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Add a Timeline to a Form

Goal​

Put a timeline on a form. A timeline lists the records of other tables that point at the record you have open, newest first. On a customer, that is every email, call and note about them in one column.

Prerequisites​

  • You are signed in with a maker (or platform administrator) role.
  • You have a form open in the Form Designer (see Create a Form).
  • Another table points at this one. A timeline lists records that are about this one, so some table needs a lookup to this table: a single-table lookup, or a multi-table lookup with this table among its targets. If none does yet, add that lookup first.

Steps​

  1. In the Form Designer, find the row the timeline should sit in, and select Add timeline next to Add section. A section titled Timeline is added and selected. It already reads the first table that points here.
  2. In the Properties panel, check its source:
    • Table: which table it lists.
    • Points here through: the lookup on that table that points at this one. Only lookups that can point here are offered.
    • Date: what the items are ordered by, newest first. Any date field works, including Created On.
    • Title: what each item is headed with.
    • Text (optional): a field whose opening words show under the title.
    • Type (optional): a Choice field that tells the table's records apart, such as Email, Phone call or Note. When set, each item takes its option's icon and colour, the timeline offers one filter per option, and New offers one entry per option, already set to it.
    • Status (optional): a field shown beside each item's date.
  3. To list a second table as well, select Add source. Its records are merged with the first's by date.
  4. Choose Items before Load more if 20 is not right for this form.
  5. Give the section a title and an icon like any other section, and set its width in the row.
  6. Select Save.

What happens behind the scenes​

The timeline is saved in the form definition as the section's timeline: the tables it reads and which field plays which part. When the form is saved, and when a solution carrying it is imported, every name is checked against the environment. A timeline naming a table or field that is not there, or a date field that is not a date, is refused. It is never shown empty, because an empty timeline would read as "nothing has happened with this customer".

In the app, the timeline reads each source table as the person looking at it. Records their role cannot read are not shown, and a table they cannot read at all is left out. A timeline never shows somebody a record they could not open anyway.

A section is either fields or a timeline, never both, so you cannot drop fields into a timeline section.

Troubleshooting​

  • There is no Add timeline button. The designer is still loading which tables point here; it appears once that list arrives.
  • The panel says no table points at this one. Give another table a lookup to this table, then reopen the form.
  • Saving says a timeline's "date" must be a Date and Time field. The Date part names a field that is not a date. Pick another in the panel.
  • A field you deleted disappeared from a timeline. Deleting a field takes it out of every timeline that used it. An optional part is simply dropped. A source that lost its Points here through, Date or Title is removed, and the section stays behind for you to fill in again.