u/DrakeMallard919

I think I have a solution to this, but I want to be sure I'm on the right track (and not missing something simpler / obvious).

For the purposes here, I've got two tables. One is "Checklists". Each just has a name (and an auto-generated ref-list). The second is "List Items". Each list item has a name and a ref to a checklist (isPartOf, etc.). This works fine. I'm using LINKTOFILTEREDVIEW when selecting a checklist to get a deck with only the "owned" items in that list. However, now I want to allow adding an item from that filtered view... From reading similar questions, it sounds like the usual answer is to add an action on the form-saved event that populates any fields. So, two questions:

1. Is that what I need to do? Also - the default form-saved event does a navigate-backwards. Do I need to keep forcing that to happen (eg, group action that does the field setting and then navigate back?).

2. I'm pretty sure I can't get the context information I need without extra trickery. This seems similar to the "set the view title for filtered views" problem, where I need to stash the checklist's name in a global per-user table, then fetch it in the sub-view's display title formula? Assuming I go through that, I can also use that same stashed value to populate the new item's checklist ref?

This is somewhat long, because I’m a software engineer, so I know the value of good requirements. TL;DR: I want a free/cheap platform for a low/no-code, database-backed app with 10-500 rows per table.

My wife and I have an RV. We track routine and one-time maintenance, as well as an inventory of everything in the RV. This started out as a few spreadsheet tabs, and has evolved to an AppSheet (backed by Google Sheets) application with a handful of tables. Each table has 5-10 properties. I’ve got several views of each table (various groupings and filters), plus a bunch of formatting rules to make things look nicer. I also have an images table, so I can upload images referenced by a particular task (e.g., the part of the roof that’s leaking), or standalone images (the cargo loading sticker, tire information, etc.) I’ve got an “audit” mode for inventory so we can easily swipe right/left on each item to indicate if they’re present or need to be restocked.

This all works pretty well, except for a few minor annoyances: First, the UI still feels dated and clunky. This isn’t a dealbreaker, but even with custom icons for menu navigation, it’s not the nicest. Second, mass updates are slow. For example, having an action that resets all checkboxes on a checklist table takes a while to propagate, because the app transmits each edit individually. I’ve designed around this lately, by using a “Last Reset” Date/Time, so I only need one edit to “uncheck” everything, but that’s cumbersome. Third - and most importantly - there’s no good way to reorder items. Drag and drop of table rows is completely unsupported, and code solutions to allow reordering (buttons that move an item up or down one slot) are fairly complex to implement.

I could keep working in AppSheet, but I wanted to survey other platforms and see if something else would work better. I tried Notion first, as that seemed like an obvious choice. First impressions were good, but performance was terrible. Clicking between different views of my 500-row, 7-property table takes 2-3 seconds. Coda looks interesting, but it sounds like their mobile app is very limited. Our primary interface is with our phones, as we’re often in the RV while we’re making changes.

I'm not interested in selling this to anyone else, so I'm looking for something free (or at least cheap). I'm not paying "enterprise" prices for something that I share with one other user.

What other platforms should I investigate? I don't strictly require no-code, I've got a couple decades of C++ experience, but I'd rather spend my time camping than implementing basic logic. 😄

I've hacked around this problem in another circumstance, but I don't like the solution (and it doesn't seem like it works with my preferred menu arrangement). Background: This is a personal app. I've got various tables, and views of those tables. In a few workflows, I have a need to run an action that modifies all rows of a given table. (Reset some status flag, for example).

I also use a pretty simple multi-tier menu based on some other examples. I have a menu table that lists each sub-view for each menu, and conditions on the menu views that select only the relevant rows. For some menus, I have images for each option (and use gallery views for those menus).

Previously, when I wanted to add the ability to reset all items on a checklist, I made the corresponding top-level action by tied to the Menu (not checklist) items, with a behavior expression that causes the action to be enabled only for the menu rows that navigate to the checklist feature. This works, except: I have to use "Deck" for that particular menu, and then enable the action bar. This looks like this: The little undo buttons on the four rows each trigger an action that manipulates all rows of the checklist table's data. (Those are actually different actions being shown, because the arrival and departure checklists are in different tables).

Now, I'd like to do the same thing, but keep the ability to have a gallery menu. I'd also be happy if I could get the reset button to appear *in* the actual list (checklist, etc...), without having to select an item, but I don't think that's possible. Is there any way to do this? There's so much flexibility, but it's really hard to get action buttons without the context of a particular row (other than Add, which is special). Also attached an example of the image-based menu, where the current solution doesn't work (because gallery doesn't include attached actions).

https://preview.redd.it/9upjqmcyb60h1.png?width=472&format=png&auto=webp&s=748a05cdf078c6a29e034ee37915e0d22ca1c1b2

https://preview.redd.it/g6750qsoc60h1.png?width=467&format=png&auto=webp&s=bc50713c7754f232912deb4e75bec6b0be2eb012