Add a Table to a Form (Using Subforms)

Your paper form may include a table where users fill in several cells for each row. You can recreate a table like this in FastField with a subform. This article covers how.

How a table becomes a subform

Think of an inventory sheet. The top of the sheet is a static section, and the item table is a dynamic set of fields.

Header data appears once per form, like the date, the site, and the person filling it out.
Table rows repeat an unknown number of times. Each row records one item with the same set of columns.

FastField maps these to two places. Header data becomes fields on the main form. The table's columns become fields on a subform. Each row a user fills out becomes one subform entry.

For example, an inventory sheet has a date, site, and inspector at the top. Those become Date/Time, Text, or Option List fields on the main form. The table's columns become the subform: inventory number, item description, purchase price, quantity, and location.

Build the subform from the table columns

In the portal, go to Forms > My Forms.
Select New Form > Sub Form. If you're asked which builder to use, select Form Builder.

*The New Form menu on the Forms page, with Sub Form selected*

Add a field for each column, and choose a type that matches the data.

Column	Field type
Inventory number	Text or Numeric
Item description	Text or Long Text
Purchase price	Numeric
Quantity	Numeric
Location	Option List or Lookup List

Name the subform after what one row represents, for example Inventory Item, not Inventory Table.
Select Save Draft, then Publish.

Tip
Describe the table to the Assistant instead of adding fields one at a time. For example, Add fields for inventory number, item description, purchase price, quantity, and location.

Build the main form from the header data

Select New Form > Form, then open it in the Form Builder.
Add the header fields, the values captured once per submission.
Group them in a section with a clear name, such as Inventory Details.

Add the subform to the main form

In the main form, select Add Field in the side bar, then select Subform under Misc.
In Field Settings, on the General tab, select your subform in Select Subform.
Turn on Allow Multiple Subform Instances.
Select Save Draft, then Publish.

*Subform field settings with Allow Multiple Subform Instances turned on*

Important
Allow Multiple Subform Instances is what turns the subform into a table. If it's off, users can fill out only one row.

Label each row

A list of identical rows is hard to read. Set a display mask on the Subform field so each entry shows its own values, for example the item description and quantity.

In the Subform field's settings, select Configure Display Mask.
Select the subform fields you want in the label.
Select Back to Field.

Learn more in Create and use subforms.

What users see in the app

Users fill out the header fields, then tap the Subform field to add a row. They complete the subform once per item. Each completed entry is listed under the Subform field. When every item is recorded, they tap Submit.

*The form preview showing the Subform field with Tap to add*

Tables or repeating sections

A repeating section can also capture repeating rows. Choose a subform when you want to reuse the same table in several forms, or want each row as its own linked record. Learn more about repeating sections.