Using data from one database as a multi-select dropdown on a form based on a different database?

[Bree]

I’m brand new to using Adalo and learning more every moment, but I’ve come across a problem I haven’t been able to easily solve, I hope someone can help me. And please be gentle, I am a total noob.

I’m creating a Employee Performance Management app, to simplify the process for employers.

So, I have a collection called Activities and a collection called Competencies.

To achieve a Competency, the user needs to complete a number of Activities.

Activities can apply to multiple Competencies, so this is a many-to-many relationship.

What I want to do is this:

Create a new Competency and select only the relevant Activities from a list of all Activities to connect to the new Competency.

It is something that is easily done from within the database, but I can’t work out how to build the fields on a form that will do the same thing.

If it’s of interest, I have downloaded the Multi-Select Dropdown component, would this be of use in this situation?

I would love a step-by-step of how I might create the competency/activities form.

Thanks in advance!

Newbie Bree.

[pfdemai]

Hello Bree and welcome to Adalo

The multi-select dropdonw component would indeed be useful in your case.
But for your form to work you would need the activities to be created already in order to be able to display them in your dropdown list.

I see two ways to do so:

• Activities are already created and listed in a collection, which you can link to your multiselect dropdown so when your users create a new competency they just have to select the different activities they want to link to that competency.

• Activities are also created by your users since they can differ from a company to another I imagine. Then the easiest way would be the other way around. Your user start by creating a new competency. Then he creates the different activities needed to acquire that competency and links it to the competency he created. Obviously if they had to do this process many times they would then be able to retrieve the different activities linked to a competency to avoid creating them everytime.

In order to be able to help you through the creation of the form we would first need to make sure how you want things to work !

Hope I managed to make this understandable

[Bree]

Thanks so much for your reply!

The users will create activities, yes. I am happy for them to create the competency first and then create the activity if that is an easier method. But how do I build the form so they can link the activity to the competency?

And is it possible to still use the multi-select dropdown in that case?

Cheers

Bree

[pfdemai]

Ok so here’s a suggestion of how I would do it:

Let’s say you have a button “Add competency” on the employee page.

This button would lead to a page with a basic dropdown menu displaying all the different competencies available (“Competencies” collection).

You select the competency wanted in the dropdown, click on a validation button that will add the competency to the user’s page (“User” collection or “employee” collection, “competencies” field).

Now if this competency hasn’t been yet created by the employer, you can display on that same page a “Create new competency” button. Clicking this button will lead to a page/modal with a basic form to create a new competency asking for example for the name of the competency and a quick description of it (“Competencies” collection).

After sending your form, you’re back to your add competency page with the competency just created displayed in your dropdown list. Select it, validate, it’s been added to your employee.

Now regarding the activities.
You could create a page displaying the details of a competency.
This is where your activies could be showing.

A button “Add activities” would lead to a page with your multi-select dropdown displaying all the activities available for this competency (“Activities” collection, filtered by current competency).

As for the competencies, if one of the activity is not yet created, on the page with your multi-select dropdown, you could have a button “Create activity” leading to a basic form to create your acitivity with fields like name and description as well (“Activities” collection).

After sending your form, you’re back to your add activities page with the acitivity just created displayed in your mutli-select dropdown list. Once the activities selected, validate* and back to your competency detail page with the activities displayed.

*Only specificity with the multi-select dropdown, it triggers the action as you’re selecting or deselecting an option. You have to set it up in the component parameters when creating it. Still displaying a validation button gives your user the idea that he does the action but your information has already been updated to your database.

Let me know if this is useful

[Bree]

It was extremely useful, thank you so much!
Although in the end it was even less complicated than I expected!
Here is how I set up the screen:

with these details in the Multi Dropdown component:

And it output like this:

You can select the Activities from the Multi Dropdown and see them update on the Capability in real time - it’s very cool!!
I could probably refine it a little more, so the dropdown shows the ones that are already connected, but at the moment, this is quite sufficient.
But I could not have done it without you, so thank you.
Bree.

[pfdemai]

Glad I could help

All my best for your app creation journey !