Input tables
Let people enter data into a dashboard or app, and chart it as it arrives.
Some of what a dashboard or app needs has no source to connect: targets, statuses, notes, the lists everything else is measured against. An input table collects those. Flitch creates and stores it for you, so there is no database to set up.
How one is created
Two ways, and they produce the same kind of table.
Create it yourself
Add the table
In Data, Add and pick Input table under Quick start. Name it and name its columns.
Use it in a dashboard or app
Select it as a data source the way you would any dataset. It belongs to your space, so more than one dashboard or app can collect into it.
Fill it in
Add rows in Data, or in the dashboard or app once it has entry controls.
Let Flitch create it
Describe it
Say what people need to record, for example "let the team log inspections and show what is outstanding". This works when you build a dashboard or app and when you ask for a change to one you already have.
Build
Flitch creates the table, adds the entry controls, and starts it empty.
Fill it in
Add rows in the dashboard or app itself, or in Data under the dashboard or app that collects them.
A table Flitch creates this way belongs to that dashboard or app. One you create yourself belongs to your space, so any dashboard or app in it can read and add entries.
Entering data
Rows can be added, edited and deleted wherever the dashboard or app appears: in the editor, in its Data tab, and on the published page.
Every change records who made it and when. Deletes are recoverable, and an edit made against a row someone else has already changed is refused rather than quietly overwriting them.
Who can enter data
| Can read | Can enter | |
|---|---|---|
| You and your team | Yes | Yes |
| Signed-in viewer of a published dashboard or app | Yes | Yes |
| Anyone with a public link, not signed in | Yes | No |
Entries are never anonymous, so a public link cannot be written to by someone the page cannot identify.
Using the data
An input table is a dataset like any other. It appears in Data, charts alongside your connected sources, and can be read by another dashboard, report or app.
Rows can also be added and edited from your own application over the API, which is how an external or offline client writes back into a dashboard or app.
Input tables start empty unless you state the values you want in them. That is deliberate: an entry cannot be told apart from one a person typed, and no source is coming along to replace it.
Storage
Every plan includes storage for data entry, and paid plans scale it per member. The Data tab in the editor shows how many entries a table holds. See pricing for the current allowance.
Removing one
Deleting the dataset removes the entries and their history, and cannot be undone. Removing the table from the code of the dashboard or app does not delete it: entries people have made are kept, and the dataset stays in Data.