Use Start expressions in templates

Use Start expressions as described in the following sections:

• Display a list of records using Start expressions in templates
• Access columns in parent and grandparent records
• Common Start expressions
• Control the record order
• Control the number of records displayed
• Troubleshoot Start and End expressions

When used in an HTML template, Start expressions must appear within a <p> or heading element.

Display a list of records using Start expressions in templates

Start expressions are used in templates to display a list of records. The Start expression appearing at the beginning of the template controls which records are displayed. Then, the template is used to format each record.

Each template starts with <<Start:StartExpression>> and ends with <<End>>. The Start expression following the colon yields a list of records to be formatted using the template. To be more specific, the Start expression yields the list of key values of the table rows to be formatted using the template.

A template may contain one or more embedded templates. You can display a hierarchy of records by embedding one template within another. For example, you can display Customers, Orders, and Order Details records in a three-level hierarchy by:

1. Creating a template for Customers.
2. Creating an embedded template for Orders within the Customers template.
3. Creating an embedded template for Order Details within the Orders template.

An Embedded template with a Start expression is used in the following use cases.

• Embedded expression in a data change bot
  A data change bot is fired when a specific record in a table is modified. For example, a data change bot associated with the Orders table is triggered when an Order is changed. The template is evaluated in the context of the changed record. Your template can display both the specifics of the Orders record and the Order Details records associated with that Orders record. Your template must include an embedded template with a Start expression to display the Order Details records.
• Top-level expression in a scheduled bot
  In a scheduled bot, you can display a set of records. For example, you can display all Orders or all open Orders. Your template must include an embedded template with a Start expression to display the Orders records.
• Embedded expression in a scheduled bot
  In a scheduled bot, you can display a hierarchy of records. For example, you can display all open Orders records along with their related Order Details records. Your template must include an embedded template with a Start expression to display the Orders records. Then create an embedded template for Order Details within the Orders template.

Example

Consider this template which is used in a data change bot when an Orders record is updated. It contains an embedded template to display all of the Order Details records for the updated Orders record.

The embedded template contains the following Start expression:
<<Start:[Related Order Details]>>

It is important to remember that the Start expression is evaluated in the context of the template that contains it. In this case, the outer template is used to format the Orders record, so the Start expression is evaluated in the context of that Orders record. Therefore, the Start expression can make use of the columns in the current Orders record.

By contrast, the expressions between <<Start>> and <<End>>, other than the Start expression, are evaluated in the context of each child record. In our example, since the Start expression refers to the Order Details records, the expressions between <<Start>> and <<End>> are evaluated in the context of a child Order Details record. The expressions between <<Start>> and <<End>> normally refer to the columns of the Order Details record.

The embedded template is evaluated once for each child record returned by the Start expression. For example, if there are five child Order Details records, the embedded template is evaluated five times.

Access columns in parent and grandparent records

Within an embedded template, you can refer to the columns of tables of your outer-level templates. For example, you might have a three-level hierarchy of templates consisting of a Customer record, an embedded child Order record, and a further embedded grandchild Order Detail record.

Access a column in a parent record

In the embedded Order Detail template, you refer to columns of the parent Order record by specifying a dereference expression of the form:
[_THISROW-1].[ParentRecordColumnName]

For example, [_THISROW-1].[Order Date] retrieves the value of the Order Date column of the parent Order record

Note: There cannot be any embedded white spaces in the [_THISROW-n] string. The value n is a constant number value; it cannot be an expression.

Access a column in a grandparent record

In the embedded Order Detail template, you refer to columns of the grandparent Customer record by specifying a dereference expression of the form:
[_THISROW-2].[GrandparentRecordColumnName]

For example, [_THISROW-2].[Phone] retrieves the value of the Phone column of the grandparent Customer record.

[_THISROW] => Top level
[_THISROW-1] => One level up to the parent
[_THISROW-2] => Two levels up to the grandparent
[_THISROW-3] => Three levels up to the great grandparent
[_THISROW-n] => n levels up

Common Start expressions

A Start expression may take several forms. The following provide some common examples.

An entire table

The simplest Start expression is the name of a table and its key column:

<<Start:Orders[Order Id]>>

This form of Start expressions is typically only meaningful as the top-level Start expression in a scheduled bot.

Reverse reference

A common Start expression is the name of a reverse reference virtual column. For example:
<<Start:[Related Order Details]>>

The Orders record contains the reverse reference virtual column Related Order Details. This virtual column was automatically added by AppSheet to contain the reverse references from the Orders table to the child Order Details table. It contains the list of key values of the related child Order Details records. In the example above, the column name Related Order Details must be enclosed in square brackets.

