In-app filtering logic requires duplicative data - alternatives?

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1

Hi all,

I applied the solution recommended in this original question, where I was trying to simplify the in-app filter options for users in my app. However, this has meant duplicating data in new tabs, which means that even though I actually only have ~200 unique rows of data, because of the repetitive relations tables i end up having 500+ rows. I am currently on a free plan and don’t want to upgrade to pay $25 per month because the app I created is just for my own personal use. Does anyone have ideas on how to eliminate the duplicative rows but still accomplish simplified in-app filtering options?

Thank you in advance

2

Just from the other thread:

Can you explain or show how implementing that suggestion has resulted in duplicating your data?
That doesn’t sound right to me.

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3

Yep, your description does not make sense… to add filters, you need to add columns… not rows

4

Let’s assume I had two original tables that were Foods and Recipes. Foods could be associated with multiple Recipes, and vice versa.

I implemented the recommended solution by creating a new third table that was called Foods-Recipes. This new table has unique rows for each unique relationship between the Foods and Recipes table, so in essence all of the Foods in the Foods table are now found at least once (and many times multiple times) in the new Foods-Recipes table as well (i.e. the duplicate data).

The new Foods-Recipes table has a relationship column referring back to both the original Foods table and the Recipes table. And the original Foods and Recipes tables have new columns that refer to the Foods-Recipe table, as well as lookup columns.

So, in order to implement the solution I needed to create both new columns and new rows. It worked to solve the original issue I was trying to fix, but now I’m facing the duplicate data issue. What did I do wrong? Is there another way to implement this? Even if I got rid of the Foods-Phases table wouldn’t I still need to create duplicate rows in the original tables?

5

If it were me, I would scrap the extra table. Just pick one table as your primary and create a column to hold a comma delimited. So let’s say you pick the Recipes table as your primary, you could have a choice component on the Recipe details where you pick all of your foods. This would give you a comma delimited list of foods for the recipe. Then use a Split Text column to split that comma delimited list into an array. Using that array, you can create a relation from Recipes to Foods and from Foods to Recipes.

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6

Thanks! I’ll give that a shot.

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