Input tables
Let people enter data into a dashboard, and chart it as it arrives.
Some of what a dashboard 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 with the dashboard, so there is no database to set up.
How one is created
You do not add an input table the way you add a data source. Describe what you want to track when you build the dashboard, and Flitch creates the table and the controls to fill it in together.
Describe it
Say what people need to record, for example "let the team log inspections and show what is outstanding".
Build
Flitch creates the table, gives the dashboard the entry controls, and starts it empty.
Fill it in
Add rows in the dashboard itself, or in Data under the dashboard that collects them.
Entering data
Rows can be added, edited and deleted wherever the dashboard appears: in the editor, in its Data tab, and on the published dashboard.
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 | 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 dashboard 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.
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.
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 dashboard's Data tab 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 dashboard's code does not delete it: entries people have made are kept, and the dataset stays in Data.