Formatting issue in rowlink data captured through a form

[Sankalp]

Hi,
I have been trying to enter Names of Task Owners in our task tracker app through a form.
I am able to capture the data [Task Owner] however the data type in the spreadhseet is captured as plain text and not as a contact. Which leads to issues in triggering other filters in the app.

I have configured [Task Owner] as a rowlink to values in another sheet, Owners in which the [Owner Names] are configured as data type Contact.

Attached is a screenshot of the sheet with field [Task Owner].
I am also facing a problem with the [Status] field, wherein there is no active rowlink, if i use the set initial value of the field [Status] in the form. By default the field is set to "Not Started"
Note: The values in Field [Task Owner] that have an active rowlink have been edited manually in the spreadsheet.

Also below is the screenshot of the automation screen configuration for both fields ... Task Owner and Status

Please suggest where am I messing up?
Thanks.

Moderator note: Edited out personal information from the images.

[Alyssa]

Hi @Sankalp,

Thanks for posting! I'm happy to help you with your screen.

For the "Task Owner" and "Status" input fields, you'll want the data cells to each be set up as a Rowlink format to the desired tables. That way the user can select the exact values from a picklist, and it stores the data as a rowlink properly.

And if you'd like the initial value of the status to be the "Not Started" value from a "Status" table, you will want to set that with FindRow(). So the formula would look like:
=FINDROW(Status, "Status[Status]=%", "Not Started")

I've set this up to show you:

For the owner input field, I've set the data cell properties to editable, and made it a rowlink to a "People" table:

The "People" table has a column that is formatted to "Contact":

The "Status" data cell is also editable, and I made it a rowlink to a "Status" table.

This is the "Status" table:

And for the other part you asked about with setting the initial value of the "Status" data cell, you'll set the value with FindRow():

With all of the above set up, when you click the "Done" button and write the input values to the new row, they will write correctly with the rowlink data rather than strings.

[Sankalp]

Hi @Alyssa ,
Thanks for your reply.
I tried your solution.

1. The use of FINDROW to set initial value for the "Status" data cell worked well.
2. In the case where I am using Rowlink datatype of "People" or in my case "Task Owners" similar to how you've set it up in your reply, I am not facing any problems in populating the picklist and selecting from there. However when we write the data from variable "$[Task Owner]" to the table in field [Task Owners] it is captured as a string and not a contact. Need help in fixing this!

Thanks again.

[Alyssa]

Hi @Sankalp,

I'm happy that the FindRow() solution worked for the initial value.

In regards to your Task Owner variable, could you provide me with a screenshot of your table that stores the task owners and also a screenshot of the data cell properties of the $[Task Owner] variable on your screen (of the Display tab in the Properties)?

[Sankalp]

Hi @Alyssa,

Please find below the screenshot of the table with task owners.

And here is the $[Task Owner] data cell properties

Thank you for your support.

[Alyssa]

Hi @Sankalp,

Thanks for the screenshots -

It looks like the data cell is properly formatted as a rowlink. And if you are able to successfully select values from the picklist in the app, then that variable would be storing the rowlink data properly (rather than a string).

That means that the issue may be in the automation set up. I would double-check the automation step that writes the data has the variable typed correctly, and also ensure that there aren't any other steps in the automation that may need fixed or that are overwriting the value. (Looking at your screenshot of your automation, I'm wondering if the overwrite action step you have after the add new row action may not be needed and could be removed.)

I'll note too that sometimes if I can't pinpoint the exact place in an automation to fix, I'll simply delete the automation and re-create it correctly.

If you're still having trouble, let us know what you tried and what you're seeing, and I can grab some extra eyes.

[Sankalp]

Hi,
So I have managed to work around the issue that rowlinks are giving me in selecting and writing a [Task Owner] to my Tasks table as a Contact datatype and not plain text. I simply formatted the $[Task owner] as a datatype contact and not as a rowlink. This solves my issue of identification of values written as a contact datatype however does not limit my list of contacts to users in my Owners Table. This works well in this scenario where all my users are there in the Owners table however could pose issues in other scenarios where I want to limit users to a picklist. Hoping we are able to find a solution around this one too eventually.