Form Default Values

[Courtney_Milligan]

I made a form to add new rows to a table and created formulas for ‘Value for new rows’. Is there a way to make these values automatically filled in/selected in my form? Currently, all fields in the form are blank to begin.

[Scott_Collier-Weir]

Hey @Courtney_Milligan ! Welcome to the Coda Community!

You definitely can pre-fill values in your forms - if you are publishing that form and having people access that form via a external link (aka - not having people fill the form directly in the Coda doc itself)

See this post below about pre-filled forms. Reach out if you need any help! I have at least 4 documents using pre-filled fields (both hidden and un-hidden)

Launched: Pre-filled Form Fields

We’ve loved hearing about the incredible ways you’ve been using forms in the few weeks since they’ve launched, and wanted to share an exciting update based on your feedback. Starting today, you can update URLs for forms you publish to pre-fill fields in your forms. To do so: Publish your form Append text to your URLs to specify any fields that should be pre-filled (read on for more) [Prefilled Forms] URL Structure to Pre-Fill Fields To pre-fill fields, grab your published form URL and add …

[Courtney_Milligan]

Thanks Scott. I didn’t realize the form had to be published to pre-fill values. The form will only be used in the Coda doc, so I won’t be publishing it. The reason I wanted to use a form instead of an ‘add row’ button is because I wanted to use data validation that prevents the row from being added with missing/incorrectly formatted data. Is this possible to do without using a form?

[Ed_Liveikis]

Hi Courtney, not really. There are some threads about it with some tips, like this one.

[Scott_Collier-Weir]

Hey @Courtney_Milligan ! Here are my thoughts:

FORM

1. Internal Canvas Form - Forms are honestly the best way to work with validations. If you set validations in your form (using mixes of formulas like regexMatch(), or number based validations) they will still be available in your form located in the canvas and users will not be able to submit the form until they format your information correctly.
2. External Linked Form - You can simply place a button in your Coda doc that links directly to the external form (so those using the Coda doc still have quick/easy access to the form) and then all your validations will be in place including the ability to use your hidden or unhidden pre-filled links.

Add Row Button

1. Create an add row button in a single row table that adds a row to your target table. You could then set certain validations into the “disable if” criteria in that button. The button would then not be able to add a row until your users have inputted all the correct information. You could then use conditional formatting or change the text of the button itself to give clues as to what errors your users might have in their data inputs.

Value for New Rows

1. You can also set a “value for new rows” so every time a new row is created an automatic value in inputted in there and you can ensure that it is the one you want.

Let me know if you have any more questions! Feel free to share a doc with me as well and I can poke around and give more tips when I have more context as to the problem you are trying to solve.