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Re: Trouble displaying Custom Buttons in Airtable Interface

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UWTSAVITA
4 - Data Explorer
4 - Data Explorer

Hello Airtable community

I've been diligently working on a time-tracking solution in Airtable for a nonprofit organization. Inspired by a YouTube video from Dan Lehman, I aimed to craft a system where volunteers could easily log their hours during a program. The base setup was straightforward, but I've hit a roadblock when integrating custom buttons within the Airtable Interface.

Base Setup:

  • Table: "Time Logs".
  • Fields: Volunteer full name, VITA site (with options: El pueblo and Quincie), Certifications (with options: Basica and Advanced), Time In, Time Out, and Duration.

Functionality:

  • I implemented two button fields:
    1. "Start Time Tracking": Populates the "Time In" field with the current time.
    2. "End Time Tracking": Populates the "Time Out" field and calculates the duration.

Both buttons are linked to custom scripts to automate the time-tracking process.

Issue: Transitioning to the Airtable Interface to provide a streamlined experience, I've found a challenge. I added a List element to display records from the "Time Logs" table, but the custom buttons ("Start Time Tracking" and "End Time Tracking") seem elusive. Every attempt to directly integrate these button fields in the Interface returns: "this element cannot be used in this form."

Seeking Guidance:

  • Has anyone else faced similar challenges while trying to display custom buttons within an Airtable Interface?
  • Are there specific methods or workarounds to integrate these buttons effectively into the Interface?
  • Have there been recent updates or changes to the Interface feature that might affect this?

A shoutout to Dan Lehman's YouTube video for providing the initial inspiration. If anyone else has watched it and successfully replicated the process, I'd appreciate your insights.

Thank you for your assistance and guidance!

Here is Dan's video : Time Tracking in Airtable Interfaces | Client Showcase - YouTube

Here is Dan Lehmans setup that I would like to recreate : 

UWTSAVITA_0-1692209571615.png

 

Here is what my work currently looks like : 

UWTSAVITA_1-1692209571695.png

 

 

2 Replies 2
Joseph_Roza
8 - Airtable Astronomer
8 - Airtable Astronomer

It caught me off guard, too, but Button fields that are linked to the scripting block don’t work on interfaces. I watched Dan’s video. It’s likely he’s used interface buttons that link to automation scripts to get this done. 

Alternatively, if you don’t have access to scripts in automations, you could link an interface button to a checkbox field, connect that checkbox to a last modified time field, and have an automation watch both fields. When the checkbox is checked, have the automation copy the time from the last modified time field into another field and uncheck the checkbox field. You could then have a formula calculate the duration of time from Start to End. 

briannenshaw07
5 - Automation Enthusiast
5 - Automation Enthusiast

You should put this table on the universe, I've been looking for something almost identical!