the current state of the Airtable UI: record selection is only on grid view, so wouldn’t work if your block is full screen or the user is looking at the wrong view.

[Petr_Hofman]

Thanks for your help. The expandRecordList might actually be a good solution. It doesn’t allow me to add/remove records from selection simultaneously in Airtable UI and the app. And there might be some issues to solve in the UX (if a user tries to do exactly that). On the other hand the selected records will be always visible in Airtable UI (while selected records in table might be offscreen) and as you said it would work on grid view only.
Anyway I will be looking forward to new SDK features.