Creating & Managing Fields

What are fields‌?

Fields contain specific types of data that describe an item.

For instance, "Name", "Email Address", "Phone Number", and "Date of Birth" are fields you may use to define a person. Each field, or each detail of information, represents one identifying detail about a person and when grouped together, the values within each field form a full description, or record, of one actual person.

In Tadabase, a group of common fields define a data table. For instance, a data table of Orders may contain fields including Order ID Number, Order Date, Quantity, etc. The values stored within each field represent one piece of information about each order, and all field values grouped together form a record of one particular order. In your application, each order would be viewed as a record and a data table of Orders would store multiple records of individual orders.

It may be helpful to think of fields as similar to columns in a spreadsheet. Tadabase structures data with data tables, fields, and records, similarly to how spreadsheets structure data with spreadsheets, columns, and rows. Just as like columns define a spreadsheet and the values within each column come together to form a row, common fields define a data table and the values stored within each field come together to form a record.

Field Types

All Fields

Field types refer to the type of data contained within each field, and each field type comes with its own unique set of features and functionality.

When adding new fields, choosing the correct field type is critical in unlocking your application's full functionality. For instance, using a date field type will allow you to filter your data with complex date formulas and calendar component functionality whereas a number field type will not. Similarly, choosing an email field type rather a text field type for an email address field is critical in unlocking powerful email functionality, such as sending automated emails from your app.

Tadabase offers a variety of field types to accommodate nearly any type of data type you would like to store. The Add Field Menu located on top of each data table divides all fields into seven field type categories:

🔗 Click here to learn more in depth about all the field types and their settings.

Adding fields

To add a field, click on the Fields tab and select the type of field you would like to add:

 

Editing fields

Step 1: To edit a field, simply click on the field name on the column heading.

Alternatively, you can edit fields within the Fields tab of the selected data table's navigation menu. Select the field you wish to edit, and you will see a pop-up with options.

Step 2: How to Edit Fields

Alternatively, you can edit fields within the Fields tab of the selected data table's navigation menu. Select the field you wish to edit, and you will see a pop-up with options.

Connection Fields

Step 1: Click on Add New to connection fields.

Click on Add New to connection fields.

Step 2 : Select to Create a Connection table

Select to Create a Connection table

Step 3 : Steps to Create a Connection

• Select the Data Table to Connect
• In the "Products Data Table connects to" section, choose the data table you want to connect to (in this case, "Products").
• Choose the Display Field
• In the "Display Field" dropdown, select the field from the connected table that you want to display (e.g., "Product Name").
• Specify the Name
• In the "Name" field, enter a name for the connection (e.g., "Product").
• Add a Description (Optional)
• You can add a description in the "Description" field to provide more context about the connection.
• Save the Connection
• Click the "Save" button at the bottom of the screen to save the connection.

Reordering Fields

Click and Drag the Field

You can rearrange fields within the Fields tab of the selected data table's navigation menu. Simply click on the drag icon of the field you would like to rearrange and drag the field to your desired order location.

Reordering fields will not change the order of fields in existing forms or other components within the page builder but will change the default order for new pages in the page builder going forward.

Changing Field Types

Step 1: Accessing the Fields Tab

If you would like to change a field's type from one type to another, you can do so within the Fields tab of the data table's navigation menu. Click on one of your fields in the Fields tab, then click the drop down as seen in #2 and select an option.

Step 2: Changing the Field Type

Not all field types can be changed. Field types can only be changed to another type within the same field type category.

It is recommended to take some time to plan out your fields and their necessary field types before you begin the process of creating fields as this will help you choose the correct field types from the beginning and avoid having to change field types as your app progresses. This is recommended because changing your field types can result in negative effects on your existing fields as well as on your application overall. For instance, if you change a Rich Text HTML field to a Text field, you will likely see all the HTML tags as plain text within your fields.

Deleting fields

Step 1: Accessing and Selecting the Field to Delete

To delete a field, click on one of your fields located in the Field tab and select the Delete Field button. Once a field is deleted, you cannot undo this delete.

Deleting a field will remove all the values that are part of that field. For instance, if you delete an Email field, all email addresses contained within this field will be deleted across all records.

Step 2: Deleting the Field

Fields cannot be deleted when they are being used as the Connection Display Field within another table. For instance, if you have a connection from the Jobs table to the Customers table and the display field is "Customer Name", you cannot delete the Customer Name field as it is currently being used as the connection display field within another table. To successfully delete this field, you must first change the connection display field to another field.

If you delete a connection field that is being used in your app, the automatic relationship will be removed as well. For example, if you have a form that adds a connected record and the connection field is deleted, the form will still function however the record will no longer be auto-connected.

Limitations