Hey there. I made this topic to share weird things happening in Coda.
Here is what I suspect to be a bug, at least, the error is funny.
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Every time I run into these shenanigans, I try reversing the order. Effectively =RowId(thisRow) becomes =thisRow.RowId(). I’m not sure what Coda internally sees as different about the two statements, but it’s certainly one of the weird examples corner!
Good observation! @maria (our resident Education expert) has been building content around our formula syntax (with a bent towards what we call “chaining vs. wrapping” - some details here). The two statements you showed produce the same result - but using chaining in longer formulas like the one shared above makes them much simpler to parse.
@tomavatars what are you trying to accomplish with your formula?
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@evan @maria It would be really useful to be able to see more detail on how the chaining/wrapping dynamics work. It’s one of the things I find most frustrating when trying to write formulas and the logic behind it is nebulous to me. Please let us know when that’s available.
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Hey there, thanks for the replies. I much agree with @cnr, we need more examples. A ready to use complex formula page will be great along with more contextual formulas examples in the formula help page.
@evan this screenshot shows the step where I couldn’t focus anymore on my goal because I was lost in the limbo of rage formula 
. I can’t remember what I tried to make but I think it had something to do with my timer function. I wanted to use checkbox to trigger a timer. Problem is that I want to be able to only have one checkbox of a column that has a true value. I was somewhere lost in this quest 
@tomavatars I don’t see your screenshot
Edit: It’s the one in the top post
Stay tuned! I’m working on it now so it can be available ASAP. Glad to know it will be helpful!
The one in the top post
Just wanted to follow up @cnr that the new formula series is up and running in the Learn tab! I’d love for you to check it out and hear your feedback!
@maria, just got back around to this. Yes, it’s much better! I just did them and they were all incredibly helpful. Has some of the syntax changed since you guys released? Or is it now just that much cleared to me?
Hi @cnr - no syntax changes on our end - it sounds like you’re just becoming a master! Keep us posted!
Hi @maria,
I am having trouble with a certain aspect of Coda that has been a problem for me for a while. But I think it will take a bit to explain the problem I’m having. Mallika even had to step in at one point to help me get around it. I think it’s correct to think of it as a data structuring problem. If I can’t figure it out, I’ll write a little post about how my intuitions are failing me and hopefully you guys have a way to force my mindset into the right structure. I’ll get back to you.
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