Why is Appsheet (the no-code app tool) not able to do the most basic math?

[CorneliusH]

Hello. Some of you might already be bored with my continnuos inquiries, but Appsheet is still dissapointing my initial enthusiasm for the "no code" programming it promises.

I have two tables in a parent-child relation. In one of them I have a "project"; in the second i have a series of adding-up numbers for that project with color names:
Row 1 5 of yellow,
row 2: 8 acummulate of red (makes 5 of yellow and 3 of red),
row 3: a new accumulate  of 10 of white (5Y, 3R, 2W).
For those of you asking, yes, it is a mix of paint. Now back in the parent table I want to make a test from the mix, and after that, substract equally from the 3 ingredients in the child table. 

It would be so logical to think that what I need is to create an action which "adds a new row to another table" (the child table) with negative numbers looping to all of the three rows  (lets say, if I put 0.5 in the parent table - 5% of the initial total - it will be -0.25 of Y, -0.15 of R  and -0.1 of W).

But Appsheet is'nt that logical or easy. No sir. In first place, I created a new virtual column in the parent table that calculates a negative % to substract from all the rows of child table. So far so good. But that is where logic and common sense stopped.  I tried to make the action adding a row to another table, but Appsheet shows me the columns of the parent table, no the child I want to act upon.

Then i got this: 

Say what??? Appsheet is not able to calcualate 0.05 * 10? 

Please, can somebode send this to someone in Mountain View? I would a "a true no-code platform, which means anyone can build rich apps and automated processes without writing a line of code" expect to be able to calculate 0.5 times 10.

[Rifad]

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@CorneliusH wrote:

Then i got this: 

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What are your goal of writing this formula ? Please explain and lets see we can help you with this. 

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@CorneliusH wrote:

I would a "a true no-code platform, which means anyone can build rich apps and automated processes without writing a line of code"

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It really depends on your specific use-case and your comprehension of the problem at hand. If you're familiar with basic spreadsheet formulas and have some database knowledge, you'll find it quite easy to grasp and implement. Understanding how spreadsheet formulas function shouldn't be too challenging for you. The process is similarly straightforward with AppSheet.

[CorneliusH]

Hello. Thanks for your reply. Answering to your questions:

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What are your goal of writing this formula ? Please explain and lets see we can help you with this.

I work in a paint selling and mixing facility in Northern Venezuela (new socialist Mexico). My supplier sells us 12-14 basic or "most common" colors which "when combined, produce a wide range of colors". More or less is what it says on their datasheet. So, in my app so far I have 6 tables I plan to keep:

- Table 1: The basic colors catalog. I named it Colbas for "colores básicos"
- Table 2: "Pedidos" (Purchase /work orders I receive from costumers)
- Table 3 "Cubetas". (Spanish for buckets. Every PO/WO might have from 1 quart up to 50 buckets of 5 gallons). Every bucket / gallon or quart will have its separate file.
- Table 4: "Detalle_Cubetas" - the details table for #4. Here I want to keep registry of every bit of paint I add to all the buckets of a PO. Say, if a formulas calls for 4 diferent paints to be mixed, here I will have 4 rows.
- Tables 5 and 6: "Igualado", header and details: roughly translation "Matching". It is here that I need the Action to happen. If a customer comes to me with a sample of a paint he wants to have matched, I take a cup and a a stick and start with the most obvious 2-3 colors. At first only 1 to 5 grams of each basic color. Now, I have to keep record scrupuosly. Every bit of paint is weighed on a scale that measures up to a mg. After a first visual examination I might find that I still have to add more of one of the first, or add a new color. Eventually I will take a sample out of the cup and put it on a piece of paper or the sample surface I got from the costumer. If the sample is good enough, I will be happy and sum the grams and mgs of every color and make a new formula. If not, I have to correct the formula by adding more or other basic colors. But, since I lost some of the previous mix, I have to keep record of the new diminished total to be able to subtract a percentage of every color used so far. If i had 10 grams of mix before taking half a gram to make the sample, now I will  have 5% less of every color. 

