Linked records

Some answers are records of another table: the product on an order line, the customer an order is for, the property a repair request is about. A question on a link field is answered in one of two ways, chosen under How they answer in its settings.

Pick from a list

Pick from the linked table shows the person a list to search and pick from, such as your products with their photo and price. Two settings decide what the list offers:

• Which records, under Only: a condition such as "In stock is more than 0". Under it the builder says how many records can be picked, such as "46 of 52 can be picked". The server applies the condition; nobody filling in the form sees it or gets past it.
• Customers see: the fields shown for each choice. Remove one with ✕ and bring it back with +. The field each choice is named by always shows, and so does a field another question copies, such as the price. The + offers the link field's own display fields; to offer another, add it to that link field's display fields in its table.

The list searches the first field each choice shows, as the person types.

Whoever can open the form can search every record the list offers, and see the fields you left under Customers see. A product list is meant for that; a customer list is not. On a form anyone can open, narrow the list with Only, or let people type their customer instead (below). The Publish sheet warns about each list that offers a whole table.

Type it, and the form finds or adds the record

The second choice is to type: its line names what is typed, such as their tax ID, and says the form finds the record or adds a new one. The person types a key, and the server looks it up:

• Found by: the field of the linked table the typed value is looked up in. A tax ID field is read as a Romanian CUI: "RO" and spaces are ignored and the check digit is checked. Any other field is matched as typed, so a foreign VAT number is accepted too.
• If it exists: the new record is linked to the one found, which is not changed. What the person typed for the other questions is kept on the response for you to see. The person is never told the record exists.
• If not: a new record is added to the linked table with what the person typed. In the outline, the fields a new record gets are nested under the question; their eyes decide which ones the form asks.
• A tick to mark a Yes/No field of the form's table, such as "Check customer", when someone who is not signed in matches an existing record. A tax ID is public, so a match proves nothing: the tick tells your team to look before the goods ship. The table needs a Yes/No field to mark with.

The field a record is found by is always asked. Typing is offered for a question outside a section of lines: it finds one record, and a section has several lines.

The An order with its items starting point sets this up for you: the customer is typed by tax ID, or by name when the customers table has no tax ID, and orders that match an existing customer are marked "Check customer".

Records a form adds this way count toward an hourly limit of their own: see Limits that protect a public form.

Fixed records

A link question set to Read-only or Set, not shown is written with a Record you pick, on every response: a form for one branch always links the branch. See Build a form.