Visual Builder provides an alternate way to create and update apps. You can create tables, add fields, and connect relationships, all by dragging and dropping items onto the canvas.

You can test out configurations to determine the best data model for an app.

Note that when working with an existing app, changes in Visual Builder are saved immediately. When first trying out Visual Builder with an existing app, you may want to use a copy of your app.

Current limitations

Visual builder does not currently support the following:

Connected tables. You cannot use Visual Builder to add connected tables. The Visual Builder shows existing connected tables in your app and you can add normal fields, but you cannot add connected fields, make modifications to connected fields or adjust connection properties.

Summary fields and lookup fields. Visual Builder may add some lookup fields for you automatically during relationship creation, but you cannot currently use Visual Builder to add summary fields or lookup fields to a relationship. You can exit Visual Builder to edit the relationship, adding summary fields or adding or editing lookup fields.

Cross-app relationships. Currently you can’t create cross-app relationships. While editing an existing app, a cross-app relationship is shown with a dashed line.

Formula field properties. You can use Visual Builder to add formula field types to your tables, but currently you cannot create or edit formulas or change other properties within Visual Builder.

Number of tables limited to 80. Currently, if you try to open an existing app with 80 or more tables, a message appears preventing you from opening the app in Visual Builder. If you are using Visual Builder and add an 80th table to your app, a message appears preventing you from adding that table.

What is a relationship?

A relationship is an association, or connection, between two tables.

When you relate two tables, you save time because you don't need to enter the same info over and over in separate tables.

Projects have multiple tasks, a company could have multiple locations, or several books can be written by the same author.

Why use a relationship?

For example:

When entering a new company, it would be nice to enter all the contacts who work there. Or, when entering a new contact, to also pick the company they're with.

You can use a relationship to do this. Instead of creating new fields for company info on the contacts form, you can simply connect info from a Companies table right into the Contacts form.

And you can summarize all the info from Contacts to display in Companies, for instance, the number of Contacts.

Almost every Quick Base app has several relationships.

Benefits of relationships

When you relate two tables you:

Save time because you don’t need to enter the same data over and over in separate tables.

Reduce the risk of data-entry errors.

Can summarize data from a related table.

What happens once you create a relationship

When you create a relationship, you’re telling Quick Base to connect a single record in one table (called the parent table) to many records in the other table (called the child table).

This is called a one-to-many relationship.

In a relationship in Quick Base, the table on the "one" side is called the parent table and the table on the "many" side is called the child table.

One-to-many

It’s easy to think of real-world examples of one-to-many relationships:

A business has many locations.

A project has many tasks.

One cat may have many kittens.

You get the idea. These are all examples of one-to-many relationships.

For example

If there is a one-to-many relationship between a Companies table and a Contacts table, when your employee enters a new contact, the new contact info can be related to an existing customer.

The company name and related info come directly from the Companies table.

For each additional contact, there’s never a need to re-enter company info. And if the company info changes, it’s automatically updated in all the related contact records.

Relationship magic!

When you create a relationship between two tables, Quick Base performs some additional magic behind the scenes that transforms each table in useful ways.

Example:

After you relate the Contacts table to the Companies table, you can see a list of contacts for that company and enter new contacts directly from the Company form.

Another bit of magic you can perform with relationships is to summarize information from the child records on the parent record.

Example:

You can summarize the number of contacts for each customer.

Awesome power!

Let’s dig a little deeper to show the awesome power of related tables.

Keep in mind that while a relationship is created between two tables, it’s actually the records in the tables that form the relationship. So, for example, each Company record has many Contact records.

Also note that a parent table can have more than one child table. A company can have many contacts, but also many activities, and many documents.

A table can be on both sides of a relationship. For example, a country can be the parent to many states, and a state can be the parent to many cities. In this case, a States table is both a parent table and a child table.

Are you feeling the power?

As you learn more about table-to-table relationships, you’ll start to see the remarkable power of this concept and how it can help you create apps that can facilitate complex workflows and business logic.

