When you have multiple tables in an application, it's a good bet that the data they contain is related. For instance, those customers in your Clients table probably purchase items listed in your Products table.
Usually, you link tables together by creating a Relationship between them. This is the best and most precise way to specify that certain records are related to each other.
But, life's not always so precise. For example, say you have a customer feedback table where you store comments submitted to your web site's suggestion box. Customers harangue you at length in a text field about what they'd like to see you do better. In the midst of that field they may mention one or several of your products. Wouldn't it be great if you could have QuickBase search that field for mentions of each product name and have a link in your product record open all relevant feedback records? Well you can—with a report link field (formerly called View Link).
A report link field gives you some of the features of a relationship, without all the formality and precision. If you're looking for precise matches, you should create a relationship. But a simple report link field is great for matching records with a loose connection—where one field may or may not contain a value from a field in another table. Instead of you and your users connecting records in separate tables (by selecting the related item from a dropdown list), QuickBase make those connections on its own automatically.
Open the application in which you want the link to appear.
In the menu bar on any application page, select Customize > Create a new > field.
Select the table in which you want the new report link field to appear.
Enter a name for the new field, select Report Link from the Type drop-down list, and then click Add Fields.
If prompted, select the form(s) on which you want the new field to appear and click Save.
Click the name of the new field to edit its properties.
Set the Source Field.
The source field is the field that QuickBase uses to match records
with the other table. The field must exist in the same table as the
new report link field. Click the dropdown and make a selection.
NOTE: Text from the source field serves as the text of your hyperlink. If you want to enter different text, do so within the Cover Text box.
Select a target for the link.
Here you select the field that contains the record(s) you want to display
when a user clicks the hyperlink you're creating. To do so, click
the Select Target button. Select the application
where the target field resides and click OK. Next
select the target field and click OK.
Set field matching preference.
QuickBase automatically requires values in the source field to exactly
match values in the target field or your hyperlink won't work. You
can give yourself some more leeway by turning off the Require
Exact Match checkbox. When you do, QuickBase will match records
that are mostly alike, but not exactly alike. For instance, two records
like "Peabody, LP" and "Peabody, Corp" will still
match up, even though they're not exactly the same. Turning off this
checkbox is also a great way to tell QuickBase to include target records
that "contain" the text from your source field.
If you haven't already done so, add data to
both tables.
In order for the report link to work, text entered in the source field
must match text in the target field. If you want to link fields that
contain different information, look into creating a relationship
instead.
Open a report
of the table to which you added the report link field.
You should see your new Report Link field. If you
click a hyperlink in this field, QuickBase opens a page that displays
all the records that have values in the Target Field
that exactly match values in the Source Field.
The QuickBase Support Center features a report link field. The Formula Functions Reference table contains a field called More examples. This field is a report link field that connects each function record with records in Formula Samples table. If any content in the Formula Samples' Solution field contains text from the Formula Functions' Function field, a link is made. See for yourself by visiting the Functions Reference and clicking the more examples link for a several functions. You may notice one drawback: matches are not precise, so sometimes QuickBase connects records that don't match exactly.
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