A better (automated) way to create 2D junction tables

[Rolando_Guerrie]

Hey Airtable,

Would be awesome if there could be a better way (a new type of table) to create a 2D junction table between regular tables.

Example:

Table 1: SCENES from a movie
Table 2: CHARACTERS from a movie
Table 3: COSTUMES available for the movie
Junction 2D table: COSTUMES that are worn in a given scene by the characters

Note that:

• we need to know which costume is assigned to which character
• a given costume can be worn by one actor in a scene and worn by another actor in another scene

Therefore, an easy way to represent that junction table junction table would be as a matrix (classic excel):

Where we would choose the 2 tables that populates the rows & columns (here SCENES & CHARACTERS) with all their possible values and we would add the junction values directly in the grid where needed.
The COSTUMES table also exist as regular table on its own since it may be useful to describe other attributes for each costume.

The problem is of course that with Airtable as it is today, when the number of records of the tables you want to join gets high and is subject to regular changes, it’s a pain to maintain a proper junction table (where every combination must be entered manually).

I also thought, maybe the new matrix block can help to avoid creating a junction table, but that means the results are not representing the data from my original example anymore. (I recreated in Excel the result of the matrix block to make it more compact)

So a 2D table type that could be used as easy junction tables would be super great !
Any supporters about this feature ?

Thanks

Cheers !

R.