Text Entry field is always live. Does it have to be?

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I am using TEXT ENTRY components and finding them to be wholly unsatisfying from a UX perspective. When you type into the ENTRY field, the data is essentially live - it’s sent to Google Sheet without the need for so much as an enter. If you pause long enough (get distracted) it submits your partial entry on the next refresh cycle. I’d like there to be a definitive handoff, even if it’s just brought about by moving away from the TEXT ENTRY component.

A FORM BUTTON won’t work for me because I am updating a blank column in an existing row. EDIT does what I want (click on the submit button), but it doesn’t combine well with the CHOICE component I have on the same DETAIL page.

Any thoughts on how I can make this data entry a little better for the user? Right now, you just type into the field, then hit the arrow to go back to previous page. If you hit enter you just get a new line in the text field.

Thanks.

Screen Shot 2021-01-31 at 8.04.42 PM
Screen Shot 2021-01-31 at 8.04.42 PM410×849 14 KB

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You could try setting the text entry field to a user-specific column, then add a “save” button below it. Assign an action to the button that updates the row by using the user-specific value that was entered. You’ll have to relate the current screen to the row you’re updating somehow, but there should be a way to link the two. Is this info in a user profile sheet by any chance? That would probably make it a bit simpler to accomplish. You could even add a “go back” action to that Save button so that it’s a pretty seamless process, as well as a “Field updated” notification message.

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I have not yet built a user profile sheet. Since you bring it up, am I right that it would be best to make that a Glide Sheet, rather than a Google Sheet?

I’ve got a few Custom Actions in here, so I see how that would work nicely. But what would become of the user field? Looking at your mechanism…

  • Let’s say UserBetty enters FOO. Upon submitting, FOO is updated to the correct sheet and column, and remains in her user-specific column.
  • Later, UserDan makes an update to that field (legitimate use-case in my app) and enters BOO.
  • If UserBetty returns to this DETAIL page, she’ll see FOO from her own U-specific column and think that FOO is the value that everyone sees. [EDIT:] But BOO is actually the correct value because Dan has updated it for everyone.

Is there a way to expire a value in a column? So that once the value has been passed to the target sheet, after some time (or on the end of the Custom Action?) the value can’t be read back into the DETAIL page. I don’t care if it stays in the U-Specific field, waiting to be potentially overwritten. I just want that field to be a blind entry so that the user isn’t potentially presented conflicting values.

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Yes, you can clear a value from a column too. I’d recommend clearing it when someone clicks an “edit” button to access the user-specific field and save button. I’ve had mixed experience trying to set a column with a value, then clear it with the same action (the order of the action isn’t always respected, from my experience). If you can separate setting action and the clearing action, you’ll have a more reliable process.

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