Need help creating new page when row is added and link to new page

1

I’m trying to manage a project where I’m making videos. The main table lists the videos our team has to make, along with the statuses. I want to use Coda to also maintain the scripts for the videos, but I don’t see any way to add rich text to the row. As a result, I think I have to make a separate page for each entry.

I’ve set up automation to create a new page with the same name as the task when a “create script” checkbox in the row is modified (although it seems sometimes the automation makes two copies for some reason), but then I want to link to the new page in the original row to maintain the relationship between the two separate pieces. I’ve tried with no luck to make this work in a number of ways, and need some advice.

I tried adding a button to the table and then also to each row to just find the task name, and reverse engineer the URL with Hyperlink() and Concatenate() using “https://coda.io/d/link_to_document/” and the name of the task, but the resulting link is showing as “broken” even though it redirects correctly in the browser. There’s got to be a better way to create this kind of relationship, right? I feel like I’m overthinking this.

Ideally, I could just expand the row in the main table and have a rich text document that my team can collaborate on, but if I have to use a separate page that’s fine. I just want it to work so my team doesn’t have to manually add new entries, then manually create a separate page, then manually link them together.

Thanks for any suggestions!

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In the button functionality, there is an option to “Duplicate Page”. This will also allow you to put the page name in a “results” column. You can set up a template page as a source for the copy, with information that will be the same for all copied pages.

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Hi @Piet_Strydom,

This is exactly what I’ve tried to set up. I’ve duplicated the a template page and can customize the name of the created page, but I don’t see any way to easily populate a link to the newly created page in the same row that generated the page.

Do you know if this is possible? Thanks!

4

HI David,

In the options for the button with Action Duplicate page, there is an optional setting to designate a column as the results column. (Nr 1),

When the new page is created (Nr 3), the name of that page is then recorded in the Results column.

Hope this helps
Piet

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5

Hi @Piet_Strydom,

This is exactly the piece of the puzzle I was missing. Thank you!

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6

Hi Piet,
I was so excited when I read your answer… it would help me achieve what I’m looking for. Unfortunately, the button options I get are different. The section “RESULTS COLUMN” (that you marked with number 1) is not showing. Do you know why? Is it possible Coda modified the function?

7

Hi Giovanni,

Are you creating the button in a table column, or on the canvas? It only gives you the Results Column field when you create a button column.

Regards
Piet

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9

I’m using the button in a column, but since it’s going to run several actions, I was drafting it in the canvas, for ease. After reading your comment, I got rid of the canvas temporary button and worked directly in the table. I worked perfectly.
Thanks a lot for your post.

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10

Hi all! @Piet_Strydom , I’m trying to do exactly this but I’m creating a duplicate page through a page automation.
Eg

  1. User fills out form → Submit
  2. Form populates new row in table
  3. New row in table triggers page automation
  4. Page automation duplicates template page
  5. Page automation emails the user with details, including (hopefully) a link to their new page

I’ve tried using ‘Step 4 result’ in the email text, and this does give a hyperlink, but the link ultimately doesn’t work, eg doesn’t point to the correct page.

Any wisdom available for this use case? Many thanks in advance!

11

Hi Jennifer,

I cannot off-hand think of a way to do that.

Have you thought about adding a canvas column, rather than creating a new page?

Something like the below that I am busy working on:

  1. I create a new row, for the meeting, in this case.
  2. The Meeting Details column is a canvas column, with the new entry option set to the Meeting Template page.
  3. There is a button that will then send an email to the person(s) in the To column. This is not currently fully complete, and it sends the canvas column in the mail as the minutes of the meeting. But you can change the content of the meeting in the button to what you need.

Hopefully that gives you some ideas.

Regards
Piet

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