To create relationships between tables, click and drag the relationship icon on a table:

Visual Builder provides an alternate way to create and update apps. You can create tables, add fields, and connect relationships, all by dragging and dropping items onto the canvas.

You can test out configurations to determine the best data model for an app.

Note that when working with an existing app, changes in Visual Builder are saved immediately. When first trying out Visual Builder with an existing app, you may want to use a copy of your app.

Current limitations

Visual builder does not currently support the following:

Connected tables. You cannot use Visual Builder to add connected tables. The Visual Builder shows existing connected tables in your app and you can add normal fields, but you cannot add connected fields, make modifications to connected fields or adjust connection properties.

Summary fields and lookup fields. Visual Builder may add some lookup fields for you automatically during relationship creation, but you cannot currently use Visual Builder to add summary fields or lookup fields to a relationship. You can exit Visual Builder to edit the relationship, adding summary fields or adding or editing lookup fields.

Cross-app relationships. Currently you can’t create cross-app relationships. While editing an existing app, a cross-app relationship is shown with a dashed line.

Formula field properties. You can use Visual Builder to add formula field types to your tables, but currently you cannot create or edit formulas or change other properties within Visual Builder.

Number of tables limited to 80. Currently, if you try to open an existing app with 80 or more tables, a message appears preventing you from opening the app in Visual Builder. If you are using Visual Builder and add an 80th table to your app, a message appears preventing you from adding that table.

What is a relationship?

A relationship is an association, or connection, between two tables.

When you relate two tables, you save time because you don't need to enter the same info over and over in separate tables.

Projects have multiple tasks, a company could have multiple locations, or several books can be written by the same author.

Why use a relationship?

For example:

When entering a new company, it would be nice to enter all the contacts who work there. Or, when entering a new contact, to also pick the company they're with.

You can use a relationship to do this. Instead of creating new fields for company info on the contacts form, you can simply connect info from a Companies table right into the Contacts form.

And you can summarize all the info from Contacts to display in Companies, for instance, the number of Contacts.

Almost every Quick Base app has several relationships.

Benefits of relationships

When you relate two tables you:

Save time because you don’t need to enter the same data over and over in separate tables.

Reduce the risk of data-entry errors.

Can summarize data from a related table.

What happens once you create a relationship

When you create a relationship, you’re telling Quick Base to connect a single record in one table (called the parent table) to many records in the other table (called the child table).

This is called a one-to-many relationship.

In a relationship in Quick Base, the table on the "one" side is called the parent table and the table on the "many" side is called the child table.

One-to-many

It’s easy to think of real-world examples of one-to-many relationships:

A business has many locations.

A project has many tasks.

One cat may have many kittens.

You get the idea. These are all examples of one-to-many relationships.

For example

If there is a one-to-many relationship between a Companies table and a Contacts table, when your employee enters a new contact, the new contact info can be related to an existing customer.

The company name and related info come directly from the Companies table.

For each additional contact, there’s never a need to re-enter company info. And if the company info changes, it’s automatically updated in all the related contact records.

Relationship magic!

When you create a relationship between two tables, Quick Base performs some additional magic behind the scenes that transforms each table in useful ways.

Example:

After you relate the Contacts table to the Companies table, you can see a list of contacts for that company and enter new contacts directly from the Company form.

Another bit of magic you can perform with relationships is to summarize information from the child records on the parent record.

Example:

You can summarize the number of contacts for each customer.

Awesome power!

Let’s dig a little deeper to show the awesome power of related tables.

Keep in mind that while a relationship is created between two tables, it’s actually the records in the tables that form the relationship. So, for example, each Company record has many Contact records.

Also note that a parent table can have more than one child table. A company can have many contacts, but also many activities, and many documents.

A table can be on both sides of a relationship. For example, a country can be the parent to many states, and a state can be the parent to many cities. In this case, a States table is both a parent table and a child table.

Are you feeling the power?

As you learn more about table-to-table relationships, you’ll start to see the remarkable power of this concept and how it can help you create apps that can facilitate complex workflows and business logic.

