Array column using data editor columns

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1

I have a sequence of columns in the google sheet that form an array column in my data editor. Is there a way to create the sequence of columns in the data editor directly and have an array column formed out of them? (for performance purposes I prefer the editor directly)

Thanks

2

You bet. As long as they are of the same column type and are next to each other sequentially, it should work.

3

Thanks, any idea why these two don’t become an array?

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4

Because they’re GlideColumns and not basic columns.

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5

Yeah glide columns can’t become an array based on sequentially numbering them. Only columns that exist in the sheet. I wish you could, but it’s not an option. What you could do is create a template column that joins all the lookup columns with a comma (or any other) delimiter. Then use the split texts column to split that template column into an array.

Also gonna throw a request in here that I really wish we could access the individual array items in a Split Texts column, like we can with a sheet array. It would be an awesome way to split a formatted date column to get separate date and time values to use in separate components.

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6

Thanks so much!

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7

Split date to columns would be brilliant! How would you name the columns, though? Would it just be whatever the column name is 1,2 and 3?

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8

I’m not sure. I’ve thought about that, but I’m sure the dynamic length of the array could make it pretty complicated. So if you have 3 array items and you are trying use ‘SplitArray 5’ in a component, then I suppose you would just get a blank as a result, but I don’t know how you would pick a specific array position from a dynamic length array. It’s not like Glide could provide us with an infinite list of array items, or even 100 or 1000, when trying to select an individual array item for a text component.

This makes most sense when each array item position is predetermined, which probably wasn’t the original intention of Split Texts, but like in my case, it would be awesome for splitting date and time into separate values that can be placed in separate components. Right now you’d have to use a sheet formula to duplicate the date so you can format it separately in Glide (one as date only and one as time only).

Really any CSV style value in a cell that comes from a template or user input, were the positions are predetermined. I’m sure there could be a lot of specific use cases.

But, yeah, I’m not sure what would be the best way for Glide to present that option to us. Maybe let us select a Split Texts column for a single value component, but also prompt us for an array position as well???

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