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AirTable could benefit from making junction tables more of a feature than a workaround for bases requiring for many-to-many relationships. Iโll be using this mockup base (https://airtable.com/shrkWoMwtNLYAVvoH) as an example to explain these requested features. It has 3 tables: Projects
, Firms
, and Project Roles
(the junction table). Each project will have a prime consultant, and may or may not have sub-consultants performing any of 20 or so roles (i.e. landscape architect, economist, contractor, cost estimator, etc.).
1. Junction record name โsmart displayโ based on active table
This example base follows a common junction table entry naming convention: the primary field is a Formula that concatenates the records to which it is linked (i.e. {Project Name}: {Role Type}: {Firm Name})
When Iโm viewing the Projects
table, it would be most useful if entries in the Team column (which links to the Project Roles
junction) displayed like โ{Role Type}: {Firm Name}โ. But in the Firms
table, it would be most useful if entries in the Project Roles column (which is the corresponding link to the Project Roles
junction) displayed like โ{Role Type}: {Project Name}โ
In other words, AirTable should understand which portion of the formulated entry name is implied by context (what is the active table) and hide/omit it to avoid redundancy. Alternatively there could be a new UI in the Customize Field Options that allows users to write a new formula/logic for a linked recordโs display name for that column in that particular table to avoid repetitive info being displayed.
2. โSmartโ linked record expand
Since the junction table has to act as a middle man, I canโt just click on the linked team member from the Projects
table to view their contact info, Iโm instead taken to the Project Roles
entry and from there I have to click on the linked Firm
record to view more of their details. One could, in theory, add a Lookup Field for absolutely every column of every table to which the junction is joined, but the issue with such a workaround is obviously tedious and inopportune.
3. Assume โAdd New Recordโ when clicking the โ+โ icon for a Linked Record Field pointing to a junction table
Like many junction tables made in Airtable, the entries in the Project Roles
junction table will only ever be linked to one Project
and one Firm
each.
It is more intuitive for a person to make new entries in this case within the Projects
table as the junction entry will automatically be linked to at least one of its major components. It would be ideal if the โ+โ icon to Add a Linked Record skipped the โselect from existing recordsโ dialogue and went straight to the โadd new recordโ dialogue when linking to a junction table.
4. Hide a table
Ideally, I will never have to even look at the Project Roles
junction table once its set up. Iโll be adding all the new relationships from what is ostensibly the โmain tableโ, in this case Projects
. If I could have the option to hide the Project Roles
table out of sight to avoid confusion, thatโd be great.