Issues in mapping fields during Airtable Integration

  • yyossefy
    Asked on August 1, 2019 at 12:58 PM

    I've built a Jotform form and and Airtable base with matching fields, and I'm ready to set up the integration, but there are certain jotform fields that won't let me select their Airtable counterpart. The two jotform validations that are standing out as problematic: email and currency. Any help is appreciated!

    Jotform Thread 1912455 Screenshot
  • John Support Team Lead
    Replied on August 1, 2019 at 2:28 PM

    I have cloned your form and tried to integrate it with my Airtable account. However, I wasn't able to replicate the issue. I have found no issues during the integration as well as mapping the fields.

    I have stripped the other fields and integrated only the fields you've mentioned to see if I will experience the same concern but it seems to work fine on my end.

    1564683907Untitled Screenshot 10

    Here's the pushed data in Airtable:

    1564683987airtable Screenshot 21

    Could you please try generating a new Airtable API key and perform a re-integration with the form? Please let us know if the issue still persists after doing so, so we could check further into it.

  • yyossefy
    Replied on August 1, 2019 at 4:42 PM

    Tried it with a new API key and the same thing happened. I'm noticing that your columns in Airtable aren't validating too (i.e. the second and third columns aren't "currency" columns). Should I turn those into text columns?

  • yyossefy
    Replied on August 1, 2019 at 4:50 PM

    Been playing around in it more and this seems to be the problem: If the field is an "email" or "currency" field type in Airtable, it doesn't allow me to link any Jotform fields. 

    Is there any way for this to be fixed? I would love to keep my airtable field types correct.

  • John Support Team Lead
    Replied on August 1, 2019 at 6:16 PM

    I think it has something to do with the field types you set in the Airtable. I can see that there are mismatches from the fields on your form with the cells on your Airtable. For example, you set the field in the Airtable to only contain Currency values, but you're mapping it to a text field in Jotform. 

    These are Short Text entry fields. Please replace them with a Number field instead:

    1564697540textfields Screenshot 10

    Same with the Email fields on your form. Instead of using a Short Text entry, use an Email element:

    1564697675emailfield Screenshot 21

    Please try that and let us know how it goes.

  • yyossefy
    Replied on August 2, 2019 at 1:10 PM

    That seems to have fixed it! Thanks so much for your help.

    On a separate note, I would love it if it became possible to map Jotform fields onto Airtable linked fields. that would be a huge help

  • John Support Team Lead
    Replied on August 2, 2019 at 1:22 PM

    Good to know that the issue has been resolved.

    On a separate note, I would love it if it became possible to map Jotform fields onto Airtable linked fields. that would be a huge help

    If you mean mapping Jotform fields inside Airtable "Linked fields" like this:

    answers Screenshot 10

    Yes, I believe that that feature could bring great convenience to the users. However, Airtable is a third-party service provider which we have no control of. But, you can raise this request to them via this link: https://community.airtable.com/c/product-suggestions

    But if you're referring to something else, please let us know in detail.

  • yyossefy
    Replied on August 2, 2019 at 2:24 PM

    That's what I was referring to, so thanks, I'll make sure to reach out to Airtable there. 

    I've been continuing to work on this integration and

    have another question now. After I connected all of the Airtable<>Jotform fields, I ran a test and submitted some dummy info into my Jotform to see what showed up in Airtable. Everything worked fine except for my "file upload" fields. They worked fine on the Jotform side, but didn't show up in Airtable. Any thoughts/ideas?
  • David JotForm Support Manager
    Replied on August 2, 2019 at 2:27 PM

    Your new question will be addressed in the follwon forum thread: https://www.jotform.com/answers/1914121

  • yyossefy
    Replied on August 15, 2019 at 6:14 PM

    Hi again,

    JohnRex, you mentioned that the "linked fields" problem needs to be fixed on Airtable's side, but I recently reached out them (with a link to this thread) and they responded with this:

    Jotform uses our API to create records in Airtable where it is possible to create or use an existing linked record with an API call.  By default though, you need to have a record id of the linked record which means multiple additional API calls.  However, an API request can include a typecast parameter to allow text to be sent instead of the record id. I assume this is the challenge they are facing with the linked record fields. Note there are some pros and cons to using a typecast parameter.   And although this sounds like a quick fix, it may be non-trivial for them to implement it.  Since this gets into the more technical side of Airtable, could you have someone from JotForm send an email to support@airtable.com and I would be happy to provide them with more details about the typecast parameter if it helps at all.  😃 

    Can Jotform's team take it from here?

    Thanks,

    Yuval

  • Vanessa_T
    Replied on August 15, 2019 at 6:29 PM

    To address your last post properly, I've moved it to another thread. You may follow up on it here:

    https://www.jotform.com/answers/1928722