I’m building an app to manage rental contracts and I’d love some advice.
My data model looks like this:
Contracts table (main contract info)
Rent installments table (linked to contract)
Extra expenses installments table (linked to contract)
Taxes installments table (linked to contract — basically property tax like IPTU)
Each of these tables is separate, but all of them are related by the contract code.
What I want is a single screen (dashboard or combined table) where I can see data from all 3 child tables together — already existing data, not new rows created by the user.
For example, for a given contract, I’d like to see:
Rent installments
Extra expenses installments
Tax installments …all listed together, showing their values and payment status, in one organized place.
The challenge:
I’m not sure if this is even possible in AppSheet today.
Most of the methods I’ve found involve creating new rows or data via the user, but in my case the data already exists — I just want to display and organize it together.
Has anyone here built something like this? What’s the recommended approach to combine and display existing rows from multiple related tables into a single financial overview screen?
You can do this by using the Ref column. The “Kanban Board” template should be a good reference. In that app, all tables have a Ref column with the “Projects” table as the main axis, which makes data referencing between tables easy. You can link tables even within a single view by using the REF_ROWS() or SELECT() functions, but if you’re creating a dashboard, setting it to “Interactive mode”
Yes it is possible. In your case you will have 4 seperate data tables (either from a database or 4 different spreadsheet tabs) loaded into the AS workspace.
You may then create additonal virtual columns in each table and then use these to create a slice view where you can select, join, merge and filter data from each source table to provide or present whatever it is that you require.
AS has the EXPRESSION ASSISTANT feature which through the Data Explorer tab enables access to all data source tables allowing one to cherry pick columns and rows etc from any table and then merge as you require. One may then use this slice as the source for any available VIEW to display as you note. Most views further allow to aggregate data asnd also you may select which columns to display.
Most AS views are for displaying data and the FORM VIEW is for adding new data and where from a single FORM VIEW one may populate new data in either a single Table or multiple tables as you desire. One may even create additonal Tables which are populated separately etc.
AS provides features such as ACTIONS, AUTOMATION and INTELLIGENCE to do a myriad of things and what you are asking is an often asked requirement.
Although AS is “NO-CODE” it does take time to learn the ropes and also realise that any automated system action/s may be overidden and customised. Whilst it is indeed “NO-CODE” one still has to learn the functionality and applicability of such “NO-CODE” provisions and their limitations within AS.
Finally you may be rest assured that there will be ample support which has been a key feature of AS by its orginators.
Thanks for sharing the details of your project! It’s definitely possible to create a single screen (dashboard or combined table view) in AppSheet to display data from your related tables (Rent Installments, Extra Expenses Installments, and Taxes Installments). Here’s a suggested approach based on my experience:
Use an Interactive Dashboard: As Seavfong mentioned, creating a Dashboard with “Interactive Mode” enabled is a great way to achieve this. You can:
Create a Dashboard in AppSheet (UX > Add View > Dashboard).
Add separate views (e.g., Table or Deck Views) for each child table, using REF_ROWS() to pull records linked by the contract code.
Enable Interactive Mode to let users select a contract, which filters the related data from all three tables dynamically.
Virtual Table or Slice for a Unified Table View: If you prefer a single table view over a dashboard, consider creating a Slice that combines data from the three tables using Virtual Columns with REF_ROWS() or SELECT() expressions to fetch records by contract code. Then, build a Table View based on this Slice. This might require some tweaking to align data formats across tables.
Check the Kanban Board Template: As Go suggested, the “Kanban Board” template in AppSheet is a solid reference. It shows how to link tables using Ref Columns and display related records in a single view with `
System: REF_ROWS()`. You can find this template in the AppSheet template library for inspiration.
Extra Tip: If the data structures of the three tables are similar (e.g., columns for value and payment status), you could consider merging them into a single table with a “Type” column (e.g., “Rent,” “Extra Expenses,” “Taxes”) for simpler display. However, if they must stay separate, the interactive dashboard is likely your best bet.
Let me know if you need help setting up REF_ROWS() expressions or configuring the Slice! Feel free to share any specific challenges you run into.
An interactive dashboard is the easiest and best way to get started. To start with, add the _Inline view of each of the four tables (Contracts_Inline, Rent installments_Inline, etc.).