Two View Ref Links for Slice but Action for both not displaying

[jmable]

I have a Question table that I want to be able to reference back to a Client or an Appointment if they are related to the question.

So my Question form has a dropdown for Client and based on the client it will show their related Appointments. 

My issue is in the Detail view. I see a link to go back to the related Client but it doesn't show me the link to the related Appointment.

My slice shows both options. I've tried "Auto" and selecting them specifically. I've tried removing the client and just having the appt one but it will not show me the link to the appt (which is more important than client):

All the settings seem the same between the two and I need the have the Client in there in order to filter the appointment.

HALP

[WillowMobileSys]

You will want to show us the columns definitions for the table/slice you are displaying in the Detail View.

What is the physical Type definition of the "Related Appt" column that you are showing in the Detail View?  Is it a "REF" type column or is a some other column that is pulling the "03/07/2022 - Test" information from the REF column?

[jmable]

I figured it out, it's the value I am choosing to display in the Appointment dropdown:

This is the column definition for Clients (which shows the view ref link):

This is the column for the Appointment based on the client selected (do NOT show the view ref link):

QuestionLookup is a Virtual Column with formatted text to display Appointment dropdown. When I changes QuestionLookup to ApptId which is the KEY value in the Appointment table it shows the view ref link.

I'd rather have a more descriptive value so maybe I have to play around with the Label...

[WillowMobileSys]

This is what I suspected was going on.  When defining an expression for a REF type column the expression MUST ALWAYS return the row key value.  Think of it as a "pointer" to the referenced row so that you can retrieve ANY column value from that row.

As you seem to already know (but for others who might be reading), in the REF column dropdown, the column set as the Label is the user-friendly displayed value shown anywhere that REF column is included.  Often this using a different existing column as the Label is sufficient.

In many cases, I too like to have a more descriptive value set as the Label for the Table - typically a combination of column values that is more descriptive of the row.  For this I usually will include a dedicated "normal" column to be set as the Label and then concatenate 2 or more column values to create the REF display value.  

I say "normal" to mean its a column found in the sheet to avoid the cost of Virtual Column Sync's on a column that rarely changes - i.e. its more efficient as a "normal" column.  If all of the values that make up the Label are included AND UPDATED in the same table, then the use of a "normal" column is advised as the App Formula should be triggered anytime the row changes.

However, there are occasions when the values used in the Label might be from, and would be changed in, another table.  In this case, a Virtual Column is the way to go so that if that other table's value ever changes, the Label value is automatically updated as well.