Add multiple QR code scans as linked records

[cgreaves]

I've been searching for solutions for hours for this. 

My perfect world

Event staff open an attendance tracking form. They select the event and class that's about to start. The walk around the room and scan the QR codes (could be barcode as well) on all attendee badges. Each scan adds that attendee (already an existing record in Airtable - that's where the QR code will come from) as a linked record to that event/class record. They add everyone in the room, and submit the form with everyone linked. 

Potential workarounds

Maybe directly linking multiple records into one field with QR codes isn't possible. If not, maybe there are ideas for how to do one of the following instead:

1. Create an entire record when a QR code is scanned, and then collate that info later. But I would want to somehow link both the attendee and the class in that one scan, so if the QR codes are on attendee badges, I'm back to the same problem of how to include all those scans under one class umbrella.
2. Airtable's barcode scan field is nice, but you can't add multiple barcodes to the same field within one record. Maybe someone knows a way?
3. Create a form that allows records to be updated, so you could scan QR codes one at a time and each time would be a record update with one more attendee link. I know Fillable Fillout has forms for updating records, but I don't think there's a way to scan a barcode/QR code within that form.
4. Maybe make the device doing the scanning be a key to mark which class is happening, so when the attendee's QR code is scanned, it actually links the class to the attendee's record?

I'm aware miniextensions has stuff to do things like this, but they don't have a free tier and we're a small org. 

[ScottWorld]

I think your best bet for this is to use Fillout’s advanced forms for Airtable, because not only would it let you scan a barcode (or QR code) into a linked record field, but you can set it up so that you can add new linked records directly from the form itself.

This is not possible with Airtable’s native forms… it is only possible with Fillout.

So everything would be done from one simple form in Fillout.

Hope this helps! If you’d like to hire an expert Airtable consultant to help you with anything Airtable-related, please feel free to contact me through my website: Airtable consultant — ScottWorld 

[TheTimeSavingCo]

@ScottWorldWoah that's cool!  How do we make a form that lets the user scan a QR code into a linked record field?  I couldn't seem to find anything in the Fillout documentation about it and must have missed it, could you provide a link to some docs?

[ScottWorld]

Oh sorry, it isn't a feature that is directly provided by Fillout... you would need to have a special barcode scanner that recognizes the QR code and then can translate the QR code into normal text which it would type into the field where your cursor is blinking.

But since Fillout allows adding new linked records, the user could just keep scanning new QR codes into the linked record field.

I talk a little bit about it in this thread, which is a slightly more complex use case than what the author above posted: https://community.airtable.com/t5/automations/automation-to-update-a-field-based-on-a-barcode-scanne...

[cgreaves · Accepted solution]

After looking into it, I do think Fillout, like Scott suggested, is the best option, but I set it up differently. I'll write out my solution in case others encounter something similar. TL;DR: I used Fillout to make a form that updates attendee records. QR code links to to the form and autoselects the correct attendee record, so staff only have to select the class they're managing and it links that record to the attendee record. 

What didn't work
The functionality of scanning a barcode/QR code and having it attach a linked record doesn't exist directly in Fillout, at least not without a barcode scanner. I wanted people to be able to use their phones. I tried Jotform, which has a QR code scanner in-app, but you could only scan one at a time, and of course, you lose Fillout's major feature - it doesn't link records. So you'd have to create an automation in Airtable/Zapier/Make to link by name to an attendees table. I also tried Clappia, which might work, but seemed like major overkill and not worth the time investment. 

I also played around with Android QR code apps that do allow you to scan QR codes over and over, without having to go to the link, and add their info to a table you can export as a CSV. The user experience with this is great, except for having to download a sketchy app. But it was less automated on the backend. 

What I did

Fillout allows users to not just create new records, but update existing ones. The QR codes represent a link to the update survey. A URL parameter (in this case, automatically generated by Fillout - you can just copy the formula they provide for update forms) passes the record ID of the attendee. they update the attendee record by selecting the class from a linked field question. It's not perfect - they have to go back and forth between their camera and the surveys, they have to click to add the class, then submit, then go to the end page... but it's pretty good. People are happy. 


Bonus ease of use
I also added another parameter to the URL formula to pass the attendee's name. Then on the end page, it says "Jane Doe was successfully added", that way the staff can tell it's working. 

Also, I've seen a lot of struggle with creating and using QR codes effectively in Airtable. If you're printing them out for each attendee, you might be using Word Mail Merge or something similar. Microsoft Word actually can just create the QR code for you in a QR code field, using your URLs in your table. That ended up being a lot easier than figuring out how to export the QR code images and dealing with the lack of image hosting at Airtable.