I worked on this for close to six hours yesterday and cannot get this to work. I used both Coda ai and Claude ai. Claude finally told me I would need to reach out. I have a master task list with a days after start column, university, class, task name, notes, activity type. We tried so many different things to trouble shoot using the coda videos as well. The closest I could get to making this work is I clicked the button and all tasks came over into one row and then the formula was copied into all other areas. I shot a video to make this easier for you to see the issue. Much of what I tried that should work would often grey out the button or create an error message. This is the closest I could come to getting this to work.
Here is the button formula: I choose the class from a drop down, then choose the start date from a date picker, then add any specific notes, and click the Start Course button.
The issue is with the formula in the button certainly. Would it be OK to share the doc (without data or dummy) so we from the community could quickly update it and make sure it works as expected?
(Someone might be able to answer straight away, but I personally prefer to test it, if possible)
Hi Stefan - Thanks for reaching out. This is frustrating partly because I’ve been building my own setup in Notion for five years and now need something that will allow more options and flexibility. I should be able to figure this out. I have shared the doc and allowed for editing. https://coda.io/d/_dpiuGwQICsh/Course-Activity_su1XJuoM
The issue was with the button formula. For some unknown reason, instead of selecting the column from the Course Actions table, it was selecting the data, causing the formula to fail.
In the image below, you can see the difference: the first three columns represent the correct setup, while the last three columns show the incorrect one. I’m not sure how you ended up with this behavior, because once a column is fixed, I wasn’t able to replicate the issue of separating the table and the column as they appear.
I have a few tips based on other things I quickly noticed:
Status Column: Instead of formatting the status directly within the formula, I suggest creating a dedicated table for statuses. In this table, you can define the text style for each status. In the Course Actions table, use a formula to retrieve the corresponding row from the statuses table based on the current status. This approach makes the formatting more modular and easier to manage.
Master Task List Table: In the Class List column, consider using a relation instead of a select list. Since you already have a Class table, replicating its values in a select list is redundant. By using a relation, you can establish a direct link between the Master Task and Class tables. This ensures that any updates to the Class table are automatically reflected in the Master Task table. Additionally, this approach helps avoid missing values—for example, the HRM 301 class is in the select list of the Master Task table but not in the ClassName table.
If you have difficulty making these updates, let me know, and I’ll be happy to assist you. I didn’t make changes to your document because this is different from what you initially requested, and I didn’t want to make changes without informing you first.
Thank you Arnhold. I did start with a relation but then talked myself into the subtable instead. This helps a great deal and I appreciate the tips for future builds.
