Is there an alternative to form rules to hide/show sections of a form. Alternatively, is there a way to put one form inside another form. I have reached the limit of 40 fields in the form rules and need to add a few more sections.------------------------------Paul Peterson------------------------------

Just to be clear, the limit on dynamic form rules is that it has a limit of 40 different non-scalar fields being used in form rules. By that they mean not more than 40 different fields which are either either formula Fields or look up fields. There is no practical limit to the number of fields which can be used in form rules as long as they are scalar data entry fields and not formula or lookup fields, wich are limited to 40. I would suggest that the next step is to review the fields that are being used to see if you can eliminate the use of some look up fields. For example. If you have a relationship back to Company where the relationship is based on a field called Related Company, then the field Related Company is not to look up field. But the field Company is a lookup fields. If you change the form rule to instead use Related Company you will save yourself one of your precious fields of the limit of those 40.The next low hanging fruit can be to have a look at your formula fields to see if you have form rules that say depend on two or three formula fields. If that is the case perhaps you can make a new formula field that combines the calculation in those two or three fields and then you would be using one formula field which is more complicated as opposed to three different formula fields in your form rules.------------------------------Mark Shnier (YQC)Quick Base Solution ProviderYour Quick Base Coachhttp://QuickBaseCoach.commark.shnier@gmail.com------------------------------

Mark,Thank you for your suggestions. Let me explain the current issue, how I am currently attempting to handle the for and see what you think.There are currently 25 sections and more will be added shortly. Each of the sections needs to be shown/hidden based on 1 to 20+ conditions. I currently have a formula field for each section to determine if the section should be visible or not. This is further complicated by the fact that if the section was shown and is then hidden, some of the fields that were updated need to be changed. I hope this brief description explains the process.What are your suggestions?------------------------------Paul Peterson------------------------------

Without knowing what your use-case is, this seems a little overly complex for a single form. Have you considered breaking this up into multiple forms and using navigation buttons to direct the user to the next form?------------------------------Blake Harrisonbharrison@datablender.ioDataBlender - Quick Base Solution ProviderAtlanta GA404.800.1702 / http://datablender.io/------------------------------

Blake,I agree with your idea that this form is a more than a little complex. The form is in fact working with two different sets of users. But splitting the table into one for each would not resolve the issue as most of the sections involved are only associated with one of the two groups.------------------------------Paul Peterson------------------------------

Ok, so if it's mostly for determining which user group, splitting it into two forms would be ideal - assuming these user groups are setup as different Roles. This does not require you to split the Table. In the 'Forms' section for the table, make a copy of the form Update the names for each form with the name of one of the two user groups For each form, limit the fields / sections to only those that are applicable to the intended user group Back on the 'Forms' section for the table, open the 'Set how different roles use these forms' section at the bottom (see below) Assign your new forms to their respective user group ------------------------------Blake Harrisonbharrison@datablender.ioDataBlender - Quick Base Solution ProviderAtlanta GA404.800.1702 / http://datablender.io/------------------------------

Alternative to Form Rules | Qrew Discussions

14 Replies

MarkShnier__You
Qrew Legend
4 years ago
Just to be clear, the limit on dynamic form rules is that it has a limit of 40 different non-scalar fields being used in form rules. By that they mean not more than 40 different fields which are either either formula Fields or look up fields. There is no practical limit to the number of fields which can be used in form rules as long as they are scalar data entry fields and not formula or lookup fields, wich are limited to 40.

I would suggest that the next step is to review the fields that are being used to see if you can eliminate the use of some look up fields.

For example.

If you have a relationship back to Company where the relationship is based on a field called Related Company, then the field Related Company is not to look up field. But the field Company is a lookup fields. If you change the form rule to instead use Related Company you will save yourself one of your precious fields of the limit of those 40.

The next low hanging fruit can be to have a look at your formula fields to see if you have form rules that say depend on two or three formula fields. If that is the case perhaps you can make a new formula field that combines the calculation in those two or three fields and then you would be using one formula field which is more complicated as opposed to three different formula fields in your form rules.

------------------------------
Mark Shnier (YQC)
Quick Base Solution Provider
Your Quick Base Coach
http://QuickBaseCoach.com
mark.shnier@gmail.com
------------------------------
- PaulPeterson1
  Qrew Assistant Captain
  4 years ago
  Mark,
  
  Thank you for your suggestions. Let me explain the current issue, how I am currently attempting to handle the for and see what you think.
  
  There are currently 25 sections and more will be added shortly. Each of the sections needs to be shown/hidden based on 1 to 20+ conditions. I currently have a formula field for each section to determine if the section should be visible or not. This is further complicated by the fact that if the section was shown and is then hidden, some of the fields that were updated need to be changed. I hope this brief description explains the process.
  
  What are your suggestions?
  
  ------------------------------
  Paul Peterson
  ------------------------------
  - BlakeHarrison
    Qrew Captain
    4 years ago
    Without knowing what your use-case is, this seems a little overly complex for a single form. Have you considered breaking this up into multiple forms and using navigation buttons to direct the user to the next form?
    
    ------------------------------
    Blake Harrison
    bharrison@datablender.io
    DataBlender - Quick Base Solution Provider
    Atlanta GA
    404.800.1702 / http://datablender.io/
    ------------------------------
MichaelTamoush
Qrew Captain
4 years ago
The suggestions from Blake and Mark sound much cleaner, but if you must use dynamic rules, instead of having 25 formulas, one for each section, just have one long formula that says "if these conditions are true, "Show Section 1", if these conditions are true, "Show Section 2"....

Then in your form rules you just say, "If [Long Formula] = Show Section 1......"

I believe this means you are only using 1 of your 40 field limit (I'm assuming multiple instances of the same formula only count as 1 of your 40, if this isn't true then this wont work...)

------------------------------
Mike Tamoush
------------------------------
- PaulPeterson1
  Qrew Assistant Captain
  4 years ago
  Mike,
  
  I think your suggestion may be the closest to handling this situation. I could do most of what I need accomplish without relying on scalar fields. Thank you. I'm tied up on other parts of the app for today, but will revisit this in the morning. I'll let you know the results.
  
  ------------------------------
  Paul Peterson
  ------------------------------
  - PaulPeterson1
    Qrew Assistant Captain
    4 years ago
    Mike,
    
    I finally had a chance to try your suggestion and quickly remembered why I didn't use that method. I had tried that approach first but there is one simple reason that it will not work. You will get a warning if more than 1 trigger tries to modify the same field. The same section would appear in multiple categories.
    
    I'm using what Mark stated in the first reply to this post and working to restructure the form rules while minimizing the number of formula and lookup fields.
    
    Thank all of you for your ideas and suggestions!
    
    ------------------------------
    Paul Peterson
    ------------------------------

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Alternative to Form Rules

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