User Specific Columns + User Profiles Demo

Hm…I think I understand now. You have a user specific column so that each person can mark it as “liked “ but you still want to total the number of likes that every user can see?

Precisely. I think this is how “likes” work on other social media platforms (each user checks off a “like” button and then the total number of likes are displayed to all users to act as a popularity counter, so to speak).

I remembered reading that it would be possible in the future, but probably not yet.

https://community.glideapps.com/t/like-button/5319/7?u=jeff_hager

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There it is. Thanks @Jeff_Hager for that link. I’ll wait for the next update!

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This is great!

I really wish we had the option to store user specific data in our sheet though. One of the best things about Glide is the power of accessibility of Google Sheets. I understand that storing the data on Glide servers ensures user privacy, but most of the time we aren’t storing user secrets.

It would be awesome if we could choose whether to store in Sheets or Glide. In Sheets I don’t think it would be difficult to create an “App: User Specific” sheet with columns “Row_ID, User_Email, Column_Name, Value” that stored all this data. That would enable me to create relations and do rollups on user data. For example, in your sample app what if you wanted to add a report tab showing the percentage of users that completed each task?

I know there are ways to do this manually with forms and often a lot of crazy formulas, but they add a lot of complexity for developers and users. These user specific columns have the potential to make my life a lot easier, but are stymied by the inability to access the actual data.

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Right. As @Mark hinted, Glide will be developing Rollup functionality with User Specific columns soon. I believe Glide doesn’t want to rely on Google Sheets more than they have to in order to provide the most optimized UX possible.

Yes, we will offer rollups on user-specific columns.

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Rollup functionality would help, but there are many times when I’d need access to all the data. What if you needed a list of everyone who hasn’t completed their tasks yet so you could follow up with their manager?

Saving the data in Sheets would not only allow more advanced functionality for power users, but ease some of our fears about losing control of our data. We can export, backup or clone a Google sheet at any time, the data in Glide’s servers are totally out of our control. It also prevents us from doing bulk operations on the data or using more complex Zappier actions.

I can see how the current setup simplifies the experience when developing apps for the general public, but for business/enterprise apps it severely limits its usefulness. Which is a real shame, because I could really use this functionality in the COVID Testing Center Staffing app I’m working on now.

My challenge is allowing staff to register & input their availability for shifts in the drive-thru testing center. Both the user & shift sheets are long dynamic lists and I really don’t want users to have to open a shift and fill out a form for each shift. Additionally, I have a scheduler app where an admin can choose which of the available staff to assign. I’ve made this work with a lot of Sheets magic, so users see a checklist of all the shifts, but it’s definitely slowing down my sheet and app performance.

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@CESI If you need the data in the sheet, then you are definitely going to be taking up the rows one way or another, so why not just create a per user row for each user, then filter by signed in user. You can make it function exactly the same as you would using User Specific columns, but instead of storing multiple user data in 1 row, you store it in multiple rows. It sounds like this is what you want anyway instead user specific columns. This is how Glide has worked for a long time before User Specific columns were added a couple of days ago. No special sheet magic necessary and you can do whatever you want with the data on the back end.

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Thanks @Jeff_Hager, I know I’ll need a row for each user & shift combination. My problem is that I want my users to see a checklist of shifts. They should see an entry for each shift with a checkbox to indicate their availability. Both new users and new shifts can be created by Admin users too.

Originally I had it setup so users saw a list of shifts, clicked a shift, clicked an “Add Availability” button which opened a form where they checked a box saying they were available then clicked Submit, then back then clicked the next shift etc. The data was good, but the UX was awful. There are over a hundred different shifts for them to enter and doing it that way is very slow & tedious for them.

The only way I’ve been able to get this to work is by creating a matrix of all users & all shifts with formulas, then using a plugin to stack this matrix into a new sheet containing every combination of user & shift with one additional IsAvailable column. I use this list for the checklist and filter it to the signed in user.

It would be so much easier to just add a user specific column to each shift for the current user’s availability. The data itself would ideally still be stored as user specific rows in a sheet so my Admin app can view it, but within the user facing app it would be so much easier to use.

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@Robert_Petitto Damn! That’s awesome!!!

My only doubt is, can I make a shop cart with this new feature, not creating an ID for each item (row) but for each shop?

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Great job @Robert_Petitto. I have already referred a few customers to this post.

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Thanks George! I can’t wait for all that’s in the store with this new feature.

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Can User-specific columns be set up to work like Favorites, so that if someone sets a Boolean in a user-specific column, it forces a login? I think this should be in place at least until user-specific columns work for public users.

I have a public app with some user-specific columns and they’re selectable even if the user isn’t logged in. This isn’t obvious to the end user and if they make their selections without logging in, they lose their selections the next time they open the app. My goal is to have the app as public so that users who are worried about providing their email addresses can still use most features, but not be able to save items to user-specific lists, etc.

I also don’t think I can use Visibility conditions because the app is public and can’t check for whether or not the current user is signed in.

Hi everyone,

I have read every post regarding the new and useful feature called User-specific columns and had to test it to understand it better and see its benefits and compare it with Per-User Data (its big brother).

Well, to start I think it should be called Per-Device Data instead, because of all data is virtual and not saved in sheets . The data is tied to the device (phone, PC, tablet) and not to user working on it!

E.g., if the user A is using an APP on his iPhone, he will see his data and operations with no problem (no interferences with other users) like working with Per-User Data feature (using email) but, when he will use another phone (device), he will notice that all his data disappeared and won’t understand the cause. The data/parameters used/saved on each device will keep there and can’t be used by the same user on different devices.

It’s a little earthquake in your mind when you discover that “problem” if this feature isn’t used correctly. The data used by User-specific columns is saved on your device (using a kind of cookie I think) and not on Glide server therefore, it can’t be used even by the same user if he’d change the device (phone, table, PC).

The days.where Per-User Data was the king of mountain haven’t ended yet. :disappointed_relieved:

Have a nice night folks!

Saludos
Gavp

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It is per user data when the user is signed into an app.

Currently, if a user isn’t signed in, it’s “per instance” data as the selections are only saved while the app is in active use. Once it’s closed and re-opened, a non-signed-in user’s selections are not saved on the device (yet). This portion is still in development according to @Mark and once it’s available, then I think your post will be more correct.

Either way, if a user wants to access specific selections on various devices, they’d have to sign in and provide some sort of common credential to associate everything together.

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Could I use a rollup column to output how many items are attached to signed in user using a user specific column?

Not yet, but soon!
https://community.glideapps.com/t/like-button/5319/7?u=robert_petitto

Link is private, I’m trying to work out if I can do it using Google Scripts or using loads of Glide data columns