Reverse reference with a condition

Another common Start expression is the name of a reverse reference virtual column that selects a subset of the referenced records. You can achieve this by enclosing the reverse reference in a SELECT expression. For example:
<<Start:SELECT([Related Order Details][OrderDetail Id], [Order Status] = "Open")>>

The Orders record contains the reverse reference virtual column Related Order Details. In the example above, the column name Related Order Details must be enclosed in square brackets.

This virtual column was automatically added by AppSheet to contain the reverse references from the Orders table to the child Order Details table. It contains the list of key values of the related child Order Details records. AppSheet originally named this column Related Order Details [Order Id]. In the example, we needed to rename the column to Related Order Details to use it in the SELECT expression because the square brackets around [Order Id] in the original AppSheet generated name prevent the expression from working.

A SELECT expression in a Start expression must always return a list of key values, so the first argument of the SELECT expression is [Related Order Details][OrderDetail Id]. The value [Related Order Details] is the name of the reverse reference column. The value [OrderDetail Id] is the name of the key column of the Order Details table. Taken together, the first argument returns the keys of all referenced Order Details records.

The second argument of the SELECT expression includes only those referenced Order Details records where the Order Status is Open.

SELECT expression

You can display a subset of the child records by specifying a SELECT expression that yields the key values of the child records you wish to display.
<<Start: SELECT(Orders[Order Id], AND(IN([Order Id],[_THISROW].[Related Orders]), [Order Status] = "Open"))>>

The SELECT expression must yield a list of key values. In this example, the Order Id column is the key of the Orders table.

Control  the record order

You can use OrderBy to control the order in which records are displayed.

The parameters to the OrderBy() function are OrderBy(keys, sort-key, descending-order?).

You can display the Order Details records in order from most expensive to least expensive using the following Start expression. The Total column contains the total value of each Order Details record:
<<Start:OrderBy([Related Order Details], [Total], FALSE)>>

You can display "Open" Orders records by Order Date using the following Start expression:
<<Start:OrderBy(SELECT(Orders[Order Id], [Order Status]="Open"),[Order Date],FALSE)>>

You can display "Open" Orders records by inverse Order Date using the following Start expression:
<<Start:OrderBy(SELECT(Orders[Order Id], [Order Status]="Open"),[Order Date],TRUE)>>

Control the number of records displayed

You can limit the maximum number of records displayed by using the Top function.

The parameters of the Top function are Top(OrderedListOfRecords, MaxNumberOfRecords).

Note: Top only works with OrderBy and cannot be used in isolation.

Display at most 3 records as follows:
<<Start:Top(OrderBy([Related Orders], [Order Date]), 3)>>

Display the most recent "Open" Orders record using this Start expression:<<Start:Top(OrderBy(SELECT(Orders[Order Id], [Order Status]="Open"),[Order Date],TRUE),1)>>

Display the oldest "Open" Orders record using this Start expression:<<Start:Top(OrderBy(SELECT(Orders[Order Id], [Order Status]="Open"),[Order Date],FALSE),1)>>

Troubleshoot Start and End expressions

The following list common error messages and how to address them.

Incomplete Start expression

If your Start expression contains an error and the displayed error message only contains part of your Start expression, ensure that your Start expression does not contain an embedded carriage return. Embedded carriage returns confuse the expression parser. This is especially common when the Start expression is contained in a table cell. In this case it is easy to inadvertently enter a carriage return within the Start expression.

Found 1 unmatched 'End'

The error message Found 1 unmatched 'End' indicates that the expression parser found an End expression but could not find its matching Start expression.

Ensure that your Start expression does not contain an embedded carriage return. Embedded carriage returns confuse the expression parser. This is especially common when the Start Expression is contained in a table cell. In this case it is easy to inadvertently enter a carriage return somewhere within the Start expression. For example, you may find a carriage return in the middle of the Start expression, between << and Start, following Start:, or before the closing >>.

Found 1 unmatched 'Start'

The error message Found 1 unmatched 'Start' indicates that the expression parser found a Start expression but could not find its matching End expression.

Ensure that your End expression does not contain an embedded carriage return. Embedded carriage returns will confuse the expression parser. This is especially common when the End expression is contained in a table cell. In this case it is easy to inadvertently enter a carriage return within the End expression. For example, you may find a carriage return between << and End or between End and >>.

Found n '<<' values but m '>>' values

Ensure that all of your Start and End expressions begin with << and end with >>.