How to get unique records in Coda?
Using a group index and a canvas button
I am aware we have the function Duplicates() at our disposal. Nevertheless, this blog is about a different approach. I apply the logic of the Group Index
What I needed was a formula that would show me the rows to remove in a table I pasted as values (plain text) that contained information I needed elsewhere multiple times.
The source table had each time at least two variatons of the same value and often more, depending on the month. There is that moment that you doubt between creating a solution or simple getting started and do some manual work. I went for the first after I noticed how easily I made mistakes 😡.
The source table contained days worked (the info I needed) in multiple variations. I only wanted to keep the first one and thus looked for a way to remove the numbers 2, 3 and more.
Above the solution. I created a Group Index, this is the combination of a Filter() and Find(thisRow) and got each range numbered accordingly. Since I wanted to keep only the first one, I checked all but 1, as you can see on the right part.
That is almost it, almost…
You cannot ask the button to remove all the checked boxes, because the living function in the table will adapt the numbers and the action gets confused so I observed. Instead I wrote:
Voila, I removed 128 lines knowing for sure it worked as it should.
I hope you enjoyed this article. If you have questions feel free to reach out. Though this article is for free, my work (including advice) won’t be, but there is always room for a chat to see what can be done. Besides you find my (for free) contributions to the Coda Community and on Twitter
My name is Christiaan and I support SMB with calculations (budgets and planning) and I prefer using Coda to get the job done.
Not to forget: the Coda Community provides great insights for free once you add a sample doc.
