Does anyone have any suggestions for simple ways to either display or link to a File Attachment on a parent record within the child record?We have a parent table of procedures, which has a file attachment field of documentation. We have a child table of issues, where the resolution could be to select one of our common procedures to follow from a drop down list of all procedure records.I would like to do this so the file attachment can be accessed directly from the child record without increasing the number of clicks from linking to procedures then into the file attachment or making a many to many relationship between the table and having to have extra steps to set up the links in the first place.

I've created an example app in Exchange - called "Example - Lookup File Attachment through Many-to-Many Relationship". You can find it here: https://www.quickbase.com/db/main?a=AppDetail&ID=1439&app_name=Example%20-%20Lookup%20File There are 3 tables:- Procedures - with a File Attachment field- Issues- Resolutions - the intermediate table in the many-to-many relationship between Procedures and Issues.The basic set up for a Many-to-Many relationship is detailed here:http://www.quickbase.com/user-assistance/Default.html#many_to_many_relationship.htmlYou cannot lookup a File Attachment field directly.To enable a lookup to the File Attachment field (in the Procedures table) - create a Formula Text field (called "File Attachment Link" here, with HTML tags enabled) with this formula: If ([File Attachment] = "", "","<a href='" & URLRoot() & "up/" & Dbid() & "/a/r" & [Record ID#] & "/e7/v0' target='_blank' >" & [File Attachment] & "</a>")Note the "e7" portion of the formula. The "7" refers to the Field ID of the File Attachment field. Modify accordingly for your own app.This "File Attachment Link" link field can now be looked up in the Resolution table, and also on the Issues table.In the example app - see that Procedure A is the Resolution for Issues 1 and 2 - with the same Document A accessible from both. Procedure B is the Resolution for Issue 3. Issue 4 is resolved by both Procedure A and Procedure B.The only real additional step in setting the relationship (on top of a normal many-to-many relationship) - is setting the File Attachment Link field. Once you have that - you can look it up normally.So once you're in the Issue, you press "Add Resolution", and select the Procedure. Then on the Issue, you can now see the File Attachment Link for that Procedure, which you can click directly to download the document. Hope this helps!

Did you use the Example app, or did you implement it on your own app?In the formula for the link (which should be in the same table as where the File Attachment is located):If ([File Attachment] = "", "","<a href='" & URLRoot() & "up/" & Dbid() & "/a/r" & [Record ID#] & "/e7/v0' target='_blank' >" & [File Attachment] & "</a>")Note the "e7" portion of the formula. The "7" refers to the Field ID of the File Attachment field. Modify accordingly for your own app.I suspect that the field with fid = 7 - is not the File Attachment field in your app. Replace the "e7" with "e[fid]" - where [fid] is the fid for your File Attachment field.

Can two separate child records (Issues) be pointing to the same parent record (Procedures)? Or in other words - can Procedure A be the resolution for both Issue B and Issue C? (EDIT: a 1-to-many relationship should be sufficient here: One Procedure has many Issues).If one Issue can have multiple Procedures, you'll need a many-to-many relationship - between Procedures and Issues. (EDIT: to clarify when you'd need a many-to-many relationship).There may well be some tricky and clever ways to set this up - but I think you'd be going to a bunch of effort to avoid the most straightforward way - which is a many-to-many relationship.

Yes, we could have multiple children pointing to the same parent. I had considered a many to many but that adds additional steps in the establishment of the relationship and there might as well be an extra step in finding the documentI was thinking if there was some way to get the URL of a specific field I could pass that down as a lookup field and use that.

Thank you very much, your bit of code has enabled me to do exactly what I needed to do without all the extra steps from using Many to Many relationships!The Formula Text field can be brought through as a lookup field into the child table.

File Attachment field as Lookup Field

17 Replies

XavierFan
Qrew Cadet
9 years ago
Good to hear!
MichaelHalbrein
Qrew Cadet
6 years ago
I am trying to do this exact thing. The problem I seem to be having is that for some reason my actual record ID # and the file attachment URL ID don't match. Where you have e7 matching record 7, I have "rb" matching to record 1. And "rc" matching record 2. For some reason the record ID does not match my file attachment URL, so if I insert [Record ID #] I get an error. If I remove this and insert the "rb" or the "rc" etc., then it works. But this doesn't work overall because I need to associate each record with each file attachment. How can I do this? Is there a formula to use [Record ID] to change to the appropriate letter?
QuickBaseCoachD
Qrew Captain
6 years ago
Let�s start at the beginning. Make the formula field that Xavier suggested. Make sure it works on the same table where the file attachment is. Then use that field as a lookout.

If you can�t get your formula to work I need help with that then please post your formula.
MichaelHalbrein
Qrew Cadet
6 years ago
this is what I have entered into my formula for the url-formula field:

If ([Attached Form] = "", "",
"<a href='" & URLRoot() & "up/" & Dbid() & "/a/r" & [Record ID#] & "/e8/v0' target='_blank' >" & [Attached Form] & "</a>")

[Attached Form] is the document link in the record. and the Field ID for that is 8. When I click the link I get the following error:

This site can�t be reached
%3Ca%20href%3D%27https�s server IP address could not be found.
It seems like a simple syntax error I am missing?
- PaulPaul1
  Qrew Trainee
  6 years ago
  I've just checked your syntax against mine which is working, and the only difference is that I'm using /e9/v0 rather than /e8/v0.
MichaelHalbrein
Qrew Cadet
6 years ago
FYI: I don't see an "HTML tags enabled" box when i create the Text-Formula or the URL-Formula
QuickBaseCoachD
Qrew Captain
6 years ago
The field type for your field needs to be formula rich text. Your formula field is likely formula URL

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File Attachment field as Lookup Field

17 Replies

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