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Mike's avatar
Mike
Qrew Member
5 years ago

How Can I hide invoice fields when blank??

I have forms that have SEVERAL items & options on them.  So if a client buys 1 item, the invoice is just this gigantic list of categories (fields) with 1 thing filled out.  Can anybody help me figure out how to set it up so it acts like a receipt??  

If you bought a pack of gum at the drug store, the receipt has "gum $1.00" -- THAT'S what I'm looking for and desperately need to set up.  Not the giant long list of drug store items you COULD'VE bought.  Do I need to set up a pipeline to do this, or CAN I at least??

Any help would be life saving, I'm kind of freaking out!  I have a deadline in a couple days.  :(  :(  :(

Thank you so much!

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Michael Brumfield
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  • MarkShnier__You's avatar
    MarkShnier__You
    Icon for Qrew Legend rankQrew Legend
    5 years ago
    Typically in the proper design of an app you will have a parent child relationship. That means that one invoice will have many line items. So that way the users will add the line items that they need as a trial table and those children will display on the parent form. 

    It is unusual to have a company where there are so few different SKUs sold that you can actually list every possible SKU write on the invoice. 

    But if you do not want to re-design your app or in your use case it is appropriate to literally list every SKU on the form then the easy solution is to have two different forms.  

    Do you have more than one form there is a setting that comes up called forms usage and you can send a different form to be used in View and Edit and Add. 

    The ADSD and Edit form would be your complete form.

    But the view form would have dynamic form rules. In fact it would have a bunch of them.  

    Fortunately when you make a dynamic form or you can copy it.

    So Rule 1 will be 

    When Qty Item 1 equal zero
    Action
    Hide Item 1
    Hide Qty Item 1
    Hide Price Item 1
    Hide extended price Item 1.
    be sure to check the somewhat hidden checkbox at the bottom of he form rule to collase space on hidden fields.

    Your rule number one done perfectly then you can copy it and change everything to refer to item 2.

    However before you dig the hole deeper reconsider whether it would be better to design your app "properly quote and have the users add child records one by one for the items they need. The problem with your solution is that does not seem scalable as the number of SKUs grows.  

    Problem with your approach is that sales analysis will be brutally difficult. That is because you do not have a dedicated table of line item so as soon as you turn around and say you want a sales report by item you will be not able to do that at all.  

    Just point out once again that not having a child table for items is quite unusual and while not necessarily wrong you need to know what you're doing and not just accidentally do it that way only to realize a month from now that you regret that choice and now have to tear apart the app to rebuild it.

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    Mark Shnier (YQC)
    Quick Base Solution Provider
    Your Quick Base Coach
    http://QuickBaseCoach.com
    mark.shnier@gmail.com
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    • Mike's avatar
      Mike
      Qrew Member
      5 years ago
      Wow, I cannot thank you enough for your response, Mark!  You've given me hope!!  I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make this possible, whether I have to rebuild it or what.  Although, the quickbase people helping me build my app have probably done it correctly, I just sort of ran into this and it freaked me out.

      I used "items" and "receipt" as sort of a metaphor, but we're actually a painting company.  I just didn't know how else to express correctly what it is I/we need for our invoices/estimates/contracts.  But same concept:  You have rooms to choose from along with room options (bedroom (which bedroom), living room (high ceilings or not), bathroom (which floor, which bathroom), family room, etc), then each room has several options which have options within them (walls (how many, how much), doors, trim, etc).

      So we need the invoice to be like:

      Bedroom Master  Walls Included $200 Trim baseboards Included $100. Total= $300
      Livingroom HighCeilings Walls Included $150 Window Frames Not Included $45 Total= $150
      TOTAL: $450

      Does that make sense?  In other words, I do not need the field names in columns like a table, I just need the answers to the form fields listed by themselves.

      We have the items in a child table, and the items chosen show up on the parent table in a report that is a table with every single field item listed.  

      Sorry for the trouble & I can't thank you enough for responding.

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      Michael Brumfield
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