Data Builder & Tables

Transcript Summary

Introduction

Hey everybody, it's Sam here. In today's video, I'm going to show you everything you need to know about tables, building a table in the data builder, and how it relates to records, etc.

Starting with a Spreadsheet

To explain tables, I'll show you something familiar: a spreadsheet. Let’s say I have my company, Sam's Pizza, and I have a list of customers. I have a worksheet called "customers" with headers like first name, last name, street address, city, state, zip, country, phone number, and email. Under these headers is the actual customer data. Now, let me show you how this correlates to a data table.

Creating a Data Table

In Tadabase, go to the top where it says "Add Data Table" to create a new one. You can also add a table from a CSV, but I’ll show you how to do that later. For now, let's add a data table and call it "customers."

Best practice: always name your tables in the plural form because a table is a collection of fields that make up a group. So, this table will refer to all of our customers, while one record in the table would be a single customer.

You can quickly add fields from here, or later from the actual table itself. Let’s create the table, and you'll see we’ve now added "customers." We have fields like first name, last name, and we’ll add more fields such as address, city, state, zip, and country.

Adding and Editing Fields

You can add fields either from the table view or the fields tab. We’ll go more in-depth on field types in a later video, but for now, let’s match our spreadsheet by adding the address, phone number, and email fields. Once you save, these fields will show up.

Adding and Navigating Records

Now, let’s add a new record by clicking "Add New Record." I’ll use the customer data from the spreadsheet to make things easier. After inputting details like first name, last name, address, and phone number, we have our first record.

You’ll notice that only the first line of the address is showing. If you want to show more, you can adjust the row height from short to medium or tall. Now, we can see the entire address.

You can also hide fields by clicking "hide" next to specific ones, and this becomes more useful when you have many records. You can always show all the fields again if needed.

Filtering and Sorting Records

Let’s add another record to demonstrate filters. For example, if we want to filter by last name, we can choose the "contains" operator and type "Brown." This will only show records where the last name contains "Brown." You can save this view as "Brown," and it will appear at the top for quick access. You can clear filters and return to this saved view whenever needed.

Sorting is also possible by clicking on the column header. For instance, you can sort addresses from A to Z or Z to A, and you can save this view as well.

At the top, there’s a search bar that lets you search for specific records by entering keywords like a last name or address. You can resize columns as needed and access the fields directly by double-clicking them to make changes.

Navigating the Data Table

On the left-hand side, you’ll see the app’s name, and it shows your location in the app (e.g., the customers table and the records view). Clicking the app icon takes you back to the app list.

There’s also a dropdown menu that provides options like jumping to records, fields, rules, and settings. A useful feature here is "lock," which prevents others from editing the table when you’re working on it.

Settings Overview

In the settings tab, you can rename the table, add a description for your reference, and change the table icon. For example, you can choose a "people" icon to represent customers. You can also configure default table settings, such as the default display field (which will appear when connecting this table to another) and the default sort field.

Record tracking is another option that logs changes and deleted records. SEO settings are used for search engine optimization if you're publishing the app online.

When deleting a table, there’s an additional safeguard where you must type "delete" to confirm, preventing accidental deletions.

Adding a Table from CSV

Let’s now add a table from a CSV. I’m going to use a website called Mockaroo, which provides sample data. I’ve selected fields like first name, last name, address, city, state, zip code, country, phone number, and email. After downloading the CSV file, I’ll upload it to Tadabase.

Name the table "customers," and upload the CSV. Confirm that the CSV has headers and select the delimiter (comma). The upload screen will show each column name, and you can choose to include or exclude columns from the import. You can also define the field type for each column, such as text, address, or phone number.

Once you save, the table is created, and you can edit field names or types if needed.

Conclusion

I hope this video helped you understand how to create a data table from scratch, add records, and import data from a CSV. Stay tuned for the next video, where I’ll cover different field types in more detail.