Data Tables

An overview on data tables

In this article, we will discuss data tables, their uses, how to manage data in them, and the changes that can be made to them.

What is a data table?

In Quixy, A data table is a storage space that is primarily used to store information captured in an application; it resembles an excel sheet with column headers, as shown in the image below.

A data table can store not just data taken in an application, but also data entered and stored manually. For example, if you want to store all of your employee's information such as their name, phone number, address, and so on, you can create a data table and manually enter the information in it.

It is not required that data entered in an application be stored only in a data table; if no data table has been created and linked to an application, the data entered in the application will be automatically stored as app data in the Quixy platform.

A data table will not be created automatically as you build the application; instead, you must manually create a data table and then connect it to an application using data table functions so that the data entered in the application is stored in it.

How to establish a relation between a data table and application?

In data tables, we have a concept called data table functions which are used to connect an application to a data table and manage data in a data table. In computing language these data table functions are also called as CRUD functions.

The data table functions which are present in Quixy platform are:

Get: This function will help you fetch the data present in a data table onto an application.

Add: This function will help you store the data entered in an application in the data table.

Update: This function will help you replace the data of an exiting record with new data that is already present in the data table.

Delete: This function will help you delete an existing data record from the data table.

Add or Update: This function is a combination of Add and Update, this will help you replace data of an existing record with new data or if the data is entirely new, it will save a new record.

Immediately after you create a data table, the platform will ask your permission to automatically create CRUD functions, which you can then edit and change.

Creating the data table functions is just a initial step in connecting the app to a data table. The next step is to create the app data functions in the app to finish establishing a complete relation between an app and a data table.

Why do you need a data table?

To optimize every business process on a daily basis, we need relevant data stored in a central location from which we can evaluate and draw conclusions. In Quixy, a data table is the central location to store all the relevant data.

For example, You have a company supplying your customers worldwide with cement material for which you created an application in Quixy to receive orders from your customers. Now, you can use a data table to store information like the order information, the name of the person who has put the order, the value of the order and so on in an application, and at the end of each month the data present in the data table can be analysed to understand how many orders you received over a month and how much you received orders from each customer and its value.

What is the difference between a data table and a data source?

In Quixy, data tables act as a primary data storage area to store the information captured in an application or retrieve the data into an application from the data table. Whereas, data source is an amalgamation of data tables and is mainly used to create reports, list screens (actionable reports) and Reference (to fetch data from two or more data tables into an application).

As we are talking about fetching data from data table and data source on to an application, You can fetch data which is captured in an application, let us say app A, into another application, let us say app B. You need to first store the information captured in app A in a data table, let us say data table A. Now, to retrieve the data from data table A into the app B, you need to place a reference element in the app B and call the data present in the data table A.

Relational Database

A relational database is a collection of information that stores data in one or more tables (or "relations") with columns and rows. This makes it easy to see how different data structures relate to each other. Relationships are logical links between tables that are set up by how the tables interact with each other. Learn More...

Connected Records field in the data table allows you to link (Foreign-Key Relations) and organize your data in a more efficient way in your data tables. It will allow citizen developers to preserve the referential integrity of the entire database. Foreign keys also benefit end users by eliminating errors and enhancing the efficiency of any operation that retrieves data from indexed foreign key-linked tables. 

On a technical level, a foreign key is a constraint that binds a column in one table (table_1.column_a) to a column in another table (table_2.column_b) and assures that a value can only be added to column_a if the identical value already exists in column_b.

EXAMPLE

For example, a data table of Orders, for instance, may contain a User column with a foreign key attribute that links it to the User Id column in a User's data table. Thus, each entry in the Orders table can be associated with a specific user from the User’s table, and no orders can enter the system unless they are associated with a genuine user. 

The working process

Manage a data table

You can view a data table.
You can edit a data table.
You can copy a data table.
You can delete a data table.

Here are some best practices that you need to follow while creating the data tables to get the best experience while using this feature.

To get a visual understanding on the data table, refer to the video below.