Default values

A default value is what a field shows while nobody has filled it in: New for an order's status, 0 for a discount, the value of another field of the same record. It saves typing and keeps empty cells from reading as blanks.

Set a default

1. In Add Field, or in Edit field from the column's ⋮, open Rules and default.
2. Type the default in Default value. It is a formula: text in single quotes, such as 'New'; a number, such as 0; or an expression over the record's other fields.
3. Choose Save.

If the formula is not complete, Sterodata does not save the field and says what is wrong under the box. The formula is written as a calculation's is: see Calculations.

These types take a default: Text, Email, Phone, URL, Number, Currency, Percent, Date and time, Checkbox, Single select, Multiple select, Linked record, User and JSON. A calculation, a lookup or a rollup is worked out already, and an attachment or an actions field has nothing to default to. Created by, Created at, Updated by and Updated at take none, because Sterodata fills them.

How a default works

A default is not written into the record. It is what Sterodata shows in place of an empty value, worked out each time the table is read. That has four consequences:

• Everything reads the default as the record's value: the grid, a record, filters, sorting, grouping, totals, formulas and exports.
• Typing a value replaces the default for that record. Clearing it brings the default back.
• Changing the default changes what every empty record shows, including records made long ago.
• A default that reads other fields follows them: when they change, it changes.

Because a default is worked out when it is read, a default of today() shows today's date and moves on every day, and a default of current_user() shows the person reading, not the person who made the record. To record when a record was made, or by whom, read Created at and Created by: see Who created and changed a record.

Validation pattern

Under the same Rules and default, a Text field also takes a Validation pattern: a pattern its text must match, such as five digits for a postcode. Type an example in Test string to see whether it matches. In the grid and in Add record, a value that does not match is marked and not saved.

The pattern is checked where people type. Values that arrive by an import or a paste are not checked against it.