I’ve been trying out the new “open in form layout” feature when pressing a table button. At first glance I was super pumped about this–instead of creating form views on my tables. However, while i’ve been testing this out I’ve noticed some kinks.
If I am choosing the form layout for a button, it is because I am looking to have certain fields required by the users, but I’ve noticed users are still able to add rows etc in other ways which negates the need for the form button layout for my use cases.
In page locking, if I have the “use buttons, controls and forms” toggle selected, but not the “add, edit, and delete rows user created” I’m not able to access the form layout for the button anymore because the button won’t show up when the page is locked.
The form layout is the same as the expand layout on the page. Ideally the expand layout can look different.
Maybe these capabilities exist and I am missing them? I really like this feature, it has the ability to be so helpful to the user experience, but I think some logic still needs to sorted around it. Thank you!
Without seeing your actual use cases directly, I think a few different behaviors are interacting here:
Required fields are enforced when someone submits through the form layout. Other ways of adding rows do not automatically use that validation, so users can bypass required fields if direct row creation remains available.
Page-locking behavior depends on which button you use. The table’s built-in + New control is governed by the Add rows permission, not Use buttons, controls, and forms. That is likely why it disappears when you disable direct row additions.
A workaround that should resolve this is to:
Hide the table’s built-in + New and bottom add-row controls.
Create a custom Add row button on the canvas or in a table.
Configure it to add a row and open it in Form mode.
Set the page to Interact only, enable Use buttons, controls, and forms, and leave Add rows disabled.
This funnels users through the form while blocking the table’s direct add-row options. Hiding the controls improves the experience, but page locking prevents those other entry points.
There’s also good news on the layout point: we recently added the ability for the add-row form to use a different layout from the standard expanded-row layout. You can now create a focused form for data entry while keeping a more detailed layout for viewing existing rows.
If a custom button still disappears or cannot be pressed when Use buttons, controls, and forms is enabled, that would be unexpected, and I can flag it with the team for investigation.
I think I’m still getting tripped up in two places:
For the workaround, I may be doing this wrong, but I can perform every step except #3. I can only select the “open row for editing” toggle and when I click the button it generates a new row. There isn’t an " Open in: form mode" option like there is for the +New control.
Definitely understand that the logic for the +New control is currently governed by add row permissions. However, if I choose to calibrate the +New in form mode with required fields, it would eventually be most helpful to have the permissions flip to use buttons, controls, and forms to allow adding rows to be disabled. (I have no idea how difficult this is, so this may be easier said than done )
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