In the app, as much as I understand, I will need an input (in table 5?) where I put in the grams I lost or the diminished total so the app calculates the amount lost, and then a loop that adds a row of each of the color I put in before (in table 6); but this time a negative number. There might be a second or even a third sampling process, but an app should be able to do this over and over again. 

When I finally hit the desired goal, I wil need another action that adds a new row to the table "Formulas" (#2), where the little formula is magnified to 5 gallon / 19 liter bucket. But this process should be easy, except for another Appsheet surprise.

. If you're familiar with basic spreadsheet formulas and have some database knowledge, you'll find it quite easy to grasp and implement. Understanding how spreadsheet formulas function shouldn't be too challenging for you. The process is similarly straightforward with AppSheet.

Well, I consider myself a well over average PC layman. Do-it-yourself all the way. Raised in an Amish-like environment, college or even High School was no option.  After freeing myself from that environment at an adult age, I developed a passion for computers, databases or well done softwares. And MIcrosoft Excel. I am one of those who thinks that software should work for you, not the other way around. In my previous job I got nicknamed "Mr. Excel". College degreed co-workers frequently came to me when they need advise for Excel matters. Years ago, I was able to create modest databases with Microsoft Access. I understand the basic concepts of tables, queries, keys, relations, etc. even though I lost praxis and interest  in Access when I discovered Excel's pivot tables and Power Pivot years ago.

But Appsheet is quiete a different thing. It is anything but logic or easy. No code? Come'an! Since Google sheets copies Excel in every bit and Appsheet is based on Google sheets, I dont understand why Appsheets cannot run with exactly the same expressions as Excel / Google Sheets do. Or have more helpscreens. I still struggle to understand why Appsheet cannot even close a missing parenthesis. Excel does that since ever! Why I have to enclose columns sometimes in square brackets, but 10 seconds later in double quotes. And so on and on. There is no logic. Appsheet has, as we say in Spanish, no feet nor head. You stop using Appsheet for a week and you have to learn from the start all over again! Your brain just does not adjust to many different rules and so many exceptions.

Here the most clear evidence of Appsheet's complexity: Last friday close to midnight, after about 10 hours of breaking my head, I decided to contact Appsheet's chat support. After explaining that I wanted a dropdown list that would narrow down my list of basic colors after I used them one by one, the person on the chat (I could not tell from the name if it was he or she) asked for 10 minutes and access to my to-be-app. After about 15 minutes, the person was back and asked again what I needed and why I needed it. After explaining again, and another 15 minutes of access to my app, the person appologized for not being able to help me, but promised to upgrade my case to a supervisor via e-mail. Of course I have nor received an answer yet since the weekend came across. As a last ressource, I posted the inquiry on this forum, and @Suvrutt_Gurjar resolved the case I dare to say very easily. My point: It seems that not even the people of Google understand their "non code App development platform". 

I am currently exploring alternatives;, Power Apps is supposed to be "low code" instead of Appsheet´s "no code", so I suspect it to be even more complicated, and there is no free version. Obviously I am not willing to pay for something I might never be able to use or learn to manage. And so far I have not seen any decent replacement option, but I am still searching while hoping that one day I might find the secret clue to understand what the people from Mountain View where consuming when they thought that Appsheet was “no code for everyone”.

Thanks for your interest
Cornelius

[Suvrutt_Gurjar]

The expression you have shared is multiplying a list with another column and that is why you are getting the error.

Please try  ANY( Detalles_iGUAL[ACUM ANT])* [_THISROW].[Test]

This will probably pass syntactically but may not be what you may really want.

This is so because  ANY( Detalles_iGUAL[ACUM ANT]) will get the first element of the list produced by Detalles_iGUAL[ACUM ANT] which you may or may not want.

Also you seem to be having two [TEST] columns in the same table which is not correct.

Note: If I may add the following.

Like any other system, platform AppSheet certainly does have a learning curve. However it is definitely a good, extensive  platform based on which you can build very useful business mobile/ web apps. 

My request to you will be to refer the help documentation and community's past questions as much as you can in the initial phase. There are multiple YouTube AppSheet specific channels as well.

