How to add a space every 3 digits? (european currency)

Ambroise_Dhenai · ‎Sep 07, 2021

How would you convert 10000 to 10 000?

Similarly, 10000,00 to 10 000,00.

I couldn’t find an existing formula for this.

kuovonne · ‎Sep 07, 2021

There is no built in formula for formatting a number. However, this can be done with a very complex formula. The easiest way is with my Ready Made Formulas app. To get a space as a grouping symbol you may need to choose custom format (versus the built in European format option).

Ambroise_Dhenai · ‎Sep 07, 2021

I had found this app, but it’s behind a pay wall and can access all our base’s data, I’m looking for something as simple an actual Formula.

kuovonne · ‎Sep 07, 2021

A simple formula would be nice. However, as of today, a simple formula does not exist. There are free formulas that you can find on the internet that may do what you want, or get very close. For example, this thread has one of the very first sets of formulas for formatting a number. While that formula is free, it won’t quite what you want, and it is also almost 30 lines long. I actually used that formula for quite a while before deciding to write my own formula, and eventually wrote the Ready Made Formulas app. There are also other formulas available for free on these forums. Another respected community member recently posted a number formatting formula. However, again, it won’t cover your exact use cases, and the formula can be difficult to read and understand if you want to adapt it.

As you search for a free formula, I suggest you think how much your time is worth compared to the price of the app. One of my clients (who eventually purchased the app) estimated that she spent 50 hours trying to get her formula to work before she discovered my app.

I understand that it is frustrating to pay for a feature that Airtable should have included for free, but that is the world of 3rd party apps. As a developer, I have to place limits on how much code I give away for free. I have tried to keep the price affordable to people who really want the convenience.

As for the app being able to access all of your base’s data–that is a standard disclaimer that Airtable attaches to all third party apps, regardless of what the app actually does. I can assure you that the app does not access any of your bases record data. It does read the table/field names in order to build the formulas. The only network calls that the app performs are those necessary to validate a license. If you have any other questions about privacy concerning my app, feel free to ask.

Ambroise_Dhenai · ‎Sep 07, 2021

Thanks for the detailed answer @kuovonne, I wasn’t aware you were the author of the app.

Formula’s complexity isn’t much of a concern to me as long as it’s documented and reliable. I’ve written quite a lot of formulas myself, and released them for free, as open-source software.

Feel free to take a look and include them in your paid software, I’ve noticed you’re missing quite a few interesting ones (slug, attachments, etc.).

Indeed, it’s much easier for non-developers to rely on a tool like yours, the ease of usability is the main pain point it covers. Although, I don’t intend to install 3rd party apps when I can get it to work by myself.

As for privacy, you’re right, and it’s indeed a standard disclaimer, but as CTO/DPO I’m rather cautious about external apps anyway.

It’d be lovely if you’d add a few of your own formulas to the open-source repository, and I could also reference your App in the documentation, for people who would like to go the simpler path. :slightly_smiling_face:

Thanks for pointing the thread out (again), I actually came all the way to duplicate the base and found the formula that’ll get me closer to my goal.

kuovonne · ‎Sep 07, 2021

You’re welcome. I try to let my apps stand for themselves, so I don’t always broadcast that I am the author. There was only one tiny word in my previous post that indicated that I was the author.

Thank you for your generosity in releasing formulas for free. I had a similar repository of formulas that I used before I got frustrated with having to change out field names and options every time I wanted to use a formula in a new base, and thus I decided to write the app.

There actually is a formula for getting the url of an attachment field, and optionally wraps it in an html image tag or markdown syntax. The version in the app only retrieves the url of the first attachment. I have other versions that retrieve the urls of all attachments, but due to difficulties in having a very robust formula that can anticipate all the crazy filenames that people might choose to use, I decided to hold back on that version for the app.

I know that there are many other common formulas that could be included in my app, and I have a list that I am working on for a future version, however, app development is a long process, and I have many projects going on at the moment.

Absolutely!

Since you enjoy building your own formulas, have fun examining the various formulas that are available and tweaking them to fit your needs. I actually had a lot of fun building my versions.

Justin_Barrett · ‎Sep 07, 2021

There’s no way that this is referring to me. :winking_face: But if it is, here’s the thread where I posted my formula, which (admittedly) only works with whole numbers, so it’ll help with half of what you wanted @Ambroise_Dhenain: