Synchronizing multi-value fields in view columns - a frequently asked question for which there seems to be no solution. Or maybe there is?
What is it about?
There are 2 multiple value fields in a mask. Field1 is filled with letters A, B, C and Field2 with numerical values 1, 2, 3. If you design the mask accordingly, this results in a neat, tabular representation in the document.
For example, in the form itself it looks like this:
Multiple values are allowed for both fields and a line feed is set as a separator for the individual values.
Where is the problem?
The problem lies in a synchronized representation of the field contents in columns within a view. The desired representation would be:
A1
B2
C3
D4
No problem? Try it out…
Suggested solution – synchronize multiple value fields in view columns
Let's work towards the solution.
1st step
First create a view with the required 2 columns. Without any specific settings for the columns, you get the following result:
2nd step
You guessed correctly. There is a suitable setting for columns: Show multiple values separately. Applied to the first column, you get following picture:
3rd step
Is there really only one line displayed? Yes, unfortunately. Only when the first column is sorted, the expected display results:
4th step
That was easy. Using the same settings for the second column (show multiple values separately, active sorting) should solve the problem:
Oops, what does that look like? It is precisely this representation that is almost always named by questioners as the final result, even though it is of course not the desired solution.
5th step
The solution is incredibly simple. Leave the settings of the first column and remove the sorting of the second column (“Show multiple values separately” remains activated for column 2). You get the desired result:
Sometimes less is more. As you can see, even a summation defined for the numerical values is now calculated correctly. Try this with the solution from step 4.
What else is possible?
Even in the case of unsorted field contents and/or the use of multiple documents, the values are displayed correctly sorted in the view. Try the following example:
Document 1
Z 30
D 4
B 2
C 3
A 1
Document 2
Y 20
X 10
These two documents produce the following result in the view:
Possibly exactly the solution you were looking for. 🙂