I think 80/ 20 pareto rule will apply in AppSheet also. Once any  one gets to know learn 20 % of the platform, she/he will be able to build 80% of app requirements. Rest 20% of requirements may take another 80 % of learning /practice. 

All the best with your app creation.

[CorneliusH]

Hello: Thanks for all of your help. 

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@Suvrutt_Gurjar wrote:

The expression you have shared is multiplying a list with another column and that is why you are getting the error.

Please try  ANY( Detalles_iGUAL[ACUM ANT])* [_THISROW].[Test]

Sorry for not understanding that. As en Excel user, I am used to the basic notion that by multiplying Y x Z, I will get a straight forwarded result. In a virtual column, if I am not in error, it goes that way: ([Test]-[Total])/[Total] gives me a negative % number, just as I expect. After seeing how easy that one went, I ventured to create the Action thing, and got dissapointed again. I am starting to assume, or infer, that virtual columns have a different criterion than "normal"  columns. 

Than, as mentioned to @Rifad , sometimes yo have to put columns in square brackets, but in formulas as Lookup you have to use double quotes. The Appsheet tutorials and help pages never explain these differences, and are way to theoretical and unpractical.

Yes, there is a learning curve, but I never thought that it would take me more than 2 months, with an average of 3 hours every day, sometimes up top 5 on weekends. I must have dedicated to this matter by now over 200 hours and watched many tutorials. I made an app to aid me in the monthly stock taking / inventory adjustment and it was fairly easy to do; by now I can make one inventory app in less than an hour. (There are so many tutorials on the subject). BUt this one is driving me crazy. And I don-t think it should be that complicated.  (Most other 

[Rifad]

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@CorneliusH wrote:

Yes, there is a learning curve, but I never thought that it would take me more than 2 months, with an average of 3 hours every day, sometimes up top 5 on weekends. I must have dedicated to this matter by now over 200 hours and watched many tutorials

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That’s totally sad to hear. We all are here to help in this community. I learned AppSheet without watching single video because i like to read and understand. It took me less than a week to totally learn about AppSheet built and deployed in production app (Had zero experience in coding prior to that) all I had used in 2019 was excel and very new to google sheets.

If you took 2 months and still struggling you would need to have a look at what you really trying to solve and learning rather than complaining. 

[Joseph_Seddik · Accepted solution]

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@CorneliusH wrote:

I still struggle to understand why Appsheet cannot even close a missing parenthesis. Excel does that since ever! Why I have to enclose columns sometimes in square brackets, but 10 seconds later in double quotes. And so on and on.

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There are good reasons for that, and we can delve into them, and it will be another story. But, my friend, if you are approaching coding, either low code (that's AppSheet) or full code, on any platform, you are supposed to be reading and following documentations and going back and forth into them; not memorizing everything which comes naturally after long practice, but even then you'll find yourself needing to check documentation from time to time. This applies to any and all, unless you are in an environment where you're only doing drag-and-drop.

AppSheet also is not based on Google Sheets (nor Excel). It provides a way of converting your sheet into a database (which is not), and thus might be conceived as being based on Sheets (which is not). 

But really my friend, a valuable piece of advice, when learning a new platform/environment/solution, just drop presumptions and expectations and do what it takes to learn it with an open mind; you'll then be able to achieve great results easier and faster. 

As for the problem described in your post, you are already in the good hands of two of this Community's best experts. 

[Suvrutt_Gurjar]

Hi @CorneliusH ,

May I request you to start a totally new post thread regarding your issue. This will help the community to look to your requirement with a fresh perspective. Also it always helps to have relevant screenshots to describe the issue rather than only a long text. 

Your below post was good in terms of describing the issue. You may want to use  a similar approach.

Filter a list by 3 criteria, jump from parent to g... - Google Cloud Community

Also I think this community is best used to ask for a specific query regarding say an expression or an AppSheet feature ( views, actions , slices etc.).

The community may not be a best place to get 100% accurate response on an app design related queries, simply because the community may not know the question poster's  entire app design requirements. So they will definitely respond with some related guidelines, sample apps etc. but final call the app creator will need to take.

All the best. Your Excel credentials are great. I am sure you will get similar expertise in AppSheet as well with some persistence. It maybe just matter of time.