Forum Discussion

AlexGale's avatar
AlexGale
Qrew Captain
6 years ago

Make a multiple choice record conditional on other information

I have a multiple choice record with about 50 choices right now. It is very clunky to use, obviously. However, I have found that most of these choices fall under certain categories. 

Is there any way to select a category, and then select a choice based on the options that fall under that category? Maybe if all the choices contain the category name in them or something? 

I realize this is a bit open ended. Any other suggestions to improve this workflow would be appreciated. 

Thanks

7 Replies

  • I suggest searching for help on Conditional drop down https://help.quickbase.com/user-assistance/conditional_dropdowns.html


    Make a table of choices.  You would need to populate the choices table by copying the choices from the multiple choice field and importing off the clip board into the choices table and then set the key field of the choices table to be the text choice value.  Add a field for the category.

    Typically, this is set up by having a table of categories (I suggest a Key field of the category).  That way it would be easier to maintain going forward. So then you would make a relationship where 1 Category has many Choices and then assign the Choices to a category in grid edit.

    Make a relationship where a Category has many Records.

    Make a Relationship where 1 Choice has Many records - the actual record in your table.  use your existing field for the reference field on the right side of the relationship.

    Then set the drop down field to be conditional that after the Category is selected, then limit the choices to one where the category matches the one chosen on the record.
    • AlexGale's avatar
      AlexGale
      Qrew Captain
      I'll try this out, thanks. I knew about conditional dropdowns, but since they were for reference fields it hadn't occurred to me to try them out in this situation.

      Your suggestions to streamline the process are welcome too. 
    • AlexGale's avatar
      AlexGale
      Qrew Captain
      Having now actually done the process, the suggestions to make the process easier were more welcome than ever. Also, it seems to work great. Thanks a lot!
    • AlexGale's avatar
      AlexGale
      Qrew Captain
      I didn't think it was, because my thing isn't a reference field. Another poster had detailed a way to structure the whole thing as a series of reference fields though. 
  • Did you solve this without the usual conditional dropdown method? If yes, kindly update here. Because my requirement is similarly a simple set of categorical choices.

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    Chitharthan Manimaran
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    • BlakeHarrison's avatar
      BlakeHarrison
      Qrew Captain
      The best way to do this would be with each drop-down setup as a Table with relationships. This is really the only way to accomplish this.

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      Blake Harrison
      bharrison@datablender.io
      DataBlender - Quick Base Solution Provider
      Atlanta GA
      404.800.1702 / http://datablender.io/
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