We manage a vehicle fleet and to make it easy for non-technical staff to add vehicles, I have created simplified interface forms with just the necessary fields (and some optional ones). This is great for adding one at a time, however often we will be adding multiple of the same vehicle. being comfortable with large sets of data myself, it's easy enough to just duplicate the record mulitple times in a grid view, however for users not comfortable with a grid view, is there a way for me to add a dropdown or number field or something to my interface form that will create a number of duplicates equal to the number provided in the dropdown/number field? Or is there another simple way to generate duplicate records? Thanks for any help in advance!
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Create duplicate records with interface form
+3Best answer by Dan_Montoya
The interface could be done with a single select field that had the possible number of vehicles one person can add (0-10). When the user selects that number, the automation would run that would create that number of vehicles. At the end of the automation, the last step would be to reset the single select field back to 0.
Using this approach you would need the following fields
- Requested Vehicles to add - Single select. Values 0 - 10
- Vehicles left to Add - Formula field - {requested vehicles to add} - 1
The automation triggers on when {requested vehicles to add} changes and is not 0. (This is risky though. If someone accidentally changes the value the automation will run that many times. That is why I chose a two factor method in my original reply.). The automation makes the copy and at the end copies {vehicles left to add} to {requested vehicles to add}. This will trigger the automation to run again. *** This method does not account for 2 people trying to create duplicate vehicles at the same time ***
+28Hmm...the simplest way would be with a script I think. A scriptless workaround would be:
1. Create a dropdown / number field
2. Create a formula field that'll output one comma separated item per step of that dropdown/number field
- E.g. If the dropdown has a value of "5", the formula field outputs "1, 2, 3, 4, 5"
- This does mean you'll have to hardcode it, but I can't imagine you'll ever be adding say, 30 of the same vehicle at once, and even up to 100 the formula's easy enough to write
3. Create a multiple select field
4. Create an automation that'll trigger when the Interface form is submitted, and its action will be to paste the value from the formula field into the multiple select field
- This enables you to use the multiple select field as a repeating group in your automation
5. Add a "Find Record" action to your step to find the record that you just updated
6. Use that "Find a Record"'s multiple select field value as a repeating group
7. Add a "Create Record" step to duplicate the initial submission
Should work! You can also create a table where each record represents one number, and have a multiple select field in that table with the appropriate number of options instead of the formula + update record action I mentioned above. We're just looking for weird ways to use repeating groups, really, so whatever works works
Lemme know if you could use an example!
+17@TheTimeSavingCo and @wilkie -- This sounded like an interesting problem. I've added this feature into the book base that I've used in other examples here.
I use a checkbox and a number field.
I use two fields so that an automation isn't accidentally triggered when the first digit of a 2 digit number is entered in the how many field.
In the base, I used 3 fields:
- checkbox - create more books from this author
- number - how many books to create
- formula - how many books left to create - This is a simple formula that subtracts 1 from the how many books to create field
The automation checks to make sure that the number of books is > 0 and the box is checked. Then create a new record with the author of the book triggered the automation. If the number left to create is 0 then clear the checkbox.
You should be able to access the Titles base here
+28Dan_Montoya wrote:
@TheTimeSavingCo and @wilkie -- This sounded like an interesting problem. I've added this feature into the book base that I've used in other examples here.
I use a checkbox and a number field.I use two fields so that an automation isn't accidentally triggered when the first digit of a 2 digit number is entered in the how many field.
In the base, I used 3 fields:
- checkbox - create more books from this author
- number - how many books to create
- formula - how many books left to create - This is a simple formula that subtracts 1 from the how many books to create field
The automation checks to make sure that the number of books is > 0 and the box is checked. Then create a new record with the author of the book triggered the automation. If the number left to create is 0 then clear the checkbox.
You should be able to access the Titles base here
Oh woah, this is great! Thank you very much for sharing this
I couldn't figure out how you were doing the count, but once it clicked I was like woah
This is going to come in really handy!!
+3In theory @Dan_Montoya I could use a dropdown as suggested by @TheTimeSavingCo, or a field as you have done, and have the validation be done on that the dropdown/field isn't 0 in the same way you have used a checkbox? Want to keep the UI as simple as possible where I can 😅
+28wilkie wrote:
In theory @Dan_Montoya I could use a dropdown as suggested by @TheTimeSavingCo, or a field as you have done, and have the validation be done on that the dropdown/field isn't 0 in the same way you have used a checkbox? Want to keep the UI as simple as possible where I can 😅
Hmm I'm finding it hard to visualize what you're saying, sorry. For what it's worth, I'd go with Dan's option as it's far easier to setup than mine and both options would requirey ou to have 3 new fields I think
+17The interface could be done with a single select field that had the possible number of vehicles one person can add (0-10). When the user selects that number, the automation would run that would create that number of vehicles. At the end of the automation, the last step would be to reset the single select field back to 0.
Using this approach you would need the following fields
- Requested Vehicles to add - Single select. Values 0 - 10
- Vehicles left to Add - Formula field - {requested vehicles to add} - 1
The automation triggers on when {requested vehicles to add} changes and is not 0. (This is risky though. If someone accidentally changes the value the automation will run that many times. That is why I chose a two factor method in my original reply.). The automation makes the copy and at the end copies {vehicles left to add} to {requested vehicles to add}. This will trigger the automation to run again. *** This method does not account for 2 people trying to create duplicate vehicles at the same time ***
+3Hey @Dan_Montoya I see the value in the two factor, so have added it in! I have built the automation and it seems to work:
My fields are: Create Multiple Vehicles (Checkbox), Additional Vehicles (Number), Remaining Duplicates to Create (Formula: {Additional Vehicles}-1). I set up the automation to watch the Additional Vehicles field, and after each run it copies Remaining Duplicates to Create into Additional Vehicles:
I use the form to create a record (during which I check-on the Create Multiple Vehicles on the form and fill in Additional Vehicles with a number before saving). The automation doesn't seem to fire though, and only does as expected when I manually change the Additional Vehicles field, it doesn't seem to fire on record creation. Not sure why?
+17Please show your "when" statement. By chance did you select a view there?
+3I tried it with both, currently it is not watching a particular view, just a field (additional vehicles). Maybe that's why it's not firing, because the field is created and that's not a "change" as it never existed prior?
+17wilkie wrote:
Hi @Dan_Montoya, just wondering if my "when" statement provided any extra clues?
Hi @wilkie , the automation only runs when an existing record is updated not when a record is created. When I built the sample I was copying an existing record type not creating a new type. So you could use your form to create one, then update the record to trigger copies. Or you could try changing the when to be “when a condition exists” and the condition being the check and remaining cars to build > 0.
+13Hi all, Hannes from the miniExtensions team here!
I just wanted to add that our advanced form provides a super easy way to simply copy the data from a user's form submission to a fresh form, allowing them to easily generate another record based on the same data they just entered, where they could either submit an exact duplicate or make adjustments to certain data (e.g. license plate, VIN etc. in this particular example) before submitting. This feature also provides a formula for creating a button in Airtable to use the current record as the foundation for a new form submission!
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