I am trying to utilize the “choice” component to provide answer options to be stored in specific columns. For some reason, unlike “number entry” or other components I have tried, when I use the column as the “title” under the “design” tab, it produces the value of the cell in the column instead or the text of the column header.
The only way around this is to manually type in a “custom” title, but I need it to be automatically drawn from the title of the column in order for the app to function.
Is this a bug or is there a way to make this work?
I’m not sure I understand. By default when you add a new component, the title will default to the text of the column heading of whichever column the component is writing to. However, you can override and type in a custom title if you choose. If you specifically choose a an actual column as the source for your title, instead of just text, then it pulls in the value from that specific column cell. Not the heading. This is to allow some user’s to have a dynamically changing title it they choose.
I think you may be misunderstanding how the title work. Typing in the title manually will work just fine. When you add new components, it usually prepopulates with the column title. Don’t choose a column value as the source of the title if you don’t want it to dynamically changed based on the value in that column in that row.
Thanks for taking a stab at an answer. I’m following along with you but for some reason, my app does not seem to behave in the way that you suggest that it should. I recorded my screen to show you what is occuring.
what are the values in that column? it looks like the value is 0, and it displays 0… so everything looks good for me, unless you think it should display column title, then you misunderstand how it works
That’s a little difficult to follow, but after watching it a couple of times it looks like you’re doing exactly what Jeff suggested you might be doing…
So I guess then my question is, How can I make the text above the choices display the text of the column header automatically without needing to manually type it in?
repeat the column title in the first row of that column and use a single value column to copy down this text to another column where you will get your choice title
Thank you! This may just be the workaround that I’m looking for! And now it will update automatically when a column header is changed on my backend google sheet too, I think!
Ok, almost have it now. Except… why am I not able to select the “single lookup” row for my title of the “choice” picker on the “Add Form” section of the app builder? The “3 dot” selection is not there for this.
An Add form is not connected to any specific row, so there is no way to select a column value as the source of your component title. An Edit Form or Details screen can pull values from a source column because they are attached to an existing row. The Add Form is there to add a brand new row, so there is no underlying data to pull from.
Ok that makes sense. Thanks for sticking with me as more of a novice. I think that I can auto-populate rows on the google spreadsheet such and set them to only be visible when I want them to be visible, and then just have the user “edit” instead of needing to “add” a new row themselves
To be honest, do your headings change that often that all of these workarounds become easier than just typing in the title that you want? I mean, there are use cases for dynamic titles, but I feel that it’s rare. For me, my column heading names are mostly internal and I create them in a sort of coded way (as short as possible, but still readable) that lets me create column groupings, and/or indicate the type of column based on the naming convention I use. My column headings are mostly used internally and not seen by the user in their raw form. In most cases I give my component titles a friendlier name compared to what my actual column heading is named. In your case, it just seems like a lot of extra work for something that could be manually typed in if needed. Like I mentioned earlier, usually, if the title is left untouched and you change the attached column, then the heading will change as wll. Once your override it with your own text, then it sticks. Maybe the choice component is acting differently in regards to this, or your long heading names are causing it to not switch for some reason. In any case, you can type whatever you want directly into the title. But I think if your column headings are changing all the time, then maybe it should be considered if your database is laid out efficiently. In most cases, column headings shouldn’t change much once they are established.
