Advanced Column Settings for Data Sources

Advanced Column Settings for Data Sources

To help control how the Data Source filters and rows display across your apps, our platform provides advanced column configuration functionality. This functionality is accessed via the Data Sources -> Rows page in the secure website; simply click on the “cog” icon seen next to each column heading to open the Advanced Column Settings dialog.

The dialog contains powerful options such as:

Referring Data Source
This property lets you specify another Data Source containing a set of possible values that can appear in this column when filtering based on the column on a Listing Screen (List of Data) or Mapping Screen. When you define a Referring source, all Listing and Mapping Screens in the app based on the data source will automatically display the referring Data Source's values in column 0 as a drop-down list of options instead of a text entry field when the user is filtering based on this column.

For this to work, the Listing or Mapping Screen must have the property enabled to Allow User to Filter by Column:

When the app user then filters based on the column with the Referring Source defined, they will see the values in that data source's column 0 as possible choices, without having to type in any text:

This provides a more cohesive user experience and is a faster, more error-free way for users to define their own filters on both Listing and Mapping screens.

See also:
Showing Data Source Rows on a Map (Mapping Screens)

Conditional Display Rules
This opens up a new level of display customization for Data Source row values. You can define rules that make column values appear in different colors and text styles based on a formula result. For example, you might have a Status column that has three possible values – Good, Bad and Ugly.  Defining rules for these will let you display those Status values in different colors to emphasize their meanings. These rules can be leveraged on your app in the following areas:

  • Mapping screens
    Colors the map pins displayed, provided you have set your rules column as the Conditional Pin Color property in the Mapping screen designer.
  • Listing screens
    Colors the column text displayed, assuming you have the rules column set as one of the row display positions in the Listing screen designer.
  • Forms screen
    Specifically within Choices fields that are set to display vertically and using the List of Choices display style property in the Form designer. The rules target column must also be set as one of the default display positions, which is configured via the Settings page of your Data Source.


    • Related Articles

    • Advanced Column Settings

      To help control how the Data Source filters and rows display across your apps, our platform provides advanced column configuration functionality. This functionality is accessed via the Data Sources -> Rows page in the secure website; simply click on ...
    • Best Practices- Data Sources

      When using data sources, there are efficient and inefficient ways of structuring, binding, and storing your data. However, we'll focus on efficient usage by establishing a few basics, how to structure your data, and best practices for specific ...
    • Data Source Settings

      Basic, App Functionality, Advanced, and Connector options can be configured on the Data Source Settings page. Accessed by clicking on the Settings link when hovering over a data source on the Data Source page, or when viewing the rows of a data ...
    • Editing Settings and Rows

      To add rows to a Data Source, you can either upload a CSV-formatted spreadsheet or a standard Excel spreadsheet or else manually add items using the Add Row link. NOTE that for data to be entered into the data source, it is highly recommended to ...
    • SQL Server Data Source Connector

      After adding and authenticating an SQL Server Connection, you can add Form Connectors to push data to a database or pull data from a database using Data Source Connectors. Our platform lets you quickly and easily connect your data sources to a SQL ...