Forum Discussion

JeffRohan's avatar
JeffRohan
Qrew Cadet
4 years ago

URL fields

Our users need to quickly scan the url fields but in edit mode the URL field type is very small and there is no way to change the width of the field itself.

I have a complicated setup to deal with this which is:
URL field is read-only
checkbox "edit" which opens up a Text field
if Text field is empty webhook sets it to the value of the URL field
User can now edit the value of the URL text field.
Now I need someway of converting the text field to a URL so that I can write it back into the URL field

1.  Why is the URL field not able to be modified for width
2. How do I convert a text field into URL (no, URLEncode does not work)
3. We use the QB apis to write this URL field and read it back out for other purposes, is a potential solution to create it initially as a Text field (in which case it cannot be used as a link)

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Jeff Rohan
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Tables and fields
  • QuickBaseJunkie's avatar
    QuickBaseJunkie
    Qrew Captain
    4 years ago
    Hi Jeff, 

    Would it be easier to make the URL field a Formula URL fild that looks at the text field?

    No special treatment in the formula is needed for it to show the text field as a URL. Just the URL text field itself.

    You could then use the checkbox to just show/hide the URL Text box using form rules.

    Let me know what you think about that approach.


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    Sharon Faust (QuickBaseJunkie.com)
    Founder, Quick Base Junkie
    https://quickbasejunkie.com
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    • JeffRohan's avatar
      JeffRohan
      Qrew Cadet
      4 years ago
      Thank you for the quick response.  

      The problem with that approach is that the Formula - URL and Formula -Text fields cannot be edited.  
      Also, I added a checkbox to enable edit.  When the form opens the URL field is read-only and clickable.  When the user checks the checkbox (to edit to fix a mistake) the field width is half the size of the url length, but they can scroll over.  Then when they uncheck the box it goes back to read-only and they can see the whole thing.  However, now the URL is unclickable.  I do not think this will affect the other aspects of the application (web hooks, apis) that read and write to the URL field.  The solution to that problem is to have a Formula - URL field below it.  Also, the Formula - TXT field functions the same as a Formula - URL field.  

      Not ideal but it kind of works.  I should probably put in a suggestion to have the URL field updated so that its length can be adjusted.  But again if edited it seems like it becomes a text field and cannot be clicked a link

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      Jeff Rohan
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      • QuickBaseJunkie's avatar
        QuickBaseJunkie
        Qrew Captain
        4 years ago
        I don't think my suggestion was clear. You will have 3 fields...

        Field 1: URL-Formula using Field 2 in the formula
        Field 2: Text with desired input box length
        Field 3: Checkbox

        Field 2 is used to populate & edit the URL, Field 1 is used to access the URL as a link.

        Field 3 is used on the form to show/hide Field 2 for editing.

        This is also beneficial because the URL-Formula will always be clickable in either edit or view modes.

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        Sharon Faust (QuickBaseJunkie.com)
        Founder, Quick Base Junkie
        https://quickbasejunkie.com
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