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Feb 08, 2019 10:36 AM
hi, i have a table with a list of musicians’ real names.
now, many of them use multiple aliases / nicknames / pseudonyms
now i have another table listing albums
sometimes, i need to credit the same artist twice, with different aliases
and later i need to be able to retrieve all related data
how best to model this?
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Feb 08, 2019 11:11 AM
Add an Alias table, related to Artists. Then, in Albums you could link to Alias, and bring fields from Artists with Lookup fields.
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Feb 08, 2019 11:58 AM
yeah but sometimes the album’s artist name lies in the artist table, and sometimes the name lies in the alias table… and sometimes both…how to model this?
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Feb 08, 2019 01:20 PM
I would suggest 3 tables, Artist, Aliases, and Albums.
Artist table will have real names, and a linked record field where you can add the aliases.
Alias table will be just that, a list of aliases, but once the aliases are linked in the Artist table, they will also automatically show up in the Alias table.
Album table will have a linked record for the Alias. That way when you click on the Alias record, you can see the Artist real name, and could use a rollup to get the real name in the Album table if you like.
Additionally, you should be able to use a rollup field in the Artist table to get the list of albums.
I didn’t test this, but I think the logic will work.
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Feb 08, 2019 01:41 PM
even this doesn’t solve it, cos sometimes i need to enter artist names from the artist table, and sometimes aliases from the alias table, and sometimes, both!
how to do this
th eonly solution i can think of, is to add the aliases into the artist table, and then do a self linked record? or?
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Feb 08, 2019 01:45 PM
you can definitely put all of the aliases and artist names in a single table and self link within the table. Then just add an extra field drop down for ‘real name’ or ‘alias’ so you can filter.
I feel that 2 tables for name and alias was cleaner, but either way should work.
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Feb 08, 2019 06:45 PM
I like your solution of having a [Names]
table including both real names and aliases. I’d add a checkbox field called {Is Alias}
so you can filter or color-flag records where {Is Alias}
is checked but {Real Name}
is blank or vice-versa.
Keep in mind, you’ll have to create Airtable reciprocal links yourself. That is, when you link an alias to a real name, you have to link that real name to the alias, as well.
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Feb 08, 2019 11:40 PM
michael how does the 2 tables solution work for my use case? when entering data in the “albums” table, i have a column called “artists” which is a linked record to the artists table.
but then i cant pull aliases!
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Feb 09, 2019 04:05 AM
And that is why I think having an Alias table is a better option.
If you have the aliases in the Artists table, you could link to them too. As yourself suggested :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:
The idea is to have the “original name” also as an Alias:
- Artist: Tim Bergling
- Aliases: Tim Bergling, Avicii
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Feb 09, 2019 08:35 AM
so the alias table contains only aliases, AND artist names? then i am simply duplicating the artists names column arent i?
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