To create relationships between tables, click and drag the relationship icon on a table:

Visual Builder provides an alternate way to create and update apps. You can create tables, add fields, and connect relationships, all by dragging and dropping items onto the canvas.

You can test out configurations to determine the best data model for an app.

Note that when working with an existing app, changes in Visual Builder are saved immediately. When first trying out Visual Builder with an existing app, you may want to use a copy of your app.

Current limitations

Visual builder does not currently support the following:

Connected tables. You cannot use Visual Builder to add connected tables. The Visual Builder shows existing connected tables in your app and you can add normal fields, but you cannot add connected fields, make modifications to connected fields or adjust connection properties.

Summary fields and lookup fields. Visual Builder may add some lookup fields for you automatically during relationship creation, but you cannot currently use Visual Builder to add summary fields or lookup fields to a relationship. You can exit Visual Builder to edit the relationship, adding summary fields or adding or editing lookup fields.

Cross-app relationships. Currently you can’t create cross-app relationships. While editing an existing app, a cross-app relationship is shown with a dashed line.

Formula field properties. You can use Visual Builder to add formula field types to your tables, but currently you cannot create or edit formulas or change other properties within Visual Builder.

Number of tables limited to 80. Currently, if you try to open an existing app with 80 or more tables, a message appears preventing you from opening the app in Visual Builder. If you are using Visual Builder and add an 80th table to your app, a message appears preventing you from adding that table.

What is a relationship?

A relationship is an association, or connection, between two tables.

When you relate two tables, you save time because you don't need to enter the same info over and over in separate tables.

Projects have multiple tasks, a company could have multiple locations, or several books can be written by the same author.

Why use a relationship?

For example:

When entering a new company, it would be nice to enter all the contacts who work there. Or, when entering a new contact, to also pick the company they're with.

You can use a relationship to do this. Instead of creating new fields for company info on the contacts form, you can simply connect info from a Companies table right into the Contacts form.

And you can summarize all the info from Contacts to display in Companies, for instance, the number of Contacts.

Almost every Quick Base app has several relationships.

Benefits of relationships

When you relate two tables you:

Save time because you don’t need to enter the same data over and over in separate tables.

Reduce the risk of data-entry errors.

Can summarize data from a related table.

What happens once you create a relationship

When you create a relationship, you’re telling Quick Base to connect a single record in one table (called the parent table) to many records in the other table (called the child table).

This is called a one-to-many relationship.

In a relationship in Quick Base, the table on the "one" side is called the parent table and the table on the "many" side is called the child table.

One-to-many

It’s easy to think of real-world examples of one-to-many relationships:

A business has many locations.

A project has many tasks.

One cat may have many kittens.

You get the idea. These are all examples of one-to-many relationships.

For example

If there is a one-to-many relationship between a Companies table and a Contacts table, when your employee enters a new contact, the new contact info can be related to an existing customer.

The company name and related info come directly from the Companies table.

For each additional contact, there’s never a need to re-enter company info. And if the company info changes, it’s automatically updated in all the related contact records.

Relationship magic!

When you create a relationship between two tables, Quick Base performs some additional magic behind the scenes that transforms each table in useful ways.

Example:

After you relate the Contacts table to the Companies table, you can see a list of contacts for that company and enter new contacts directly from the Company form.

Another bit of magic you can perform with relationships is to summarize information from the child records on the parent record.

Example:

You can summarize the number of contacts for each customer.

Awesome power!

Let’s dig a little deeper to show the awesome power of related tables.

Keep in mind that while a relationship is created between two tables, it’s actually the records in the tables that form the relationship. So, for example, each Company record has many Contact records.

Also note that a parent table can have more than one child table. A company can have many contacts, but also many activities, and many documents.

A table can be on both sides of a relationship. For example, a country can be the parent to many states, and a state can be the parent to many cities. In this case, a States table is both a parent table and a child table.

Are you feeling the power?

As you learn more about table-to-table relationships, you’ll start to see the remarkable power of this concept and how it can help you create apps that can facilitate complex workflows and business logic.

To create relationships between tables, click and drag the relationship icon on a table: