Submitted by jimspoon on 2024/03/08 08:04

Just getting started with Related Items.  Just as an example, I have a grid listing my flash memory cards, and other grids showing lists of devices in which the cards can be installed.  In my grid of flash memory cards, I'd like to be able to see the device in which each card is installed; and in my grids containing lists of devices, I'd like to be able to see the flash memory card it has installed.  Ideally, the Flash Memory Cards grid would have an "Installed In" column, and the Device Grids would have an "Installed Memory Card" column, but it would be reciprocal, e.g. when the Installed In field is filled in the Flash Memory Card grid, a corresponding entry would be made automatically in the "installed memory card" column in the Device grid.  I couldn't think of a way to do this (maybe an equation or an auto-assign, haven't thought that out, but I did experiment with Related Items.

I guess this would be a lot like Related Items, except that instead of appearing in a Related Items column for an item, the hyperlinks would appear in a different column, e.g. an "Device Installed In" field/column in the Flash Memory Cards grid, and a "Flash Memory Card Installed" field/column in the Device grid.  The difference between this and the "Related Items" column is that such fields/columns would be for a specific defined relationship between the two items.

Comments

Hi Jim,

That kind of relationship is not supported in IQ, but you can certainly use Related Items to link a card with a device. It is a good way to link things together. When moving a card, you'd need to remove the link and add a new link though

The other methods that comes to mind is using tags or better still use item hierarchy (device >> card). The ItemParent field and/or the Properties pane would give you where a card is installed. Moving a card is just a matter of drag-drop

HTH!

That's one of the great things about IQ, there are so many different ways to accomplish a desired goal.  You just have to think and experiment and find which one works best for the purpose, or "good enough".   I was just thinking for this particular purpose, it would be good to show just the two columns, Card and Device.  Best way to accomplish this - a form which would then be used for a column set?  But proliferation of forms and finding the form you want from a long list would be a problem.  Or a grid just for this purpose - of course proliferation of grids and finding the right grid can be a problem too.  Right now I'm thinking the grid is a better solution than a form, because IQ's organizational tools seem better for grids (Manage Grids dialog, NavBar) are stronger for Grids than for Forms.  

I could also Hide/Unhide all the other columns but that's a lot of work every time I want to show only a very few columns, better to have a "permanent" solution.

One possibility would be the ability to define column sets that be specific to each grid.  They could appear in the Column > Column Sets menu.  Right now in this menu I see only Native Column Set, From Forms, From Grids.  There could also be a section for specially defined sets, that would not have to be a Form or a Grid.  For example, in my use case, there could be a menu option that would simply say "Card, Device".  Click that option and your grid would then show only those two columns.

 

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