Trying to apply filtering on fields from linked tables or a seeking a workaround

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I’m trying to determine whether Baserow can support the core functionality of my application before I invest in building something more sophisticated. If I can’t get this basic concept working without complex coding or integrations, then Baserow may not be the right fit.

Imagine I’m building a matchmaking dating app. There are three types of users: Seekers, Matchmakers, and Target Dates. The goal is for Seekers to request dates with Target Dates, and for Matchmakers to facilitate those introductions.

Each request from a Seeker is called a Match Request. However, we only want to show Match Requests to Matchmakers who are likely to know the Target Date—so the introduction feels more personal and meaningful.

To simplify, let’s assume that if a Matchmaker and a Target Date share the same zip code, there’s a higher chance they know each other. Therefore, Match Requests should only be shown to Matchmakers who live in the same zip code as the Target Date.

There’s also a broader filter: all users belong to a small, unique religious community. Since everyone in the app is already part of this group, we don’t need to account for that filter in the logic—it’s a given.

Step 1 - Build two tables:
a. People - with fields: Name, Email, Role (one of the three roles - Multiple select: SEEKER, TARGET DATE, MATCHMAKER), and ZIP_Code.
b. Match Request - with links to the People table, and a “Status” field with a NEW option, as well as an “Assigned Matchmaker” field.
(Note: There’s also a Match table after a Match Request has been successful, but that’s easy to think up.)

Step 2 - Build simple app
a. Present table of potential Match Requests, for Matchmakers to pick from and be matchmakers for. Presented to logged in Matchmaker where (filtered)
i. Match Requests have Status = NEW. and
ii. Assigned Matchmaker = EMPTY. and
iii. Logged.In.User.Matchmaker.ZIP_Code = Target.Date.ZIP_Code

I’m getting tripped up on iii. The filtering does not seem to be able to reach into the People table to grab ZIP Code via the linked Match Request record. Please help!!

I’m open to other ways to do this.

Thanks!
Tony

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TL;DR: I think you need this feature to do it properly with Baserow Allow to reference data source in another data source (#3711) · Issues · Baserow / baserow · GitLab

When this feature is implemented you can request the “People” row of the currently loggued in user (using the user id to filter the table for instance) then use one of the field this data source (Zip_code for instance) to filter the second data source.

In the meantime I see two solutions: you can use an external automation tool to populate a field of the People table that contains potential “matches” and use this field to filter your data.

Or

DISCLAIMER: this is just a temporary solution as it’s not secure to use page parameters to filter data

You can add a redirect on login that target a page with query parameters that are the filters you want to use for you data source (The zip code here for instance)

Let me know if it helps.

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For a user who is logged in, you can have a page that automatically filters a table on the page to show just rows that match the user’s ID (through a link). You set the data source to filter by the user’s ID.

You can also have a table list, and when a row is selected it takes the visitor to that row’s detail page, and within that detail page you can have an entire table that shows rows linked with the row. For that kind of set up you need to have 2 data sources: The typical detail page data source, and another one that’s the typical list data source but filtered to show only rows in which the link ID column contains the ID of the details page.

For example, in my pet project (just for funsies) which is an audiobook database the Narrators list page has a list of narrators using repeaters and if you view the details of the narrator by opening a narrator detail page it shows a repeater list of all of the books narrated by that narrator with in-app filtering.

The Books table has a lookup column with the ID’s of the narrators, which is what the data in the page is filtered to show; rows in which the Narrator ID column has a value equal to the parameter ID.

https://britastic.baserow.site/narrators

Another way to show linked information is to have nested repeaters, which I used in the narrator list page. Within the narrator repeater there is a repeater showing the Tags that are linked. The alternative to that is showing the list of linked values as a text field but then they show up looking kinda messy - IE it would be Fantasy,Science Fiction & Fantasy,Contemporary (separated with commas but without the space after).

Not sure if that helped. You can filter a list of related rows, and you can display rows of linked information.

However - we can’t filter a list based on a link column or a lookup column (which would be great).