Aside from simply specifying the data type and position of a Data Source column, we provide more advanced options which influence how rows will display in various screens and filtering scenarios.
To help control how the Data Source filters and rows display across your apps, our platform provides advanced column configuration functionality. This functionality is accessed via the Data Sources -> Rows page in the secure website; simply click on the “cog” icon seen next to each column heading to open the Advanced Column Settings dialog.
The dialog contains powerful options such as:
Referring Data Source
This property lets you specify another Data Source containing a set of possible values that can appear in this column when filtering based on the column on a Listing Screen (List of Data) or Mapping Screen. When you define a Referring source, all Listing and Mapping Screens in the app based on the data source will automatically display the referring Data Source's values in column 0 as a drop-down list of options instead of a text entry field when the user is filtering based on this column.
For this to work, the Listing or Mapping Screen must have the property enabled to Allow User to Filter by Column:
When the app user then filters based on the column with the Referring Source defined, they will see the values in that data source's column 0 as possible choices, without having to type in any text:
This provides a more cohesive user experience and is a faster, more error-free way for users to define their own filters on both Listing and Mapping screens.
See also:
Showing Data Source Rows on a Map (Mapping Screens)
Conditional Display Rules
This opens up a new level of display customization for Data Source row values. You can define rules that make column values appear in different colors and text styles based on a formula result. For example, you might have a Status column that has three possible values – Good, Bad and Ugly. Defining rules for these will let you display those Status values in different colors to emphasize their meanings. These rules can be leveraged on your app in the following areas:
- Mapping screens
Colors the map pins displayed, provided you have set your rules column as the Conditional Pin Color property in the Mapping screen designer. - Listing screens
Colors the column text displayed, assuming you have the rules column set as one of the row display positions in the Listing screen designer. - Forms screen
Specifically within Choices fields that are set to display vertically and using the List of Choices display style property in the Form designer. The rules target column must also be set as one of the default display positions, which is configured via the Settings page of your Data Source.
Another specific example of this is coloring a Date/Time data source column based on the relationship of the date value to the user's date and time. You may add different conditional display rules, each with a different color and each with a different formula, that colors the data differently depending how the date in the column compares to today's date. If you want the display color to be yellow if the date is 1 day away from today, you could choose a yellow color use the formula DATEDIFF({{this}}, now(), ‘DD’) > 1. If you want dates greater 2 days away to be red, choose red and write DATEDIFF({{this}}, now(), ‘DD’) > 2. See below:
