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Builder Guide
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Tables & Connections
Plan Your Connections: Complex Example
Working With Tables
About Connections
Plan Your Connections: Simple Example
Connection Types
Plan Your Tables
Use Connections in Your App
Connecting Records Together
Special Tables
Connections: Troubleshooting & FAQs
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CSV Format Guide for Importing
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Source: Which Records Will the View Display
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How do I cancel my Knack account?
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App Building
How do I show multiple dates on a calendar?
How do I add a logo to my app?
How do I find the most recent date from a connected table?
How do I create a field that always shows today's date?
Can I share or connect data between apps?
How do I create an "If, Then" or conditional equation?
How do I merge my apps, or copy pages, tables, or other app elements between my apps?
The menu isn't showing for my app on mobile devices. How do I fix that?
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How can I show a customer's payment history if I'm collecting payments through my Knack app and through cash or check?
Is there a way to add a display rule to multiple columns at one time instead of having to update each column individually?
Do I need a separate user role table for my Vendors, Customers, Employees, Contacts, etc.?
How can I set up my app so users see only their own data?
Can I combine two date fields into a single date field? For example, combining a start and end date into a single field?
Does Knack offer a service for building apps or have developers I can hire?
How do I bulk upload or import multiple images?
How can I change the color of something in my app?
Is it possible to display more than 100 records at a time on a grid, list, or search view?
Can I?
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Other
How secure is Knack?
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Does Knack offer a partner program?
How does Knack work on mobile devices? Is it mobile-friendly? Can users download my apps?
Is Knack GDPR compliant?
Storing sensitive data (credit cards, social security numbers, etc.)
Will Knack sign an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement)?
Which browsers do you support?
How do I batch download all of the images and files In my app?
Imports
I'm seeing an odd character when importing data. How can I get rid of it?
How do I update existing data using an import?
My import is failing or getting stuck. What do I do?
Can I undo or reverse an import?
I'm having trouble importing into a specific type of field. What can I do?
Some of my fields aren't importing correctly. How can I fix that?
I'm having trouble importing into a connection field. What can I do?
Can I import something other than data? Like tables, pages, views, etc?
My import is taking a long time. Can you take a look?
I'm getting an error when importing. What do I do?
Do the validation rules on fields trigger when importing data?
Can I schedule or automate imports?
Can my users import data from the live app, instead of going through the builder/back-end?
I am importing data for the first time. How do I do that?
Can I import data into more than one table at the same time?
How To Guides
Add Functionality to Your Live App
How To Create Discount Codes
Create an Add To Favorites Feature
How to Access Private Records Without a Login
Accept Payments in a Live App
Manage Your Records
Use an Edit Form to Create Records If They Don't Exist
Track Which User Last Updated a Record
Copy a Record Using Record Rules
Track When Records are Created and Updated
Create a Version History for Records
Use Zapier to Insert Connected Records
Work with Connected Records
How to Show Multiple Fields in Your Connection Drop-Down
Showing Parent-Child Records in the Live App
Forms
How to Create Dynamic Dropdowns in Forms
Add Read-Only Fields to a Form
How to Change the Layout of Forms
Create a Multi-Part Form
How to Allow Users to Add New Options in Forms
How to Add Instructions to a Form
How to Customize the Text on a Submit Button
How to Automatically Capture a User’s Location on a Form
How to Use URL Variables to Pre-Populate a Form
Customize Views
How to Add a Map to a Details View
How to Add Connection Links to Views
How to Add Inline Editing to a Grid
Create a Print-Friendly Invoice Page
How to Click on an Image to Go to Another Page
How to Add Groupings to a Grid
Users & Logins
Force Users to Reset Their Passwords
Save a User's Payment Method
Create a Single Login Page for Multiple User Roles
Add Read-Only Access For Users
Show Records Connected To The Logged-in User's Company Or Other Group
Show Records Connected to the Logged-in User
Create an Admin User Role to View All Records
Workflow & Automations
Add a Pipeline to Your App
Create a Registration Form with Limited Availability
Add Stages to Your App
Store Multiple Images or Files for Individual Records
Use Multiple Image Sources for a Single Image Field
Create a Button or Link that Updates a Field to a Custom Value
Notify a User That an Item is Ready for Review
Add Assignments to Your App
Using Mailchimp
Approve New Records Before Displaying Them
Workflow Tools
Add Notification & Reminder Emails to Your App
Add Status Indicators to Your App
Logic, Equations & Formulas
Start an Auto Increment Field from Any Number
Display a Message When a Deadline is Approaching
Generate Simple Numeric Barcodes Automatically
How to Set a Random ID
Calculate Age in Years from a Birthday
How To Number Line Items
Show Upcoming Birthdays
How to Extract the Start and End Dates from a Date/Time Field
How to Display Multiple Date Formats Using a Single Date Field
Reports, Queries, and Summaries
App Walkthroughs
Build an Inventory Manager App
Build a Quiz App
Build a Warehouse Manager App
Build a Member Directory
Build an Orders App
Build a Map Directory or Store Locator App
Images & Files
Manage Your Account
Manage Your Account
About Knack Accounts
Account Plans and Billing
Managing Your Apps
Managing Your Account Settings
Sharing Apps With Shared Builders
App Settings: Map Provider
Script Attack Protection: Whitelisted Custom Code Elements and Attributes
Script Attack Protection: Protected Areas
Security & Infrastructure
Security Best Practices
Knack Status
Data Locations
Builder Security Settings for All Knack Plans
Builder Two-Factor Authentication
Performance
Table of Contents
- Do I need to add a connection field to both of the tables I want to connect together?
- Which table should I add the connection to?
- Do I need to track unique ID or key fields?
- If I delete a parent record will all the connected child records also be deleted?
- How do I delete a connection?
- My connection field shows as undefined.
- How can I change what field from my connection table displays in the connection field?
- How can I display multiple fields from one table in a connection field?
- What if I need many connection fields between the same two tables? I get an error message when I try to add the second connection field.
- How do I see what type of connection I have?
- All Categories
- Builder Guide
- Tables & Connections
- Connections: Troubleshooting & FAQs
Connections: Troubleshooting & FAQs
Updated
by Lesley
- Do I need to add a connection field to both of the tables I want to connect together?
- Which table should I add the connection to?
- Do I need to track unique ID or key fields?
- If I delete a parent record will all the connected child records also be deleted?
- How do I delete a connection?
- My connection field shows as undefined.
- How can I change what field from my connection table displays in the connection field?
- How can I display multiple fields from one table in a connection field?
- What if I need many connection fields between the same two tables? I get an error message when I try to add the second connection field.
- How do I see what type of connection I have?
Do I need to add a connection field to both of the tables I want to connect together?
No, you only need one connection field to make a connection between two tables. While double connections can be used in rare cases, adding a connection field to both tables can make it difficult to navigate continuing to build and manage your app.
Which table should I add the connection to?
For one-to-many connections, it generally works best to add the connection to the many, or "child" table.
For many-to-many, add the connection to the table that you want to select the connected record from in the Live App. For example, you may have a many-many relationship between Projects and Managers. Which record do you want to edit to connect to the other record? If you want to be able to add Managers to Projects from the Project details page, add the connection field to the Projects table.
See this article about connection types for more details.
Do I need to track unique ID or key fields?
No, Knack manages all the connections behind the scenes without needing key or ID fields.
If I delete a parent record will all the connected child records also be deleted?
No, when deleting a parent record the child records will not be deleted.
How do I delete a connection?
From the Data section in the Builder, select the table whose connection you would like to delete. Locate the connection field among your list of fields, hover your mouse over it the more (...) icon, and click the “Delete” option in the dropdown.
My connection field shows as undefined.
A record in one table is connected, but the connection field shows "Undefined" instead of the connected record.
To fix this, go to the settings tab of your connected table, in the Data section of the Builder. Change the Display Field, save, and change the Display Field back to what you want.
You will now see the connected record display properly in the original table.
How can I change what field from my connection table displays in the connection field?
You can customize what field from a connected table shows in a connection field by updating the display field of the connected table.
How can I display multiple fields from one table in a connection field?
You can customize what field from a connected table shows in a connection field via the display field.
To show multiple fields from one table in the display field, use a text formula to combine the fields into one. The text formula can then be used as the display field. This guide explains the process of setting this up: How to Show Multiple Fields in Your Connection Dropdown
What if I need many connection fields between the same two tables? I get an error message when I try to add the second connection field.
On rare occasions, you may need multiple connection fields between two tables. When you do this, you will receive a caution message before adding the second connection. You can click OK and continue adding the connection.
Please keep in mind that outside of the limited cases mentioned below, we rarely encourage double connections!
Potential cases for multiple connections include:
- Livestock: You want to track the mother and father of a horse or other animal. In this case, you can add two connection fields from Animal back to Animal. The first connection field is called Father, the second connection field is called Mother.
- Students: You want to track two Guardians for each Student. From the Student table, add two connection fields to the Guardian table, renaming them Guardian 1 and Guardian 2.
- Document or Project Roles: You want to track which user from the Employees user role submits, approves, and manages each Project. From the Project table, add three connection fields to the Employees user role, renaming them Submitter, Approver, and Manager.
- The Warehouse Manager example listed in our Complex Example article.
If you’re still unsure, please reach out to us at support@knack.com.
How do I see what type of connection I have?
If you familiarize yourself with one of your apps or are learning from one of our many demo apps, you will want to see how the connections are currently set up.
While in the Data section of your Builder, you can click the connection in the right sidebar of your table to see the relationship type of each connection originating from or going to that table:
You can also click on the connection field to see the type: