Inconsistency in Format Rule for Ref / Enum type Ref

[Fabian_Weller]

In this sample I have 2 tables: Orders (Parent) and Products (Child).

I set up a format rule for the Orders Table to format the label [Order]. I call it Parent Format Rule.

When I add a Product, I can see the formatted label:

Now I add another format rule for the Products Table to format the Order column, which is a Ref to the Orders Table. I call it Child Format Rule.

If I enable only the Child Format Rule it looks like this:

If I enable both Format Rules it looks like this:

So what happens:

• Both icons are visible. The order is: Child Format Rule, Parent Format Rule. (This has nothing to do with the alphabetic order. It's the same also when The Child Format Rule comes before the Parent Format Rule)
• The icon from the Child Format Rule has the text size according to the Child Format Rule.
• Highlight color & Text color is set according to the Parent Format Rule. (This has nothing to do with the alphabetic order. It's the same also when The Child Format Rule comes before the Parent Format Rule)
• Text size is added: 1.5 + 1.5 = 3. You can go crazy and set both format rules to text size 3 to get text size 6. 😉
• Bold from the Parent Format Rule get's mixed with, Italic, Uppercase, Strikethrough from the Child Format Rule.
• Underline from the Parent Format Rule is ignored. Same thing happens if I do it the other way: Disable Underline in the Parent Format Rule and enable it in the Child Format Rule. [Bug?]

Now comes the worse part: I change the Input mode from Dropdown to Buttons.

Parent Format Rule	Child Format Rule	Both Format Rules
Everything fine	Highlight color and Text color is ignored. [Bug?]	Same as with Dropdown like explained above. [Bug?] Highlight color and Text color is ignored. [Bug?]

I can see the exact same behavior also if I change the Ref to an Enum or EnumList with Type Ref. (Stack behaves like Buttons.)

One possible reason seems to be that the Child Format Rules interprets [Order] as text, not as Ref. Because If it set the Type to Text, it will look like this:

@Steve Should I report this to AppSheet Support?

[Steve]

Wow, this is tough to follow. I agree the inconsistencies are likely bugs that would require a developer's involvement. Yes, please engage Support.