How would you make this app?

[Bishop]

Hello all. I am looking for some recommendations. I work for a fishing lodge, and we need a quick and efficient way to copy down this board of fish records for each guest trip that flys in.

There are 18 trips with roughly 35 guests each
Each trip is either 3 or 4 days long
The app has to track all 3 or 4 days of the trip in a clean looking way

Does anyone have any suggestions on what route to take for views and layout?

I want the trips to almost be the category, then you go in and can add fish to day 1, 2, 3, etc.

Thanks for your help.

[Aurelien]

Hi @Bishop

Your snapshot looks like a perfect Google Sheets structure already

You may need to have:

1. Table 1 “Trips”, with columns:

• key: Type Text, initial value: UNIQUEID(), show option: OFF
• tripName: Type Text
• tripDate: Type Date, initial Value:TODAY()

2. Table 3 “Guests”, with columns:

• key: Type Text, initial value: UNIQUEID(), show option: OFF
• name: Type Name, Label property: ON

3. Table 2 “Scores”, with columns:

• key: Type Text, initial value: UNIQUEID(), show option: OFF
• trip: Type Ref, source table “Trips”, “is a part of” option: Yes
• AnglerName:Type Ref, SourceTable: “Guests”
• Day1: Type Text (from what I understand, based on the snapshot)
• Day2: Type Text
• Day3: Type Text
• Day4: Type Text

4. Some improvement can be made once you do all of this

[Suvrutt_Gurjar]

This is a very broad based question, so first starting with a disclaimer , please consider the following only as another option suggestion for a seed of thought and not a specific solution.

You may wish to consider only one table as below for an easier browse and data entry. For trip-related data entries, you may wish to use the search and filter option available in tables views to select a specific trip for data entries and also use group by trips option in table view. However, this table could grow into a big table in a short time, if the number of trips is substantial. So you may need to work on the periodic data backing up approach.

For a more structured approach and options such as having say a report by each trip etc., @Aurelien 's suggestion is a better option to consider.

[Kirk_Masden]

Suvrutt_Gurjar:

You may wish to consider only one table as below for an easier browse and data entry.

In my own app, I’ve found situations where I prefer a single table that is divided up into different slices, depending on what is needed. Here’s some discussion:

App Design: Multiple tables vs. Single table + multiple slices Tips & Tricks 💡

One spreadsheet table per “entity” (a set of things in the real world) is the norm in AppSheet: Every entity that you define (Job, Employee, Building) should have its own table (or sheet) within the document that you are connecting to AppSheet. Put more simply, it is often the case that a “view” (UX) will have it’s own table. I think this is good standard practice for beginners but there are potential drawbacks. When, for example, I built a flashcard app with a separate table for each “s…

[Suvrutt_Gurjar]

Thank you @Kirk_Masden for adding to the use case of the “one” table approach. Of course, it will not be applicable or useful in all cases, but worth judicioualy considering in certain specific cases as you have described in the tips post.

[Kirk_Masden]

It’s hard to know what will be best at the beginning. The app I’ve been working on over the years began with several tables but I later wound up consolidating them. I’m sure it’s a case-by-case sort of decision.

[Bishop]

This method means the data for the entire season will be all in one spreadsheet page. Then I will have to reference it in formulas from that jumbled mess ( lmao ) to crunch all the total weights for trips, etc?

[Aurelien]

Hi @Bishop

Bishop:

Then I will have to reference it in formulas from that jumbled mess ( lmao ) to crunch all the total weights for trips, etc?

Yes, but if you use type Ref in children table, all related informations relating to trip (parent here, for example) will grouped together, through the column [Related Scores] (where Score is the child of trip here).
Structurally, even if everything will be on the same Sheet, in the app this will not be mixed.
The [Related Scores] will be generated automatically (this is the reverse reference), no need for you to think about that so far.

More information here:

help.appsheet.com

References Between Tables

Learn about references, when to create them, and how to use them so your data makes sense.

[Bishop]

If I have a column for “Day 1” on all guests for the whole season, how can their catch be under that column as “8c”, “9c”, “12h”, for tracking all their species and weight they caught that day.

I don’t know how I can take that and do formulas with it?

[Aurelien]

Bishop:

If I have a column for “Day 1” on all guests for the whole season, how can their catch be under that column as “8c”, “9c”, “12h”, for tracking all their species and weight they caught that day.

I don’t know how I can take that and do formulas with it?

About that, this goes a little further in structure (I have no knowledge into fishing).
You have the choice:

• you may add another table with species (or just use an enum type)
• add another table, with a column type Ref that will refer to the “day”, and collecting data about species and quantities

or you can structure differently:

• a table with information “per day”, that will refer to table “Trip”, with columns: key, trip, dayDate, specie1, qtySpecie1, specie2, qtySpecie2, etc

If it were just about me, I would create tons of tables/sheets: species, fiching rods, hooks, boots…(kidding here)
I use to work with as structured data as I can, but sometime it is too much for my users

This is all about the way you would like to proceed with your data after that, as @Suvrutt_Gurjar and @Kirk_Masden said previously.
I would be interested in knowing which choice you will make in the end, just curious !

[Bishop]

Hey! So this is my data layout…and now I must say I am a little lost.

I have it in a basic table view in an app right now. How do I turn this data into nicely organized magic by “Trip”???

I want to be able to select Trip 1-18 in the Menu window and see all these fish catch stats. I’m not sure what views I want on the bottom of the screen yet.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

[Aurelien]

Hi @Bishop

I see you have 3 sheets “Trip1, Trip2, Trip3”. Not sure how you want to manage it ?
Anyway, the column “Finishing Trip ID” should be of type Ref, in the Editor, and you will want to set its source table to Trip1, for example.

[Bishop]

Sorry, ignore those pages. I have all info on the page I sent a screenshot of. I mean, I could structure the data in a way that each trip has its own document

But yeah, as far as just this page goes, i want to organize it in the app under each individual trip.

[Bishop]

Any ideas?

[Bishop]

So are you saying you would have this data very well structured?

Have a whole file for a “Trip”…have a sheet per “Day” etc…

[Aurelien]

HI @Bishop

Sorry for my delay of response, I was out of office.
Yes, this is my suggestion.
From what I understood of your needs, you will at least require a Trip table indeed.
Feel free to try it, and keep us updated on your work in case you are having trouble into making it.
You will probably have a “semi-structured” idea that will be perfect for reaching your goal

[Bishop]

The data has to go into a sheet in a nice and organized fashion where I can populate total weights and things like that accurately. So far my data structure looks like this

I have a slot for each species and how many they could catch of that day to track it. Let me mull over your suggestions and see if I can wrap my head around them.