Improve the presentation of detail and form views using Show types

Improve the presentation of detail and form views using Show types as described in this section.

• What are Show types?
• Use a virtual column as a Show type column
• Use an empty column in your spreadsheet as a Show type column
• Configure the column as a Show type

For examples using Show types:

• Create multi-page forms
• Create multi-page forms with conditional branching
• Configure card blocks in detail views for the new desktop layout

What are Show types?

Show types correspond to table columns whose sole purpose is to improve the presentation of data in forms and detail views.

There are six categories of Show types that you can create based on the improvements you want to make, as summarized in the following table.

To use a virtual column as a Show type column:

1. Add a virtual column to the table.
2. Set App formula to "" (empty value). This value is not applicable for Show type columns and will be ignored. However, it's a required field when configuring a virtual column, so you need to set it to some value.
3. Select Show in the Type drop-down for the virtual column.
4. Click Edit to view the full set of properties for a specific column.
5. Configure the column as a Show type and click Done.
   For example:
   
   Configure virtual column as a Show type column
6. Create the detail or form view.
   Explicitly include the Show column in your view. See Control the order of the virtual column.
7. If you are using the Show column in a detail view, enable Include Show columns in detail views on the UX > Options pane in the Detail View section.
8. Save your changes by selecting one of the following:
   • Save - Save the app.
   • Save & verify data - Save the app and verify that it is runnable based on external dependencies.

Use an empty column in your spreadsheet as a Show type column

To use an empty column in your spreadsheet as a Show type column:

1. Open your source spreadsheet for the table and insert one or more empty columns.

   For example, the following example shows a column structure for a Contact Us form. Columns Page 1, Page 2, and Page 3 designate the empty columns that will be set as page breaks in the form.

   Contact Us Forms sheet showing Page 1, Page 2, and Page 3 columns

   Note:

   • You will configure the empty column as a Show type column in the app editor.
   • You can enter a header name for the empty column, if desired, such as Page 1. If the header column is left blank, a default name will be added to the table using the following format: Column_n, where n indicates its position in relation to the visible columns. The column name is visible only to the app creator; it will not be visible in the app.
2. Open the app in the app editor.
3. Go to Data and select the table you want to edit in the list.
   We've made some improvements to the app editor.
   You are opted in to the new editor by default, but you can switch back to the legacy editor at any time.

   If you are using the legacy editor

   Go to Data > Columns and expand the table you want to edit.
4. Perform one of the following steps:
   • Add a new table using the spreadsheet updated in Step 1.
   • For an existing table, regenerate the table schema. The empty column now appears in the table.
5. Select Show in the Type drop-down for the empty column.
6. Click the edit (pencil) icon associated with the column.
7. Configure the column as a Show type and click Done.
   If you want to display a heading on the new page, enter it in the Content field. Otherwise, to just create a page break, leave the Content field blank.

   For example:

   Configure multi-page column as Show type

8. Create the detail or form view.
   Include the Show column in your view. To reorder the columns, see Control column order.
9. If you are using the Show type column in a detail view, enable Include Show columns in detail views on the UX > Options pane in the Detail View section.
10. Save your changes by selecting one of the following:
    • Save - Save the app.
    • Save & verify data - Save the app and verify that it is runnable based on external dependencies.

Configure the column as a Show type

To configure the column as a Show type column..