I have a voice in the back of my head that keeps telling me I’m misunderstanding something fundamental about how Layouts & Canvas Columns interact or even how to use them effectively.
I’ve got a Canvas Column in a table of about 400 rows. In Row 1, I’ve set up the Canvas as a mix of static text elements (section headers, divider lines, etc.), and then “thisRow” formulas to pull the data together from the rest of the row as well as from some other tables via lookups.
I have it the way I want in the cell in Row 1. How the heck do I copy that down the rest of the table so that every row shows up the same when the as opened as the modal?
If you want to use the same layout in all of your rows for a canvas column, you need to create the set-up in a page, and then make that page the “value for new rows” as shown below.
YES! That tutorial is exactly what I’m after – thank you – I was trying to get a “local” format (what I’ve set up in the Canvas cell in Row 1) to then copy down through the already-existing rows below it.
Sounds like I have to:
Copy out what I’ve created in that Cell (or rebuild it) as a new, separate Page, and then
Use that as the “source” for the Canvas Column.
I’ll have to figure out how the “thisRow” works in a Standalone page but hopefully the tutorial covers that. Thanks again @Piet_Strydom and @Nina_Kastenauer !
OK wow yeah – after a quick skim of the tutorial, I’m not beating myself up about missing something obvious . . . not straightforward to pull this off. BUT - hoping it fits my use case, and so far it seems to - I’ll know for sure when I get into the weeds on it! Thanks again!
I struggled with this particular topic as well. I figured out the single page method, but was stumped on selecting from multiple templates.
The automatic filter she uses (column.Totext()=parentrow.column) is also ingenious if you need to filter a table in the canvas column based on the row that contains it.
For example, I used it in my list of meetings. Each meeting has a canvas column to record the discussion, as well as a view of the action item table to record action items. This view uses the filter to limit the action items to the meeting under review.
But at the same time, on another page, I have a date sorted view of all action items across all projects.
It takes a bit of practice to unlearn Excel, and other programming habits, but once you can think in Coda it is an amazing tool.
So turns out I was overcomplicating things (and didn’t notice in the UI popup for Canvas Column options): once I’d finished revising the Canvas in the first row, I set that cell as the source for all new rows in the Canvas Column Options, and then closed out the Options popup. Nothing happend.
Turns out I had to CLEAR all the other rows of the existing Canvas, wait, then open the Options again. When I did, it had an extra message along the lines of “265 blank rows detected. Populate?” (not remembering it accurately, but that’s more or less it). When I selected yes, it populated my Row1 canvas all the way down.
Timed out a few times while trying to calculate it all but finally got it to run - all is well! Thank you for all the help and advice, and that Tutorial is still going to come in handy as I expand on this Document that I inherited a while back.
