I am the director of disability services for a very large convention and trying to use airtable to make things more efficient. (graduating from google docs). I need a triage form, where if I check yes to an option, more forms appear. For example, if the person doing triage checks yes for service dog, then spaces to input a description of the dog and a number will appear. If the service dog box is NOT checked, the options about the dog are not there. I have looked at some info on IF, THEN statements, but from the examples, it looks like they can only return preprogrammed values?
IF, then new fields appear
Unfortunately, Airtable doesn’t yet offer conditional logic in creating forms (though I know many, myself included, are hoping they are working toward it). A good workaround is to use a different app to create the form (my favorite so far is JotForm), then use an integration app like Zapier to import the submission data into Airtable. In most use cases you can accomplish this with free plans for both Zapier and JotForm. Happy to help if you have questions! :slightly_smiling_face:
As @AlliAlosa mentions, Airtable does not currently support conditional logic; however, depending on your use case, there likely are ways of achieving what you need.
| One caveat, though, is that much depends on what you mean by the term ‘form.’ Airtable uses ‘form’ to mean a specific view used to add records to a table. As a result, there are special capabilities and limitations unique to Airtable forms, some of which restrict your options. However, if you are using ‘form’ in a generic, non-specific manner — for instance, to mean ‘something I fill in using my computer’ — then all of the following comments apply. |
The easiest way to support pseudo-conditional logic would be through the use of linked records. For instance, in your example use case, rather than checking a box for ‘service dog’ and having the next few data entry fields change, the user would create a new linked record in the [ServiceDog] table. A window to this newly created record would then pop up, allowing the user to enter any service dog-specific data. On closing this window, the user is returned to the primary view and proceeds to the next triage question. Data from the linked record could then be made available (and visible) in the main [Triage] record through the use of lookup or rollup fields.
Whether this approach is suitable largely depends on how elaborately your triage form branches. If the branches are largely along the lines of the service dog example, where each optional branch offers additional information applicable to a subset of general population, linked records are an excellent method. If each fork in a branch leads the user down a substantially different pathway, without a subsequent return to a common series of data, you likely are better off doing as @AlliAlosa suggests and using a third-party form provider to front-end Airtable, at least for initial data entry.
As @AlliAlosa mentions, Airtable does not currently support conditional logic; however, depending on your use case, there likely are ways of achieving what you need.
| One caveat, though, is that much depends on what you mean by the term ‘form.’ Airtable uses ‘form’ to mean a specific view used to add records to a table. As a result, there are special capabilities and limitations unique to Airtable forms, some of which restrict your options. However, if you are using ‘form’ in a generic, non-specific manner — for instance, to mean ‘something I fill in using my computer’ — then all of the following comments apply. |
The easiest way to support pseudo-conditional logic would be through the use of linked records. For instance, in your example use case, rather than checking a box for ‘service dog’ and having the next few data entry fields change, the user would create a new linked record in the [ServiceDog] table. A window to this newly created record would then pop up, allowing the user to enter any service dog-specific data. On closing this window, the user is returned to the primary view and proceeds to the next triage question. Data from the linked record could then be made available (and visible) in the main [Triage] record through the use of lookup or rollup fields.
Whether this approach is suitable largely depends on how elaborately your triage form branches. If the branches are largely along the lines of the service dog example, where each optional branch offers additional information applicable to a subset of general population, linked records are an excellent method. If each fork in a branch leads the user down a substantially different pathway, without a subsequent return to a common series of data, you likely are better off doing as @AlliAlosa suggests and using a third-party form provider to front-end Airtable, at least for initial data entry.
I will be having as many as 5 people entering information near simultaneously as we process registrations… I was aiming toward a form thinking there would be less room for problems. For example when I was using google docs, I had issues with people (who had edit access to the spreadsheet view to add their initials) changing things and rearranging things, some unintentional, some not so much. I also want to have things close to scripted, the same questions need to be asked in the same order…
I will be having as many as 5 people entering information near simultaneously as we process registrations… I was aiming toward a form thinking there would be less room for problems. For example when I was using google docs, I had issues with people (who had edit access to the spreadsheet view to add their initials) changing things and rearranging things, some unintentional, some not so much. I also want to have things close to scripted, the same questions need to be asked in the same order…
In that case, your options are a bit more limited — mainly because Airtable currently doesn’t allow for the creation of linked records from a form, but only for linking to an existing record.
I’ve not worked any with the sort of solution @AlliAlosa suggests— sounds like another good thing to put on my list for investigation once I’ve reached my weekly maximum of watching NCIS with Mom — but I know it’s an approach taken by a number of Airtable users, seemingly with good result.
Over the past few months, I’ve been working on a [nearly] pure-Airtable solution that supports a variable checklist-style interface. It’s still not quite ready for prime time: I’ve floated it by several clients, always unsuccessfully, but each iteration has been increasingly near-production quality, and I think I may have surmounted the last few stumbling blocks. Frankly, until 10 minutes ago I hadn’t thought of including support for dynamically variable checklists — that is, ones that support conditional logic — but I think I might be able to add such functionality using filtering and Airtable’s recently announced support for automatic view sorting. If I get it all working, I’ll try to remember to send you a message; otherwise, feel free to ping me in 3 or 4 weeks to ask.
+20Hi @W_Vann_Hall
Is it your birthday today? I just noticed the cake. If it is, Happy Birthday.
Mary
No, that’s my Airtable anniversary cake: As of today, I’ve been a member of Airtable Community for two years — which means I first heard of Airtable two years ago last Friday. :winking_face:
This coming Friday, though, Mom turns 96. As an early birthday gift, last Saturday I signed her up for an Airtable account. Somehow, she and I ended up tasked with inventorying the contents of this little bungalow —
—so I built her a base to let her log items, room by room. I don’t know if that makes her Airtable’s oldest user, but I suspect she’s among its top 5 or 10. :winking_face:
+20No, that’s my Airtable anniversary cake: As of today, I’ve been a member of Airtable Community for two years — which means I first heard of Airtable two years ago last Friday. :winking_face:
This coming Friday, though, Mom turns 96. As an early birthday gift, last Saturday I signed her up for an Airtable account. Somehow, she and I ended up tasked with inventorying the contents of this little bungalow —
—so I built her a base to let her log items, room by room. I don’t know if that makes her Airtable’s oldest user, but I suspect she’s among its top 5 or 10. :winking_face:
Hi @W_Vann_Hall
Happy Airtable Anniversary!
I think it’s a great idea to give your mother the gift of Airtable and by the looks of it, it is going to keep her very busy.
Mary
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