Solutions to prevent duplicate item entries by users unknowingly?

Feature Requests
1

Existing App Functionality
The app allows users to add new food items to a growing collection of food items.

Issue
Users are adding duplicate items because they don’t know the item has already been entered.

Solutions
Here is one solution that should solve the issue. However, I do not think there’s a way to implement it. Does anyone have ideas that could be implemented?
When users search for an item, they enter the item name in the search field. The user will see any items that match the query. But, if the item does not exist, then the user could tap a button to add the item using the text that they used to query on as the item’s name in new item entry form. If this could be implemented, I would only want the user to be able to search and add items from that search field (at least on that screen) to decrease the chance that items with duplicate names are unknowingly added.

2

Yes you can implement it.

  • Add a user-specific column that will store the item name that users will search for before they can add a new item.

  • Add a text to tell them to search first to prevent duplicates.

  • Make a relation matching that user-specific column to the column storing items name in your Items table.

  • Show that relation to the user.

  • Have 2 buttons, 1 leading to a form that let the user input that new item if the relation is empty, 1 is just a button without any action that tells the user the item has already been added and they can view that item’s information in the relation above.

The only downside of this is the near match, where a “Curry” will not match with an “Indian curry”, for example.

1 Like
3

@ThinhDinh thanks for the super speedy reply. I’ll try this out.

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4

Yeah tell me if there are any problems, I’ll try to help. I successfully implemented it in a booking app that prevents conflicts, but in that app we have fixed values for an “add” action (the slot times) so the near match thing is not something we have to face.

5

Here’s a sketch to illustrate exactly what I would like to happen.

foodplanit_additem_sketch
foodplanit_additem_sketch2502×3146 2.56 MB

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6

If you want that matching part to work, the search function of the tab can work like that, but it won’t prevent users from adding them like the method I proposed.

7

In some cases, it makes sense for the user to add a new item that has the same name as an existing item in inventory. So, I would not want to prevent that. But, the user should be aware of those situations.

@ThinhDinh I’m unclear how to get the characters the user types into the search to populate the ‘item name’ field on the “New item” form if the user clicks the add new item button on the screen with the search.

8

Hi just a quick Q - is this a public app or public with email ?

9

I submitted it as a paid template for now.

Here’s a link to part of a video where demonstration of the functionality starts.

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10

Already submitted? All the best ! So issue resolved ?

11

I am currently walking someone through the very same thing for user codes. Let me know if you want me to copy paste out the PMs relavant portions of you cannot get it to work

12

@Wiz.Wazeer even after submitting to the template store I still want to improve upon the experience. So, still collecting data and iterating on the design.

@Cmstewart42 I do not know how to implement what I discussed and sketched-up in my first few posts. :frowning: So, anything you share that might get me closer to the solution I sketched or a similar solution would be awesome!

13

This I think is a non-issue.

  1. Create an inline list of all items, turn on the search and filter by items only.
  2. Require users to type in an item they would like to add to your growing list of items. X wants to add lemons. X types in lemons in the search bar. X can see lemons :lemon: already there. So no need to add
    lemons to your list.

Your issue, if I have understood it correctly;

Now B ypes in LEMONS or Lemons. This is what your trying to avoid because the search bar is case-sensitive?

14

The good news is that the search bar is not case sensitive.

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15

Users usually do not think to check whether an item like lemons already exists before adding the item to the inventory. And frankly, the user should not have to go through the trouble of searching for an item to see whether or not it exists before again having to re-enter some or all of the item name to add the item to inventory if it in fact does not exist. I want to minimize the work the user has to do and prevent duplicate item entries that are made because the user did not think to check whether the items exists.

16

Yes agreed. Everything depends on how you set things about. Is it okay if I sign into your app just to see at what stage im being asked to add items?

17

It’s already in the template store !!! Congrats !

18

Thanks @Wiz.Wazeer! I’m relatively new to Glide so still figuring things out, like what is and is not possible at this point. You’re able to preview the template, right? Just want to make sure you’re able to see what you’re asking about.

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19

I’m trying to preview it. There are several ways we can approach this. The one I suggested was the simplest pain free approach. Let me check it out. And, for some1 who is new to Glide, you have already proved your better than a regular like me :wink:

20

Well I’m not new to design, Google Sheets, and some of the basic concepts around how Glide works. So…that all helps.

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