Adding a lot of input fields to a form at once

Before I enter an editing slog I thought I would ask if there was a better way to do this.

I have a table (created from a multi-page pdf form via AI > csv - sweet**) with 203 fields that are all inputs for a form.

Trying to create a form in Glide for all these. Things I have tried…

Auto creating a form page - adding all of the fields

Works nicely, but many fields need to be changed to choice dropdowns. If I add a choice element, it goes to the bottom, and I can’t see an easy way to get it to the top (you can’t scroll the element list as you drag and drop). There are so many it is not going to work. Plus I really should split the fields up into sections for UX.

Also generally annoying is that Glide just picks the first few fields and you have to go through the whole list and select everything. Ther is no “select all”. Hmmm.

Auto creating multiple form pages - adding sections

Obviously, it works, but then I have the “Submit” button that I can’t get rid of. So would have multiple form sections, all with Submit Buttons. Which looks a bit weird. Maybe I can stitch the data together. Easier to manage the changing of the inputs as you don’t have to move them as far. Oh it would be so good if there was a way to default certain fields to be Choice not Text input.

Custom Form

From a UX perspective, this is the best way. I can create the table row in advance so progress is not lost (so no “submit” it saves as you go). Also I can have containers for the sections.

BUT I have to add all the fields one by one. And I am lazy.

Am I missing something? Or do I have to suck up the timesink and just add them properly to a Custom Form one by one?

**in case anyone else tries to do this, xlsx file upload didn’t work and just hung for 15 minutes. csv took a few seconds. So convert to csv !

Consider creating a separate table to store the default dropdown values categorized by levels or usages, related to your main table. When loading the form, you can use stored variables from tables or profiles to look up and populate the default values of dropdown, ensuring your form is complete.
When you load the form, you can use stored variables to search the default related table with lookUp to complete your form.

1 Main table (203 fields)
2 Table default selectors based with categories or use cases related to Main Table
3 Storing vars, User profiles or hidden values somewhere
Workflow?
On loading form link default table with default dropdown (step2) to fill
Form (<200 fiedls, many dropdown selectors have their default values from table(2))
Thinking… It’s easier said than done. Nice day

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Thanks !

Yes, I am going through the fields that have dropdowns and replacing the text input with choice.

It would be great if there was a way to tell the auto form to default in a Choice not a Text instead of having to add a new one (to the bottom) and move it into place and delete the old one.

Suspect I am pushing forms a little hard really.

This is a bit fiddly, but it’s doable. You need to first select the component you want to add it below, and then drag it from the Add Component fly out panel into place.

I would recommend grouping related input components into containers, and install the below chrome extension. That will make it a bit easier to manage.

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How have I missed this :joy:

Thanks.

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Although it doesn’t appear to work with Container. It looks like it should - you get the blue insert line.

The only way to add a container is to add it to bottom, and then you can’t move it up.

Which makes everything quite complicated as the “grouping related input components into containers” idea won’t work?

Dunno, again maybe I missing something. Seems very poorly thought out.